Merida or Mexico City?

Merida has a beach within reach and Mexico City does not. Progreso is about 40 minutes north, with wide sand and warm, shallow, calm water that suits a relaxed swim, though the shore is plain and the sea is greenish rather than Caribbean blue. The swims people remember most are in the cenotes, clear pools in limestone caverns out in the countryside.

Mexico City sits on a plateau at 2,240m, and Acapulco is a separate trip of several hours. Swimming there means a hotel pool, so beach time has to be planned as extra days on the coast.

Merida is the place to eat one regional cuisine in depth. Yucatecan cooking uses achiote, sour orange and habanero, and you can have cochinita pibil for breakfast at the Lucas de Galvez market and marquesitas in the squares at night. Beyond that local cooking, there is not much range.

Mexico City offers far more. Its street food covers al pastor, tamales and blue corn quesadillas, and the Medellín, San Juan and La Merced markets show the whole country's chiles and moles. Roma, Condesa and Polanco add pulquerías, seafood counters, serious coffee and tasting menus, so you can eat well for every meal of a long stay.

The two centres have some striking similarities. Each has a cathedral built over a pre-Hispanic city and a government palace with a mural history in its stairwell. Merida's colourful grid, the Casa de Montejo and the henequen mansions of Paseo de Montejo are absorbing, and the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya is a good introduction before visiting the ruins.

Mexico City has much more of everything. The excavated Templo Mayor stands next to the Zócalo, and the National Museum of Anthropology alone deserves the best part of a day. Add Bellas Artes, Chapultepec Castle, the Kahlo and Rivera houses in Coyoacán and San Ángel, and the canals of Xochimilco, and a week of sightseeing is easy to fill.

Merida's evenings are friendly and easy to enjoy: mezcal bars on Calle 60, rooftop terraces over the old town and cantinas that bring free botanas with each round. Very few people travel there for a night out, though.

Mexico City's nights start late and run until morning. You can walk between cocktail bars and small dance floors in Roma and Condesa, go dancing in salsa and cumbia halls or electronic clubs, find dressier lounges in Polanco and a large LGBTQ scene in the Zona Rosa. If going out matters to your trip, the capital is the easy choice.

The nature around these two cities is very different. Merida's countryside is flat dry forest with its interest underground: cenotes around Cuzama and Homun reached by bicycle or horse-drawn rail cart, plus flamingos in the mangroves at Celestun. There is almost no hiking, and from spring through summer the heat limits outings to early mornings.

Mexico City has mountain landscapes. You can hike through the pine forests of Desierto de los Leones and on Ajusco, and the volcano pass of Paso de Cortés and the crater lakes of Nevado de Toluca are a couple of hours away. The cost is the traffic getting out of the city and poor air in the dry season.

Both cities make excellent bases, and they lead to different places. Merida is surrounded by the Maya world: Uxmal and the Ruta Puuc sites, Chichen Itza with Valladolid, Dzibilchaltun close by, the yellow town of Izamal and old haciendas everywhere. Most are much easier with a hire car.

From Mexico City you get Teotihuacan, which is just as impressive, but most other outings are to colonial towns: tiled Puebla and the great pyramid at Cholula, Taxco for silver, and Tepoztlán and Cuernavaca for warmer air. Tours and buses work well, as long as you leave early to beat the traffic.

Mexico City gives children more to do. Chapultepec has the zoo, boating lakes and the hands-on Papalote museum, and there is also the Polanco aquarium, a theme park with roller coasters, trajinera boats at Xochimilco and lucha libre. The downside is the long rides in traffic and the altitude for the first couple of days.

Merida is smaller and calmer, with a free zoo in the Parque del Centenario, evening squares full of balloon sellers, and gentle water at Progreso and in the cenotes. It has nothing built specially for children, though, and the heat and open-sun ruins wear out young legs quickly.

Merida's centre is a compact numbered grid, with even streets running north to south and odd ones east to west, so you can find your way without a map and reach most sights on foot from the Plaza Grande. The hard part is the walking itself, because of narrow pavements, high kerbs and the midday heat. Taxis and ride-hailing cover the rest of the city. For the Puuc sites and cenotes, a hire car on the flat, quiet Yucatan roads is the easiest option.

Mexico City sprawls too far for any single centre. Here you explore it as a set of walkable districts, such as the Centro, Roma, Condesa and Coyoacán, and travel between them by metro, Metrobús or ride-hailing. Trains are packed at rush hour and pickpockets work them, and traffic is heavy for much of the day, so a car is more trouble than it is worth.

Merida is good for a few Yucatecan specialities: hammocks, guayabera shirts, embroidered huipiles and fine Panama hats from Becal. The best pieces are in galleries in the restored houses of the centre rather than in the crowded market.

Mexico City brings in crafts from all over the country. La Ciudadela sells Oaxacan pottery, alebrijes and silver, and you can browse San Ángel's Saturday bazaar and the Sunday flea market at La Lagunilla. Luxury houses line Masaryk in Polanco, and Roma and Condesa add Mexican designers and bookshops, so there is plenty here for a shopping trip.

In Merida, costs stay low almost wherever you go. Market breakfasts, cantina snacks that come free with a drink, cheap taxis and free evening shows in the squares all cost little. Even a boutique hotel in a restored colonial house with a courtyard pool is reasonable for what you get. The larger costs are a hire car and the entry fees at the big ruins.

In Mexico City, what you pay depends on the neighbourhood. Street tacos, market lunches and the metro are just as cheap, but hotels, well-reviewed restaurants and cocktail bars in Roma, Condesa and Polanco charge close to European-capital levels. If you stay in the Centro and eat where locals do, the capital is as easy on the budget as Merida.

Merida's performances are mostly informal and free. Most nights the squares have jarana dancing, trova at the Santa Lucia serenade or the Maya ballgame re-enacted in front of the cathedral. The Teatro Jose Peon Contreras adds the symphony and ballet.

Mexico City has much more on stage. Bellas Artes has national opera and symphony seasons and the Ballet Folklórico, which needs no Spanish. There is also Sala Nezahualcóyotl, the Auditorio Nacional for big concerts, mariachis in Plaza Garibaldi, jazz and son clubs, and the loud spectacle of lucha libre at Arena México.

Neither city is a place to unwind. Merida's version of rest is slow: hammocks and plunge pools in courtyard hotels, quiet afternoons through the heat, and spas in the old haciendas with Maya-inspired treatments. From April to June, though, the heat is draining.

Mexico City's relaxation is more urban, with temazcal steam baths, day spas in Polanco and Condesa, and shady benches in Coyoacán. For a real retreat, most people leave for Tepoztlán or Cuernavaca.