Oaxaca or Zihuatanejo?

Zihuatanejo is a beach destination and Oaxaca is not one at all. The bay gives you calm, warm swimming at Playa La Ropa, snorkelling over the old reef at Las Gatas and quiet coves on Isla Ixtapa. Ixtapa adds longer open-ocean beaches, though the surf there needs care.

Oaxaca sits in a highland valley with mountains between it and the Pacific, so in the city the only swimming is in a hotel pool. If you want both, the usual plan is a week inland followed by a few days on the coast.

Oaxaca is a food destination in its own right. It is known for its many moles, tlayudas grilled over charcoal and the smoky grill aisle of the Mercado 20 de Noviembre, with mezcal from village distilleries and chef-led tasting menus on top.

Zihuatanejo's cooking is good but narrower: tiritas, fish grilled a la talla on the beach and pozole on Thursdays. It is honest coastal food to enjoy on a beach vacation, not a reason to plan one.

The difference here is large. Oaxaca's UNESCO-listed colonial centre, the gilded interior of Santo Domingo, the Tomb 7 treasure and the Tamayo and textile museums fill two or three full days, and Monte Albán is only twenty minutes away.

Zihuatanejo offers a small archaeological museum on the waterfront and the whitewashed streets of a working fishing town. That is pleasant for an hour, but there is little else to see.

Neither is a clubbing town, but Oaxaca has more to fill an evening. Its mezcal tasting bars in the centre and Jalatlaco, the rooftops facing Santo Domingo and the Macedonio Alcalá stay lively later. Zihuatanejo's nights are a sunset drink and a long dinner, and the louder beach bars and few clubs are up the coast in Ixtapa, busiest in high season.

The two are level for outdoor appeal, but one is about the mountains and the other about the sea. From Oaxaca you hike village to village through the pine-oak and cloud forest of the Sierra Norte, cycle among agave fields or visit the stone falls at Hierve el Agua.

Around Zihuatanejo nearly everything happens on or beside the water: diving and snorkelling, sport fishing, humpback whales in winter, nesting turtles, and the birds and crocodiles of the Barra de Potosí lagoon. Hiking there is limited.

Oaxaca is the better base for outings. Within an hour you can reach the great cypress at Tule, the weaving looms of Teotitlán, the stone fretwork of Mitla and the mezcal pits of Matatlán, and the Mixteca Alta monasteries make a longer day. Colectivos and tours make it easy to combine two or three stops.

From Zihuatanejo the outings are small: a surf day in Troncones, lunch on the sand at Barra de Potosí or the ball court at Xihuacan. Anything bigger is too far for a comfortable return.

Oaxaca gives older children more to do with their hands. They can paint an alebrije in the carving villages or join a chocolate or tortilla-making session, and the zócalo has balloon sellers and music in the evenings. But nothing in the city is built for children: there is no zoo, aquarium or theme park, and younger ones may find the days long.

Zihuatanejo works better for families because the town is small and the sea fills the day. Away from the sand, children can spot crocodiles in the mangrove channels near Playa Linda and see sea turtles nesting in the second half of the year. Keep to the bay, though, because the open-ocean beaches such as El Palmar have surf and currents that are no place for small swimmers.

Oaxaca is easier on foot, since almost everything a visitor wants lies within a twenty-minute walk of the zócalo, and colectivos run out to the valley villages. Zihuatanejo's own centre is compact too, but its beaches are spread around a hilly bay with few pavements. Getting between them means taxis, buses or a water taxi to Las Gatas.

The real difference is where the buying happens. In Oaxaca you can go to the villages where things are made: rugs straight off the looms in Teotitlán del Valle, black barro negro in San Bartolo Coyotepec, painted alebrijes in Arrazola and San Martín Tilcajete, and the weekly markets at Tlacolula and Ocotlán. Back in the centre, the galleries around the Macedonio Alcalá sell huipiles and tin work, and the markets sell mole paste, chocolate and mezcal you can take home.

Zihuatanejo has a single artisans' market near the centre, selling hammocks, Taxco silver and Olinalá lacquerware from the Guerrero mountains, plus a small plaza in Ixtapa. It's fine for a few gifts, but you can't plan a trip around it.

Both are good value, and Oaxaca is a little easier on the budget. Market food, colectivos and site entry cost little, and only the boutique hotels and festival weeks are expensive. Zihuatanejo is also cheap if you stay in town and eat at taquerías. Costs rise in the hillside hotels above La Ropa, the Ixtapa resorts and during the winter high season.

Oaxaca has the bigger performing tradition. Its high points are the Guelaguetza dances in July and the street processions of the Day of the Dead, and the rest of the year there is marimba in the zócalo and concerts at the Teatro Macedonio Alcalá. Zihuatanejo has its yearly guitar festival and some live music in restaurants during high season, but no theatre.

Both suit a slow stay equally well, but the kind of rest differs. In Oaxaca it comes from tradition: a temazcal ceremony led by a healer, shaded courtyards and garden evenings in Jalatlaco, though festival weeks are noisy. In Zihuatanejo it comes from the heat and the sea: reading in the shade between swims, with spas found mainly in the hillside hotels and the Ixtapa resorts.