Huatulco or Puerto Vallarta?

The beaches are equally good, but they are laid out differently. Huatulco is a chain of nine small bays, mostly sheltered coves of golden sand between rocky headlands. There is coral to snorkel just off La Entrega, and wilder bays such as Cacaluta can only be reached by boat or forest path. Swimmers stay in the coves, and in the dry months the water is at its clearest.

Puerto Vallarta is one huge bay rather than a string of coves. In town, Playa Los Muertos is the busy stretch of loungers and seafood grills, Nuevo Vallarta has long, flat sands to the north, and to the south the mountains drop into small coves at Mismaloya and Las Animas. The sand is coarser, the summer rains can cloud the water, and the surf towns of the Riviera Nayarit, within about an hour, are a bigger part of a stay here.

Huatulco eats simply and well: Oaxacan mole, tlayudas and banana-leaf tamales at La Crucecita's market and fondas, whole fish at beach palapas, mezcal from the hills. Beyond that the choice thins quickly, and the Tangolunda resorts lean on buffets.

Puerto Vallarta gives a food-minded traveller much more. There is Pacific seafood such as wood-grilled pescado zarandeado and aguachile, corner taco stands serving birria and marlin after dark, and raicilla to try. It also has a genuine restaurant tier, up to chef-run dining rooms in the hills.

Neither is a sightseeing destination, but Puerto Vallarta at least has a town worth wandering. Its whitewashed, red-tiled streets climb behind the centre to the crown-topped Guadalupe church, and the Malecón's bronze sculptures, the Cuale island museum and the galleries fill an afternoon.

Huatulco is a planned resort, and a morning covers it: the giant painted Virgin in La Crucecita's dome, the small pre-Hispanic site and clifftop walk at Copalita, and a colonial church in the old inland village.

The two are far apart here. In Huatulco, evenings mean dinner and a mezcal around La Crucecita's plaza or a beachfront bar by the Santa Cruz marina, and most nights the town is quiet by midnight. People who want to party go up the coast to Zipolite.

Puerto Vallarta stays out late. Open-fronted clubs along the Malecón fill after midnight, and the Zona Romántica adds rooftop and mezcal bars and one of the largest, longest-established gay scenes in Latin America. The busiest nights come in the winter season and at Christmas, New Year and Semana Santa, when Mexican visitors arrive in numbers.

Both are equally strong outdoors, with humpback whales offshore in winter and turtles nesting on the beaches, but the scenery differs. Huatulco's strength is its protected coast, where a national park's dry forest runs down to cliffs, blowholes and easy coral snorkelling. Inland there is rafting on the Copalita River and there are waterfalls among the coffee farms.

Puerto Vallarta is greener and steeper, with jungle-covered Sierra Madre ridges rising straight from the bay. Whales calve close enough to see from shore at times, and boats run to Los Arcos and the Marietas Islands. On land there are coastal trails to Yelapa, zip-lines and mountain biking.

Both send you along the coast, but Puerto Vallarta has more choice. Sayulita, San Pancho and Bucerías are each within an hour, boat-only Yelapa has a waterfall walk, and the old silver town of San Sebastián del Oeste adds a mountain day with real history.

From Huatulco, the best day out is the string of small villages about an hour west: Mazunte's turtle centre, Puerto Ángel and bohemian Zipolite. Puerto Escondido is further, and Oaxaca city needs an overnight stay.

Both are easy places to take children on a beach vacation, but Puerto Vallarta has more for the days off the sand. Alongside the family resorts and calm water of Nuevo Vallarta, there are water parks, a small jungle zoo at Mismaloya, turtle releases and evening ice cream among the street performers on the Malecón. Its steep cobbled streets are awkward with a pushchair.

Huatulco's draw for families is its sheltered coves, where children can snorkel among fish close to shore, plus a small, calm town. With no zoo, aquarium or theme park, older children may get restless.

Puerto Vallarta is somewhat easier on foot. The old centre and Zona Romántica connect along the Malecón and over the Cuale footbridges, although the town then stretches a long way north, and buses, ride-hailing and water taxis cover the rest.

In Huatulco, only La Crucecita and the walk to Santa Cruz work on foot. Every other bay means a taxi or colectivo, and the remoter ones a boat or a hired car.

Neither suits fashion shoppers, but Puerto Vallarta has more worth carrying home. Its standout is Huichol yarn paintings and beadwork from the Sierra Madre communities, along with many galleries, silver and textiles at the Mercado Municipal, and a few independent boutiques.

Huatulco's stalls around La Crucecita's plaza sell good Oaxacan pieces, such as embroidered blouses, black pottery and alebrijes, mixed in with beach souvenirs. Keen craft buyers wait for Oaxaca city.

Costs are much the same, and in both the resorts and boat tours are where the money goes. In Huatulco, the cheap way is to base yourself in La Crucecita, with its market meals, fondas and small guesthouses, and take short taxi rides to the bays.

Puerto Vallarta's local economy is larger, so the budget options spread further. There are taco stands, family restaurants a few streets back from the Malecón, guesthouses in the old centre and buses along the bay.

Puerto Vallarta has some entertainment to plan an evening around, while Huatulco hardly has any. In the winter season the Zona Romántica runs cabaret, drag and comedy revues, bars host Latin jazz and live bands, mariachis play the plazas and the Papantla flyers spin down their pole on the Malecón.

In Huatulco, it amounts to folk dance shows in the resorts and music on the plaza during festivals.

For unwinding the two are evenly matched, and both offer resort spas, massage and the temazcal steam bath. The difference is setting. Huatulco is quiet everywhere, low-rise and uncrowded, so the pace does the work wherever you stay.

Puerto Vallarta has the yoga and retreat centres in the roadless villages of the south shore. Its centre and Malecón can be noisy at night, though, so a calm stay means staying south of town or in those villages.