Mazatlan or Puebla?

This is the widest gap between the two. Mazatlan's shoreline offers everything from the rocky little bays by the old town to the long hotel sand of the Zona Dorada and the palm-backed beach of Isla de la Piedra. The exposed stretches take real Pacific surf, so the island coves are where to swim calmly.

Puebla lies more than 2,000m up, with the Gulf coast several hours' drive away. Swimming there means a hotel pool or a spring-fed balneario on the edge of town.

Both cities eat well and cheaply, but Puebla is one of the birthplaces of Mexican cooking. Mole poblano, chiles en nogada in late summer, cemitas, chalupas and the Lebanese-rooted tacos árabes give it a depth that goes well beyond any one dish. Add the convent sweets of the Calle de los Dulces and you have a city worth visiting for the food alone.

Mazatlan's strength is narrower and very fresh: aguachile, smoked marlin tacos and whole fish grilled over coals, eaten at beach shacks with a cold local lager. Step away from seafood, though, and the choice soon runs out.

Puebla has much more to see. Its colonial grid holds dozens of churches, a cathedral with some of the tallest towers in the country and the dazzling gilded stucco of the Capilla del Rosario. On top of that come a seventeenth-century library, two serious museums and the forts of the 1862 battle. It deserves two or three unhurried days.

Mazatlan's historic centre is charming in a smaller way, with brightly painted port houses around the Plazuela Machado, the cliff divers and El Faro above the harbour. Its museums are modest, and most visitors treat the old town as a break from the beach.

Mazatlan has more of a night out. The Zona Dorada's open-fronted bars and dance clubs run late at weekends, banda brass sets the tone everywhere, and Carnaval fills the malecón for most of a week before Lent. Outside the busy seasons, though, it quietens early.

Puebla's evenings are calmer: mezcal bars, cantinas and rooftop terraces facing the cathedral. The student crowd mostly goes out in Cholula from Thursday to Saturday.

Mazatlan's outdoors is mostly at sea, which makes it the easier and more varied of the two. You can kayak and snorkel around Isla de Venados, watch humpbacks in winter, fish for marlin, surf the point breaks or go birdwatching in the mangroves south of the harbour.

Puebla's landscape is high and volcanic. On dry mornings Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl fill the skyline, and La Malinche makes a demanding hike above 4,400m. Almost every outing needs a car, a tour or an early bus, however.

Puebla is the much better base for excursions. Cholula's Great Pyramid and the tile-covered village churches of Tonantzintla and Acatepec are barely half an hour away, and there is the UNESCO-listed convent at Huejotzingo. Further out are Tlaxcala with the Cacaxtla murals, and Mexico City is within a long day's reach.

From Mazatlan the one real outing climbs into the Sierra Madre foothills to Concordia's baroque church or the old silver village of Copala. Most visitors make that trip once and spend the rest of the stay by the sea.

Mazatlan is the more relaxed choice with children. Mexican families have vacationed here for generations, so children are welcome at beach restaurants and on the malecón. The aquarium, island boat trips and resort kids' clubs fill the days. Winter is the comfortable time to go, as summer is sticky.

Puebla's big draw is Africam Safari, where animals roam around the car. Children also enjoy the tunnels inside Cholula's pyramid, but narrow pavements and the altitude can wear small children out.

Getting around is about equally easy in both, though the cities are shaped very differently. Mazatlan is a long ribbon along the coast, joined by a malecón of about 20km, with buses on the coast road and the open-air pulmonía taxis that the city invented. Puebla's sights sit in a compact, flat grid around the zócalo, but beyond it visitors rely on taxis and ride-hailing apps, because the buses are hard to read.

Puebla has something worth buying. Talavera pottery comes straight from workshops where you can watch it being painted, and you can also browse the El Parián craft market, the weekend antiques stalls on the Callejón de los Sapos and the boxed convent sweets.

Mazatlan's shopping is mostly beachwear, silver and hammocks in the Zona Dorada, plus everyday goods at the Pino Suárez market. Both cities send fashion shoppers to ordinary malls.

Neither city is expensive, but Puebla is cheaper still. Restored colonial hotels near the zócalo, market lunches and cheap taxis keep costs low, and some museums are free on certain days. Mazatlan is priced for Mexican families. Staying near the old centre is cheap, but beachfront rooms cost more, especially at Carnaval, Easter and Christmas.

Both cities centre their stage life on a historic theatre, so the difference is mostly in the music you hear around town. In Mazatlan the restored Teatro Ángela Peralta anchors the autumn cultural festival, while the streets belong to banda sinaloense, born in this state and played on the beach and the malecón. Puebla adds the old Teatro Principal and a large university arts complex, and its everyday music comes from trios, mariachis and the odd son jarocho band.

Neither city has a real spa culture, and relaxation takes a different form in each. Mazatlan offers beach idleness: hammocks, long sunsets and quiet stays at Cerritos or on Isla de la Piedra. Puebla offers temazcal sweat lodges, the sulphur pools at Agua Azul and quiet colonial courtyards, although traffic outside the centre takes some of the calm away.