Merida or Oaxaca?

Merida at least has a beach within an easy drive. Progreso on the Gulf, about 40 minutes north, has wide sand and warm, shallow, calm water, and Chelem and Telchac are quieter. It is a plain shore rather than a postcard one, and the cenotes are often the better swim.

Oaxaca has nothing like it. The Pacific at Puerto Escondido or Huatulco lies on the other side of the mountains, hours away. In the city, swimming means a hotel pool, and beach time has to be planned as a separate stay.

Both are serious regional food cities, but Oaxaca is the deeper one. Its many moles and charcoal-crisped tlayudas, the grill aisle of the Mercado 20 de Noviembre, mezcal from village distilleries and chef-led tasting menus built on heirloom maize give a food lover more to explore over more days.

Merida's Yucatecan cooking is just as distinct, with cochinita pibil at breakfast, sopa de lima and relleno negro, and it is at its best in the Lucas de Galvez and Santiago markets. It offers less at the top end, though, and the heat pushes meals to early and late hours.

For a culture trip, Oaxaca's centre has the edge. Its green-stone colonial core is listed by UNESCO together with Monte Albán. Santo Domingo pairs a gilded Baroque church with the Museo de las Culturas and its Tomb 7 gold, and the city's long line of painters lives on in the Rufino Tamayo museum and the printmaking workshops. Monte Albán is only twenty minutes away.

Merida's colonial grid is larger and more colourful. It has a cathedral built from Maya temple stone, the Casa de Montejo and the henequen mansions of Paseo de Montejo. The Gran Museo del Mundo Maya is the standout, but the city's great ruins lie further out.

Neither city is a place for clubbing, and nights in both end at sociable bars rather than on dance floors. In Merida that means the cantina, where drinks come with free botanas, the terraces on Calle 60 and a student crowd. In Oaxaca it means mezcal tasting bars in the centre and Jalatlaco, rooftops over the domes of Santo Domingo and the occasional salsa night.

Oaxaca offers far more time outdoors. The Sierra Norte, about an hour and a half away, rises through pine-oak and cloud forest to about 3,000m, with village-run trails and cabins for walks of one day or several. Hierve el Agua's mineral cliffs make an easy half-day.

Merida's land is flat dry forest with almost no hiking. Its strengths are the cenotes around Cuzama and Homun and the flamingos in the Celestun mangroves, and both are rewarding. For half the year, though, the heat confines activity to the mornings.

Merida is the better base for excursions. Uxmal and the Ruta Puuc lie to the south, Chichen Itza and Valladolid to the east, and Dzibilchaltun and Mayapan are short outings. Yellow-painted Izamal and the old haciendas fill the gaps, so there is a run of major Maya sites within a couple of hours.

Oaxaca's day trips are smaller but close together in the Central Valleys: Mitla's stone fretwork, Yagul, the Tule cypress, weaving and pottery villages and the mezcal country. Colectivos make two or three stops a day easy, whereas Merida's ruins are best reached by car or on a tour.

Merida is the easier of the two with children. It has a free zoo and playground in the Parque del Centenario and the larger Animaya zoo. Calm, shallow water at Progreso and the cenotes give younger children breaks from sightseeing.

Oaxaca has no zoo or aquarium, and most outings are to sun-baked ruins and craft villages. These suit older children, who may enjoy painting an alebrije or making chocolate. The main hardship is the heat in Merida and the cobbles in Oaxaca.

Oaxaca is easier to cover on foot. Almost everything lies within a twenty-minute walk of the zócalo, the pedestrian Macedonio Alcalá links the main sights, and colectivos run out to the valley villages, so a car is rarely needed.

Merida's numbered grid is simple to follow, but narrow pavements and the midday heat make walking harder. The Puuc sites, cenotes and haciendas really call for a hire car, though the flat roads make driving straightforward.

Both are craft cities, but Oaxaca has more to buy and better places to buy it. Galleries and cooperatives around the Macedonio Alcalá sell textiles, barro negro pottery and alebrijes. The villages where these things are made, such as Teotitlán del Valle for rugs and Arrazola for carving, and the Tlacolula market turn shopping into an outing.

Merida's crafts are a narrower range: hammocks, guayaberas, palm hats from Becal and embroidered huipiles, sold in a chaotic central market and in design shops in restored houses. Its malls in the north do have brands, which Oaxaca lacks.

Both are inexpensive, with cheap market meals and taxis and modest entry fees at the ruins. The costs fall differently. In Merida the bigger outlays are a hire car and the major archaeological sites, while free cantina snacks and evening shows stretch a budget. In Oaxaca, rooms cost much more during the Guelaguetza and the Day of the Dead, and the tasting menus are priced for foreign visitors.

Merida has more to watch in an ordinary week. The council's free open-air shows run through the week, from jarana dancing and the trova serenade in Parque Santa Lucia to the Maya ballgame re-enacted in front of the cathedral. The Teatro Jose Peon Contreras hosts the Yucatan Symphony Orchestra.

Oaxaca's great performances are seasonal: the Guelaguetza in July and the Day of the Dead processions. Outside those times there is the state band and marimba music in the zócalo, plus the occasional concert at the Teatro Macedonio Alcalá.

Oaxaca has a bathing ritual of its own, the temazcal. This stone-heated sweat lodge is still used in Zapotec and Mixtec communities, and you can join a ceremony led by a traditional healer in the city or the villages. The milder climate also makes slow days in courtyards and the gardens of Jalatlaco properly restful.

In Merida, relaxation comes from hacienda spas and courtyard hotels with plunge pools and hammocks. The heat from April to June wears visitors down, though, and the centre can be loud with traffic.