La Romana or Varadero?

Varadero is the better beach destination, because the sand is right where you sleep. Around 20km of powdery shore runs along the peninsula, with public stretches near the numbered streets and quieter, more spacious sand towards the resort-lined eastern tip.

La Romana's beaches are lovely but scattered: the town has none, so you stay in Bayahibe or Dominicus or take the boats to Catalina and Saona, whose main beaches get crowded at midday. In return, its reef-sheltered water stays a little warmer through the winter, when Varadero can have the odd windy, red-flag day.

Neither is a place to travel for food, but La Romana gives you more reasons to eat away from the hotel. Comedores serve rice, beans and stew, roadside stands sell chicharrón, Bayahibe grills the day's catch by the water, and the resort marina adds a set of international restaurants.

In Varadero most meals are resort buffets, and the private restaurants in town work from a narrow Cuban menu shaped by what ingredients turn up. Its best moments come in a glass, a daiquiri or a strong sweet coffee, rather than on the plate.

Sightseeing is thin in both, though La Romana has slightly more to fill a morning. Altos de Chavón is a recreated hill village rather than a historic one, but its gorge views, church and museum of Taíno pottery and ceremonial objects make a worthwhile visit.

Varadero's sights come down to the Du Pont family's Xanadu Mansion, a small museum on the resort's early days and the cave drawings in Ambrosio, all done in a few hours. On either coast, real colonial history means a trip to the capital.

Nights out are equally modest, and the difference is in character. La Romana's going-out is local and loud: merengue and bachata outside a colmado, the odd weekend discoteca, and visitors' bars in Bayahibe and the marina that close early.

Varadero's town end is easier to drop into as a visitor, with open-air bars on the central avenue, salsa clubs where Cubans dance with real skill and a disco inside a limestone cave. In both, most travellers' evenings end at the resort bar.

La Romana has much more to do outdoors, nearly all of it on the water. Bayahibe is one of the Dominican Republic's main dive centres, with reef walls, wrecks and an underwater museum of sunken cannons, and Parque Nacional del Este adds mangrove channels, frigatebirds and Taíno caves. The Chavón gorge can also be paddled by kayak.

Varadero's own land is a narrow strip of scrub, with short trails and caves in the Varahicacos reserve and a cave cenote inland. Its offer is catamarans to the cays, kitesurfing in the winter wind and the Zapata wetlands, which are a long day away.

Each has one great colonial capital within reach, and that decides most itineraries. From La Romana, Santo Domingo's Ciudad Colonial is about an hour and a half away, with the first cathedral in the Americas. From Varadero, Havana's old town and the Malecón are a little further, about two hours west.

The shorter outings differ in kind. La Romana offers a cave with Taíno rock art, sugar-boom San Pedro de Macorís and the basilica at Higüey. Varadero has Matanzas with its old theatre and French pharmacy, the horse carts of Cárdenas and, on a longer day, the Bay of Pigs.

Both work about equally well for a beach vacation with small children, thanks to shallow calm water and all-inclusive resorts with kids' clubs. La Romana's standout is the Saona boat trip with its starfish sandbar, and the big gated resort adds horses and quiet roads.

Varadero offers a dolphin centre, glass-bottom boats and rowing on the lake in Josone Park. Its drawback is practical: nappies, medicines and special foods can be hard to find, so families need to pack them.

Varadero is the easier of the two to move around, though neither is simple. Its older town end is a compact grid you can walk, and an open-top tourist bus, taxis, coco-taxis and rental bikes cover the single road along the peninsula.

La Romana's town, the big resort, Bayahibe and Dominicus are scattered along a highway with scrub in between, and the local minibuses and motorbike taxis are hard for visitors to use. In practice you depend on hotel transfers, taxis and excursions, or a hire car on poorly lit roads.

Neither is a shopping destination, but La Romana has more worth taking home. It is a cigar-making town in its own right, and larimar and Dominican amber jewellery are sold at Altos de Chavón and the marina.

In Varadero, buying comes down to rum and cigars from official shops, plus craft-market carvings, crochet and Che T-shirts along the main avenue. Everyday items can be scarce, so pack what you need.

Overall costs are much the same, and the difference lies in how you travel. Varadero's all-inclusive packages tend to undercut rival Caribbean resorts, though taxis, tours and anything aimed at foreigners cost more once you leave the hotel.

La Romana spans a wider range: very cheap if you eat at comedores and ride guaguas, fairly priced in Bayahibe's mid-range hotels, and expensive at the gated resort. Boat trips to Saona and dive excursions add up quickly.

Varadero has more live music, if mostly informal. Son and salsa trios play hotel lobbies and terraces, the town's dance clubs have good full bands, and Havana's music and ballet are within reach for a special evening.

La Romana's one distinctive stage is the amphitheatre at Altos de Chavón, a striking setting above the gorge that hosts occasional big-name concerts. Otherwise there is little beyond weekend merengue and the hotel show.

The two are evenly matched: no spa tradition in either, just resort spas of uneven quality and an easy pace. La Romana adds massage huts on the beaches of Bayahibe and Dominicus, and the village quietens once the day boats leave. In Varadero, treatments are often given in open-air cabins by the sea, and the calmest stretch is the resort zone towards the eastern tip.