Leon, Nicaragua or Santa Teresa, Costa Rica?

Both face the same warm Pacific, and both are surf coast, but the beaches are not equal. León's beaches at Poneloya and Las Peñitas are about 20km away by bus or taxi, with grey volcanic sand. They work best as a few nights added on to a city stay.

In Santa Teresa the beach is the whole point: a long pale strand backed by palms and forest, running into Playa Carmen and the rocks of Mal País, right outside the door. Rip currents are strong in both places. For calm water, try the Mal País pools at low tide or the sheltered end of Las Peñitas.

Neither is a reason to travel for food, but they feed you in opposite ways. León is local and cheap: fritanga grills on the pavement at night, soup and plate-of-the-day counters in the Mercado Central, quesillo everywhere and nacatamales at weekends.

Santa Teresa has no market and no street food. Instead it has a strip of international places along the main road serving pizza, poke, sushi, Israeli plates and good coffee, with casados at the local sodas and fresh fish keeping the Costa Rican side alive.

León wins this outright. Its cathedral, the largest in Central America and a UNESCO site, lets you walk on the white roof with the volcanoes on the horizon. A dozen more churches, from La Recolección to the old church in Subtiava, share the grid with the Ortiz-Gurdián art collection, Rubén Darío's family home and the revolutionary murals.

Santa Teresa has no museums, monuments or historic quarter at all. What it offers is its setting and its community, so any sightseeing has to happen somewhere else on the trip.

León goes out more because it has students as well as backpackers. From Thursday to Saturday, hostel bars, plastic-table rum joints and salsa and reggaeton clubs near the cathedral fill up, all close enough to walk between, though a taxi home is wiser late at night.

Santa Teresa's evenings start with sunset drinks on the sand and move to a rotating circuit of DJ nights and jungle parties. That can be good on the right night but thin on the others, and you ride a quad along dark roads between venues.

Both are strong, in different terrain. León's outdoors is volcanic: boarding down Cerro Negro, night hikes on Telica to look into a glowing crater, and hard dawn climbs of Momotombo and San Cristóbal, plus boat trips through the Juan Venado mangroves.

Santa Teresa comes out slightly ahead for nature you can reach from the door. It has reliable surf for every level, howler monkeys in the dry forest, the Cabo Blanco trail down to a remote beach, Montezuma's waterfalls and snorkelling off Isla Tortuga. It has no mountains, though, so anyone who wants to climb volcanoes belongs in León.

León has more within reach. León Viejo, the ruined first Spanish city buried by ash from Momotombo, is about an hour away. The rum distillery at Chichigalpa and the pilgrimage basilica at El Viejo make further outings, though Granada and Masaya are better as a separate stop.

From near the tip of the Nicoya Peninsula, Santa Teresa offers Montezuma for an afternoon and little else in the way of towns. Most excursions go to reserves and islands, and anything bigger means a ferry and a long day.

Neither is built for children, but Santa Teresa works better for outdoorsy families. Children get monkeys in the trees, rock pools at low tide and surf lessons in the white water, and villa pools fill the gaps. The drawbacks are rough seas, a main road full of quads with no pavements, and basic medical care some distance away.

León gives teenagers volcano boarding and a mangrove boat trip. Younger children struggle with the draining heat, broken pavements and heavy surf, and often spend most of the stay at the hotel pool.

León is far simpler. The cathedral, churches, markets and museums are all within about fifteen minutes' walk of each other on a flat grid. Taxis and tricycle taxis cover the rest, and old buses run to the coast, so the heat is the main obstacle.

Santa Teresa strings out along one rough road with no pavements and no local transport, so most visitors rent a quad or a scooter. Just getting there means a car ferry and a drive or a small plane to Tambor, and a four-wheel drive helps in the rainy months.

Shopping is a minor part of a trip to either place. León at least has working markets worth walking through, and a few shops by the cathedral sell hammocks, leatherwork, coffee and rum to take home.

Santa Teresa has a strip of boutiques selling swimwear, linen and surfboards. They are handy if you need a bikini or a board, but there is little local craft.

This is the widest gap between the two. León is one of the cheapest places to travel in the Americas. Hostels, colonial guesthouses, fritanga suppers and buses all cost very little, and even its boutique hotels are modest.

Santa Teresa's hotels, villas and meals cost close to what you would pay in North America, and the journey there, quad rental, surf lessons and boat trips add up quickly. Hostels and sodas help, but it is not a cheap tropical escape.

León has more, and most of it happens in the street. There is the Gigantona dancing to drums beside her big-headed dwarf, Holy Week processions over sawdust carpets in Subtiava, and the Purísima and Gritería in early December. The Teatro Municipal adds occasional concerts and folk dance.

Santa Teresa has no stage at all. Music means an acoustic set at a beach bar, drumming and fire dancing at sunset, or a DJ at the weekly party.

Santa Teresa is the place to unwind. It has yoga shalas in the forest, week-long retreats, breathwork and massage for every level, and hotels built around decks, plunge pools and hammocks. These are most restful up the hill, away from the dusty main road.

León has a few cheap massage rooms and the odd yoga class in a hot, noisy student town. Rest there means a hammock in a shaded colonial courtyard or a few slow days out at Las Peñitas.