Mexico City or Sao Paulo?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Sao Paulo has the sea within reach. The road down the Serra do Mar brings you to Guarujá or the broad urban beaches of Santos in about an hour, so a day by the water is possible, and the prettier coves of Ubatuba and Ilhabela make a weekend.

Mexico City sits on a high plateau, and the Pacific at Acapulco is several hours away by road. Swimming there means a hotel pool, so beach time has to be planned as a separate leg of the trip.

Both are serious eating cities, with Mexico City slightly ahead because its street food is so central and so cheap. Al pastor from the spit late at night, tamales at breakfast, and counters in Medellín, San Juan and La Merced markets make every walk a meal, while Roma, Condesa and Polanco add cantinas, pulquerías and tasting menus built on regional produce.

Sao Paulo's strength is the variety brought by immigration: sushi and noodles in Liberdade, pizza and cantinas in Bixiga, Lebanese and Syrian cooking everywhere, and the mortadella sandwich at the Mercado Municipal. Padarias and botecos carry the daily rhythm, and Jardins and Pinheiros hold some of South America's most ambitious kitchens.

Mexico City is in another league here. Its historic centre layers the Aztec Templo Mayor, the cathedral and Rivera's murals in the National Palace, and the National Museum of Anthropology alone can fill a day. Coyoacán's Frida Kahlo house and the canals of Xochimilco add more than a week can easily hold.

Sao Paulo's heritage is mostly twentieth century. MASP's glass easels, the Pinacoteca's Brazilian collection and the modernism of Niemeyer in Ibirapuera and Lina Bo Bardi at SESC Pompeia reward anyone interested in architecture, but colonial history is thin and the sights are spread out.

For a night that ends at breakfast, Sao Paulo has the edge. Mexico City's evenings centre on the tree-lined streets of Roma and Condesa, where it is easy to walk between mezcalerías, cocktail bars and rooftop terraces. The old Centro cantinas and the salsa and cumbia halls make for a more local night.

Sao Paulo goes on longer and harder. An evening tends to move from a boteco pavement in Vila Madalena to cocktail bars and then to a club after 2am. Gritty Baixo Augusta, Pinheiros and the República area each draw a different crowd, and the city's electronic venues are known well beyond Brazil.

This is a draw, and in both the outdoors means leaving the sprawl through heavy traffic. Mexico City's appeal is altitude and volcanoes: the pine forests of Desierto de los Leones, the Paso de Cortés between Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl, the crater lakes of Nevado de Toluca and the monarch butterfly reserves in winter.

Sao Paulo looks to green forest instead, with the Atlantic Forest of the Serra do Mar, its waterfalls and the misty railway village of Paranapiacaba, plus cooler hills around Campos do Jordão. Inside the city, Ibirapuera plays the role Chapultepec does in Mexico City.

Mexico City has much the stronger set of outings. Teotihuacan's pyramids are about an hour away, Puebla and the great Cholula pyramid about two, and to the south lie Cuernavaca, cliff-backed Tepoztlán and the silver town of Taxco, each a real destination.

Sao Paulo's options are pleasant but modest: historic Santos and its coffee exchange, the craft market at Embu das Artes and the wineries of São Roque. The region's finest colonial town, Paraty, is too far to do in a day.

Mexico City is a little easier with children, largely because its sights double as adventures. A trajinera ride through Xochimilco, a night at the lucha libre and a day walking the Avenue of the Dead between the pyramids at Teotihuacan add to the Chapultepec zoo, the Papalote museum and the boating lakes.

Sao Paulo has the hands-on Catavento museum, a zoo with a drive-through safari and water parks near Vinhedo. In both cities, long car rides and crowds tire small children, and in Mexico City the altitude adds to the tiredness for the first couple of days.

Mexico City's large, colour-coded metro reaches far more of the city than Sao Paulo's does, which makes it the easier of the two to cover. The Centro, Roma, Condesa and Coyoacán are pleasant to walk. The trains are crushed at rush hour, though, and ride-hailing is the usual way home at night.

Sao Paulo's metro is clean, efficient and easy to use, but the network is small for a city of that size, so many trips mean a bus or a ride-hailing car through notorious traffic. Hills and long distances keep walking to single districts such as Jardins or Vila Madalena. The exception is Avenida Paulista, which is closed to cars on Sundays.

Mexico City has the edge for things you cannot find elsewhere. La Ciudadela gathers crafts from across the country, from Oaxacan pottery to alebrijes and silver, while the San Ángel bazaar and the La Lagunilla flea market make long browses, and Polanco's Masaryk covers luxury.

Sao Paulo is stronger on fashion and malls: Brazilian labels and swimwear on Rua Oscar Freire, lavish shopping centres, and the wholesale chaos of Rua 25 de Março. Havaianas and beachwear are the souvenirs to take home, but heavy import taxes keep international brands expensive.

Mexico City is the cheaper of the two, and noticeably so for anyone who eats on the street. Tacos, market lunches and metro rides cost very little, and staying in the Centro rather than Roma, Condesa or Polanco keeps the bill low.

Sao Paulo's everyday city, the set lunch plate, a padaria coffee or a boteco beer, is still good value. Its upper tier is dearer, though, with Jardins and Itaim hotels and restaurants priced close to Southern Europe, and imported wine is costly.

These two are evenly matched, and the difference is one of flavour. Mexico City's showpiece is the Ballet Folklórico at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, easy to enjoy without Spanish, with mariachis in Plaza Garibaldi and lucha libre at Arena México for a noisy, theatrical night.

Sao Paulo's draw is live Brazilian music, with samba circles, choro and MPB in bars, the acclaimed acoustics of Sala São Paulo in its old railway station, and the low-cost SESC programmes. In both cities, most theatre is in the local language.

Neither is a place to unwind, but Mexico City offers a little more. The temazcal, a pre-Hispanic steam bath, gives it a ritual of its own, and the spa towns of Cuernavaca and Tepoztlán are close enough for a restful break.

Sao Paulo has no bathing tradition, so relaxing there means hotel spas in Jardins and Itaim, a few Japanese-style spots and a slow afternoon in Ibirapuera. Anyone wanting real rest generally heads for the coast or the hills.