Merida or Tulum?

These are very different beach trips. Merida is inland, and its nearest sea at Progreso is warm, calm and shallow but greenish, along a flat, plain shore that fills with local families at weekends. Most visitors do their real swimming in the cenotes.

Tulum is built around its coast: long pale sand under palms, turquoise water and the ruins on the cliff above. Sargassum can spoil the sand in the warmer months and the town is a few kilometres from the shore, but for days in the sea it is in another league.

Merida is where Yucatecan cooking is at home. Cochinita pibil comes in breakfast tortas at the Lucas de Galvez and Santiago markets, relleno negro and papadzules fill the family loncherias, and marquesita carts work the squares at night.

Tulum serves some of the same dishes, mostly at taco stands in town. Its reputation, though, rests on candlelit fire-cooking along the beach road, where the setting often outshines the plate and menus repeat the same ceviche-and-smoothie-bowl formula.

Merida gives you a whole colonial city to explore. There is the cathedral of San Ildefonso, built from Maya temple stones, the carved conquest facade of the Casa de Montejo, the henequen-era mansions of Paseo de Montejo, and the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya, which makes sense of the ruins before you visit them.

In Tulum, culture comes down to the walled Maya port, with El Castillo above the sea, and it takes a couple of hours to see. The town itself is a low, modern grid with no museums of note.

The two go out in quite different ways. Merida's evenings are relaxed and local: mezcal bars on Calle 60, rooftops over the old town and cantinas serving free botanas, with a few clubs going late at weekends.

Tulum is better known for nights out, with DJ sets in jungle clearings, beach clubs that run into the night and full-moon parties, all at their peak in winter and around New Year. Away from those events the town is fairly quiet, and the big nights are expensive.

Both cities sit on the same flat limestone plain with cenotes beneath it, but Tulum has the better of it. Gran Cenote and Dos Ojos are among the world's great places for cavern snorkelling and cave diving, and Sian Ka'an adds lagoons, mangroves and reef, with dolphins and turtles.

From Merida you reach the cenotes around Cuzama and Homun by bicycle or horse-drawn rail cart, and Celestun's flamingos are a drive of about an hour and a half west. Neither city has hills or real hiking.

Both make good bases for the Maya world, but more of it is within reach of Merida. Uxmal and the Ruta Puuc sites are about an hour south, Dzibilchaltun is barely half an hour out, and the yellow town of Izamal and the old henequen haciendas are close in every direction.

From Tulum, Coba is under an hour inland and Chichen Itza about two hours away, the same as from Merida. Tulum's advantage is the coast: Playa del Carmen, the ferry to Cozumel and the lagoon at Bacalar.

Tulum gives children more to do, mostly in the water: warm sea, turtles in the shallows at Akumal, calm cenote pools and the big eco-parks at Xel-Ha and Xcaret. The drawback is that much of the beach strip is aimed at couples and late parties, so families do best with a pool rental and a car.

Merida is calmer, with a free zoo at the Parque del Centenario, Animaya on the edge of town and easy evenings in the squares. However, the heat, the uneven pavements and the ruins in full sun make it harder going, and nothing there is built specially for children.

Merida is the easier of the two to get around. Its centre is a compact numbered grid, and most sights are a walk from the Plaza Grande, although the midday heat and narrow pavements make that walk hard work. Taxis and ride-hailing cover anything further out.

Tulum's small centre is walkable, but the town, the beach and the hotel strip lie kilometres apart along a highway. Most days start on a bicycle or in a taxi that costs a lot for the distance. The two do have one thing in common: from either base, the cenotes and outlying ruins are much easier with a hire car or a tour.

Merida is the better place to buy Yucatecan crafts. Hammocks are its speciality, and it also sells guayabera shirts, Panama hats from Becal and embroidered huipiles, in the chaotic streets around the Lucas de Galvez market or in galleries in the restored houses. For brands there are the malls in the north of the city.

Tulum's shopping is narrower and more expensive: a single boho look of linen, macramé and woven bags in the beach-road boutiques, with cheaper crafts on the main avenue.

Merida is much the cheaper stay. Market meals cost little, cantina snacks come free with drinks, and many cultural evenings are free. Even the boutique hotels in courtyard townhouses are fair for what they offer, and the main extra costs are a hire car and the entrance fees at the ruins.

Tulum is one of the most expensive places to stay in Mexico, with resort pricing at beach-road hotels and restaurants, beach clubs and taxis, and every cenote charges its own entry. A budget trip there means staying in town and cycling to the sea.

Merida has a real programme, much of it free. Jarana dancers perform the vaqueria, trova trios sing at the Santa Lucia serenade and the Maya ballgame is re-enacted in front of the cathedral, while the Teatro Jose Peon Contreras hosts the Yucatan Symphony Orchestra and ballet.

Tulum has no theatre or concert hall at all. Live music means bar bands on the main avenue and saxophone over DJ sets, and traditional dance appears mostly as a show at the eco-parks.

Wellness is central to Tulum. The jungle strip has yoga shalas, retreat hotels and open-air spas, and many places run temazcal sweat-lodge ceremonies. For a quiet stay, pick somewhere well away from the clubs.

Merida offers less, and nothing like a retreat scene: hacienda spas outside town, courtyard plunge pools, hammocks and shuttered afternoons. The centre is loud with traffic, and the spring heat tires you out rather than restoring you.