Huatulco or Puerto Escondido?

These are two of the best beach towns on this coast, but they offer different kinds of beach. Huatulco's nine bays are mostly sheltered coves, so from Santa Cruz and Chahué near town to La Entrega's coral shallows almost every beach is a place to swim. The wilder ones, El Órgano and Cacaluta, can only be reached by boat or a forest path.

Puerto Escondido's best-known beach, Zicatela, is for surfers and watching sunsets, not for swimming. Swimmers go instead to Carrizalillo, Puerto Angelito and Manzanillo. You have to choose the part of the coast more carefully here, but you get a long open surf beach that Huatulco's tidy bays do not have.

Both towns eat in much the same way: Oaxacan dishes, fish grilled at beach palapas, and mezcal. Neither has fine dining. In Huatulco the best meals are in La Crucecita's market and family fondas, because the Tangolunda resorts lean towards buffets. Puerto Escondido has a little more variety, with evening street stalls in the centre, international cooking for long-staying visitors in La Punta and Zicatela, and a few more polished places in Rinconada.

Neither town is a place to come for sights, though Huatulco has a few more. La Crucecita's church with its huge painted Virgin, the small pre-Hispanic site and lookout at Copalita, and the colonial church in Santa María Huatulco fill a pleasant morning.

Puerto Escondido has no museums or historic buildings to speak of, just the modest El Adoquin, a small church and the lighthouse. What culture you meet is in the market, the fishing beach and the festivals, and in both towns you need to go inland to Oaxaca city for more.

Puerto Escondido has a real night out, Huatulco mostly does not. In La Punta, open-air bars, reggaeton and electronic nights run late in high season, and Zicatela's beachfront has sunset bars and mezcal places. It is informal surf-town fun rather than a club scene.

Huatulco's evenings are a long dinner and a drink around La Crucecita's plaza, with a few bars with dancing and some by the marina in Santa Cruz. Most of the year the town is quiet by midnight, and anyone wanting a party heads to Zipolite.

Both towns are very strong for outdoor time, but in different ways. Huatulco's national park brings dry forest, cliffs, blowholes and coral down to the shore, so snorkelling and diving are easy, and inland there is rafting on the Copalita River and coffee farms around Pluma Hidalgo.

Puerto Escondido's outdoors is mainly about surf, from Zicatela's heavy break to gentler learner waves, plus the bioluminescent Manialtepec lagoon and the mangrove channels of Chacahua. Both have humpback whales offshore in winter and turtle nesting nearby.

The two towns share their best outing: the beach villages of Mazunte, San Agustinillo, Zipolite and Puerto Ángel, about an hour from each in opposite directions. Huatulco adds a slow half day among the coffee villages of the Sierra Sur. Puerto Escondido adds the lagoon village of Chacahua, and the two towns are about two hours from each other. From either, Oaxaca city needs an overnight stay.

Huatulco is the easier choice with children. Its sheltered bays let children paddle and snorkel among fish right by the sand, Tangolunda's resorts have pools and kids' clubs, and the small, calm town is simple to manage.

Puerto Escondido takes more planning. The safe coves are fine, though Carrizalillo means a steep climb back up the steps, but Zicatela's currents are no place for children and the town is spread out. In return it has dolphin trips, turtle releases and gentle surf lessons, which older children may enjoy more than another week of calm bays.

Puerto Escondido is a little easier to get around, mainly because you can do without a car. Its centre, Rinconada and Zicatela can each be walked, despite steep hills and patchy pavements, and taxis and colectivos link them.

Huatulco's bays are further apart. La Crucecita and Santa Cruz are walkable, but Tangolunda and Maguey mean a taxi, and the remoter bays and coast villages need a boat tour or a hire car.

Both offer only small-scale shopping, with Oaxacan textiles, embroidered blouses, alebrijes, hammocks and mezcal sold among the beach souvenirs. Huatulco's stalls are around La Crucecita's plaza and in Santa Cruz, and it also sells local coffee and black pottery. Puerto Escondido's are along El Adoquin, and Zicatela and La Punta add surf shops and swimwear. Serious craft buyers from either town should save their money for Oaxaca city.

Huatulco is reasonably priced if you stay in La Crucecita, eat at the market and family fondas and take taxis between bays. Costs climb at the all-inclusive resorts of Tangolunda, on boat tours and in hotel restaurants.

Puerto Escondido is a little kinder still to a tight budget. Street tacos, market meals, palapa lunches and simple guesthouses cost little, and there are almost no paid sights, as long as you avoid the design hotels and international restaurants of Zicatela and La Punta. Both towns get dearer in the Mexican vacation weeks.

Neither town has a theatre or concert hall, so plan your evenings around something else. Huatulco has resort folk dance shows and music on the plaza during festivals. Puerto Escondido has live bands, DJs and the odd jazz or son jarocho night in its surf bars, plus traditional dances at its November festival.

Puerto Escondido has more for anyone wanting yoga and slow mornings. Open-air studios and retreats sit in Zicatela, La Punta and the hills, with more in Mazunte, and beach massages are everywhere, though light sleepers should avoid La Punta.

Huatulco relaxes you through its quiet, low-rise calm, and it has the full resort spas in Tangolunda and Conejos that Puerto Escondido lacks. Both towns offer the temazcal steam bath.