Mazatlan or San Miguel de Allende?

There is no real contest here. Mazatlan's Pacific shore has a beach for every mood: the rocky bays of Olas Altas near the old town, the hotel strip of the Zona Dorada, the wide, quiet sand at Cerritos and the palm-lined island beach of Isla de la Piedra across the harbour. The open-ocean surf can be strong, so swimmers wanting calm water head for the island coves.

San Miguel de Allende sits on the central plateau, far from either coast. Swimming there means a hotel pool or a soak in the warm spring-fed pools outside town. If sea and sand matter to you, plan a separate stop on the coast.

Both eat well, but in very different ways. Mazatlan is a shrimp port and its food comes from the sea: aguachile, smoked marlin tacos and whole fish grilled over coals at beach shacks, with the local lager on the side. Once you step away from seafood, though, the choice thins out.

San Miguel de Allende is more varied and more polished. Courtyard and rooftop restaurants around the Jardín rework Bajío ingredients, mezcal bars are everywhere and wines come from the Guanajuato highlands, alongside gorditas and evening taco carts. Its weakness is sameness: much of the scene is aimed at foreign residents, and after a week the menus start to repeat.

San Miguel de Allende is the place for sightseeing. The whole UNESCO-listed centre is the sight. The pink spires of the Parroquia, the baroque Oratorio de San Felipe Neri, the Casa de Allende museum and the unfinished Siqueiros mural at Bellas Artes are all a short walk apart, and art schools and galleries give the town a working creative life.

Mazatlan has a handsome 19th-century port quarter around the Plazuela Machado, as well as the cliff divers on the malecón and El Faro on its hill. Its museums are small, though, and most visitors treat the old town as a break from the beach. Neither city has a major museum, so two days covers the essentials in either.

Mazatlan has the bigger night out. The Zona Dorada's open-fronted bars and dance clubs run late at weekends and fill with students in spring. Carnaval takes over the malecón for most of a week before Lent, and banda plays everywhere. The old centre is for quieter drinks around the Plazuela Machado.

San Miguel de Allende is more about rooftop drinks as the Parroquia lights up, followed by mezcal bars and cantinas near the Jardín. Weekends bring visitors from Mexico City and keep a few dance bars going late, but there is hardly any club scene, and on weeknights the town winds down soon after dinner.

Most of Mazatlan's outdoor life is on the water: kayaking and snorkelling around Isla de Venados, humpback whales in winter, marlin fishing and surfing at the Olas Altas point breaks. On land there is birdlife in the mangroves south of the harbour, turtle hatchling releases in late summer and autumn, and the pine foothills of the Sierra Madre within a two-hour drive.

San Miguel de Allende has drier, gentler pleasures: cactus trails and canyon views at El Charco del Ingenio, horse riding on the ranches and dawn balloon flights over the Bajío. There are no forests and no water sports, so the outdoors makes a good morning out rather than the heart of the stay.

This is where San Miguel de Allende pulls clearly ahead. Guanajuato's ravine of painted houses and Querétaro's aqueduct and convents are each about an hour away, and the murals of Atotonilco are closer still. Add Dolores Hidalgo, Mineral de Pozos, the Cañada de la Virgen pyramids, Bernal and the wine country, and you have enough outings for a week.

From Mazatlan the choice comes down to one trip into the Sierra Madre foothills: the baroque church and furniture workshops of Concordia, the silver village of Copala or El Rosario's gilded mission church. They are pleasant, but most visitors do one and go back to the beach.

Mazatlan is the easier choice for families. Mexican families have spent their vacations on this coast for generations. The aquarium in the Parque Central fills a hot afternoon, boat trips to the island coves go down well with children, and many Zona Dorada hotels have pools and kids' clubs. The main thing to watch is the rough surf on the open beaches.

San Miguel de Allende welcomes children, and in the evening the Jardín is full of balloon sellers and families, but the town is built for adults. Pushchairs struggle on the steep cobbles. Older children will enjoy the spring pools, a horse ride or a fiesta, but younger ones soon run out of things to do.

Neither is effortless, and the problems differ. Mazatlan is long and thin, with the old centre and the Zona Dorada several kilometres apart along a malecón of about 20km. Buses, taxis and the open-air pulmonía do most of the work, and the summer heat puts people off long walks.

San Miguel de Allende has a slight edge because everything a visitor needs is within a walk of the Jardín. Those walks are steep and stony, though, at an altitude of about 1,900m. Getting there means a shuttle from Querétaro or León, and day trips beyond Guanajuato and Querétaro need a driver or a hire car.

San Miguel de Allende is the better place to come home with something worth keeping. The stepped lane of the Mercado de Artesanías sells tin lanterns, blown glass and textiles. Design shops stock talavera, carved furniture and good folk art, and the old textile mill on the edge of town is full of studios and antique dealers.

Mazatlan's shopping is souvenir silver, hammocks and beachwear along the Zona Dorada, plus the Pino Suárez market and ordinary malls. Neither city is a place for fashion, but only San Miguel is worth planning time around for shopping.

Mazatlan is the cheaper of the two. It is priced for Mexican families on a domestic budget, so street-cart shrimp, seafood at beach shacks, market breakfasts and buses all cost little. The main costs are beachfront hotels and meals in the Zona Dorada, and Carnaval, Easter and Christmas are the dearest times.

In San Miguel de Allende, the boutique hotels in colonial houses and the restaurants around the Jardín are priced for foreign residents and weekend visitors from the capital, and weekends and festivals cost more. Street food, cantinas and free sights such as the churches and streets keep the bill down.

Oddly, both towns have a 19th-century Teatro Ángela Peralta, named after the Mexican soprano who died in Mazatlan in 1883, and in both the formal programme is thin outside the festivals. Mazatlan's theatre is the centre of an autumn cultural festival. Day to day, the music is banda sinaloense, the brass bands you hear at beach restaurants and along the malecón.

San Miguel de Allende leans towards chamber music and jazz festivals. Mariachi bands play for hire on the Jardín every evening, bars have live guitar and son, and the Alborada and Holy Week fill the streets with music and traditional dance.

San Miguel de Allende is clearly the better place to unwind. The dry, mild climate and unhurried courtyard life suit doing very little. The hot mineral pools and domed grottoes towards Atotonilco are about fifteen minutes away, and the town has day spas, temazcal sweat lodges and yoga for its large resident community.

In Mazatlan, relaxing is a beach affair: sunsets, walks on the malecón and hammock afternoons, with treatments mostly in resort-hotel spas. For quiet, stay at Cerritos or on Isla de la Piedra, away from the music of the Zona Dorada.