Leon, Nicaragua or Monteverde?

León has a real coast within reach. Poneloya and Las Peñitas lie about 20km west, with warm water and grey volcanic sand. It is surf rather than gentle swimming, with heavy waves and rip currents, so bathers keep to the shallows or the quieter end of Las Peñitas while surfers make the most of it.

Monteverde has no beach at all. It sits on a cool mountain ridge, and the nearest shore, on the Gulf of Nicoya, is about two hours down winding roads. If you want sand, plan separate nights elsewhere on your route.

Neither is a place for serious eating, but León gives you more choice, much of it on the street. In the evenings fritangas grill meat and plantain on the pavement, the Mercado Central serves soups at its lunch counters, quesillo is sold everywhere, and the students keep a few cafés and juice bars going near the cathedral.

In Monteverde you mostly eat casados in the sodas of Santa Elena or at a few lodge restaurants, and there is little choice after dark. What the area is proud of is its produce: coffee tasted on farms on the surrounding slopes, and cheese from the dairy the Quakers founded.

This is where León pulls far ahead. You can walk across the white roof of its UNESCO-listed cathedral, the largest in Central America, among the domes. La Recolección, El Calvario and the old church of Subtiava fill two or three days of wandering, and there are also the Rubén Darío house, the Ortiz-Gurdián art collection and the revolutionary murals.

Monteverde has almost nothing of the kind. Its unusual story is the Quaker dairy farmers who arrived in the early 1950s and helped protect the forest, but the exhibits and farm tours here are really nature outings.

León is a university town on the backpacker route. From Thursday to Saturday, hostel bars, rum joints with plastic tables and a few reggaeton and salsa clubs near the cathedral fill up. The scene is small and short on variety, and late at night a taxi home is wiser than walking the dark side streets.

In Monteverde, the night out is a guided walk looking for tree frogs and sloths, then an early night before the dawn birding. A drink after dinner in Santa Elena is about as late as it gets.

Both are strong outdoor bases, but Monteverde is built entirely around nature and offers more of it. Its reserves of moss-hung cloud forest have marked trails, hanging bridges and lookouts over the continental divide. Birders come for quetzals, bellbirds and hummingbirds, and this is where the zip-line canopy tour began.

León's outdoors is rougher and hotter. The Maribios volcanoes offer everything from sandboarding on Cerro Negro to night hikes up Telica and dawn climbs of Momotombo, and boats explore the Juan Venado mangroves, where turtles nest. Outings in León start early to beat the heat, while Monteverde's mild days let you walk at any hour, rain permitting.

León has a few good outings. The ruins of León Viejo on Lake Managua are about an hour away, and there is a rum distillery near Chichigalpa and the pilgrimage basilica at El Viejo. Granada and Masaya are too far for a comfortable day.

Monteverde is itself the excursion, at the end of a slow mountain road. Puntarenas is two hours away and hardly worth the trip, and Arenal is better treated as your next stop than as a day out and back.

Monteverde is the better bet with children, especially those who like animals. Butterfly gardens, frog exhibits, canopy bridges and night walks with a torch suit school-age children, and older ones can try the zip-lines. Toddlers struggle with the steep, wet trails and the long drive up.

León has little made for children. There is no zoo or science museum, the pavements are narrow, the heat is draining and the surf is heavy. Adventurous teenagers may enjoy volcano boarding and the mangrove boats, but younger children tend to spend most of their time in the hotel pool.

León is the easier place to get around. The cathedral, churches, museums and markets are all within about fifteen minutes' walk on a flat grid. Taxis and tricycle taxis are plentiful, and old school buses run out to the coast. The only hardships are the midday heat and broken pavements.

Monteverde's lodges and reserves are strung along steep, rough roads, and the main reserve is about 6km uphill from Santa Elena. Most visitors depend on tour pick-ups, and even getting there means a slow shuttle or drive up the mountain.

Neither is a shopping destination, though León has a little more to browse. The Mercado Central is worth a walk for its everyday life, and shops near the cathedral sell hammocks, leatherwork, coffee and rum, but the country's great craft market is at Masaya, a long way off. In Monteverde, the best buy is embroidery from the women's artisan cooperative, and beyond that there are souvenir and outdoor-gear shops, local coffee and chocolate.

León is far cheaper. Guesthouses, market meals, beer, rum and buses to the coast cost next to nothing, and even guided volcano trips and boutique hotels in colonial houses stay modest.

In Monteverde the basics are manageable, but nearly everything worth doing costs money: reserve entry, a guide to spot the wildlife, canopy tours, night walks and the shuttle up the mountain. Forest lodges and restaurants aimed at visitors charge closer to North American prices than Central American ones.

León has more to offer, mostly in its streets. The Teatro Municipal José de la Cruz Mena stages occasional concerts and folk dance, but the memorable sights are the Gigantona dancing to drums, the sawdust carpets of Holy Week in Subtiava, and the singing and fireworks of the Gritería in early December.

Monteverde has no theatre or regular programme, only the occasional local musicians in a restaurant or a small community concert.

Neither has spas or thermal baths, but Monteverde is the calmer place to slow down. Cool, misty air, birdsong at dawn, early nights and lodge balconies over the trees make it restful. For proper pools and massages you would need a stop elsewhere, such as the hot springs around Arenal.

León's centre is hot, loud with traffic and full of students. Rest there comes from a hammock in a shaded courtyard or a few slow days in the beach villages to the west.