Honolulu or Los Cabos?

Honolulu is the more dependable place to swim. Waikiki's reef-sheltered water is gentle enough for beginner surfers and canoe rides, and Ala Moana and Kaimana are calmer still. Within an easy drive you reach the white sand of Kailua and Lanikai and the reef bowl at Hanauma Bay. Only the North Shore in winter and a few exposed stretches need real caution.

In Los Cabos the beach you choose matters more. Medano Beach and the corridor coves such as Chileno Bay and Santa Maria Bay are calm and clear, but the Pacific side, including many beaches in front of the big resorts, is too rough to swim. Check which sea a hotel faces before you book.

Honolulu has more to eat and more variety. Its food comes from Hawaiian, Japanese, Korean, Filipino and Portuguese families, so a day might include poke from a fish counter, a plate lunch, ramen and a malasada. The best of it is in Kaimuki, Kapahulu and Chinatown rather than the resorts.

Los Cabos is narrower but good at what it does: fish tacos, ceviche and aguachile made with catch from the sportfishing boats, served with Baja wine or mezcal. Eat in San José del Cabo and at the farm restaurants in the hills, not around the marina.

Here the gap is wide. Honolulu has the history of a Pacific kingdom and of the Second World War. Iolani Palace, the Bishop Museum's Polynesian collections and the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor can fill two or three days, and the Honolulu Museum of Art adds strong Asian collections.

Los Cabos has San José del Cabo's small colonial plaza, its mission church and a gallery district with a weekly art walk in season. The arch at Land's End is a sight, but a natural one. Anyone with an interest in history will find more on a trip out to Todos Santos or La Paz.

Los Cabos is the place for a big night out. The streets behind the Cabo San Lucas marina fill with loud bars and dance clubs that stay open into the early hours, and the drinking starts on Medano Beach in the afternoon. It is lively rather than varied, and the corridor and San José are much quieter.

Honolulu's evenings are gentler and end earlier: mai tais at sunset in Waikiki, cocktail bars and dive bars around Chinatown and Nuuanu Avenue, and craft breweries in Kakaako. It suits couples looking for a good drink, not people who want to dance until dawn.

Honolulu has the richer outdoors because it offers both mountains and sea. You can climb Diamond Head in the morning, walk into rainforest at Manoa Falls and look up at the fluted Koolau cliffs, then snorkel with green turtles or learn to paddleboard. Both places see humpback whales in winter.

Los Cabos is mostly about the open water. It has marlin fishing in the deep water off the cape, sea lions at Land's End and the living coral reef of Cabo Pulmo about two hours away. On land there is cactus desert and serious hiking in the Sierra de la Laguna, though summer heat makes it hard going.

Neither offers much, and the trips differ in kind. From Honolulu you can drive the full loop of Oahu: Haleiwa's surf-town streets, the Byodo-In temple under the cliffs and the Polynesian Cultural Center. The other islands are a short flight away but are better visited for a few nights.

From Los Cabos the trips lead into Mexican history. Todos Santos has adobe streets and a mission, La Paz has its seafront and cathedral, and the old mining villages inland can be joined on a loop by car.

Honolulu is far easier with children. The zoo and aquarium sit at the quiet end of Waikiki, the Ko Olina lagoons and Ala Moana suit small swimmers, and Sea Life Park, a water park and surf lessons keep older children busy. The long flight and the cost are the drawbacks.

In Los Cabos, family life revolves around the all-inclusive resort pool. Chileno Bay, glass-bottom boats and whale trips go down well, but there is no zoo or aquarium, and the Pacific surf needs a close eye.

Getting around Honolulu is simpler. Waikiki is flat and walkable from end to end, and TheBus reaches Pearl Harbor, Chinatown and even the North Shore, so many visitors only hire a car for a day of touring.

Los Cabos is spread along a corridor of about 30km, with hotels set apart from both towns. Taxis, shuttles or a hire car are the norm, and the airport is a long way from Cabo San Lucas.

Honolulu offers far more shopping. The luxury fashion houses on Kalakaua Avenue and the huge open-air Ala Moana Center attract serious shoppers. For local things, look for vintage aloha shirts, koa wood bowls and ukuleles, or browse the independent shops in Kaimuki and Kakaako.

Los Cabos has duty-free malls by the marina and stalls selling silver jewellery, blankets and tequila. San José del Cabo's galleries and Mexican folk art are the best of it.

Neither is cheap, but Honolulu costs more. Almost everything is shipped in, so hotels, resort fees, restaurants and car hire are all expensive. Plate lunches, poke counters, the bus and free beaches and hikes help keep costs down.

Los Cabos is among the most expensive places in Mexico, with corridor resorts and marina restaurants priced like the United States. Your money goes further in San José del Cabo, at taco stands and on local buses.

Honolulu has a performance tradition of its own: hula, slack-key guitar and falsetto singing. You can see them at free shows on Kuhio Beach and at festivals, with short seasons from the symphony and opera at the restored Hawaii Theatre and elsewhere downtown.

In Los Cabos, live music mostly means cover bands in the marina bars and mariachi at dinner. There is no theatre or concert season.

Los Cabos has a slight edge here because the corridor resorts compete on their spas. Many have seafront treatment rooms and offer the temazcal, a Mexican sweat lodge ceremony, and the stretch towards San José is quiet.

Honolulu answers with lomilomi massage and yoga on the sand at dawn. Waikiki is dense, though, so for real calm you need to stay at Kahala, Ko Olina or on the windward side.