Playa del Carmen or Puerto Escondido?

Both towns are built around warm water, but Playa del Carmen gives you more easy swimming. Its sand runs the full length of town, the reef keeps the Caribbean gentle, and Xpu-Ha, Akumal and Cozumel are a short ride or ferry crossing away. The main catch is sargassum in some summers.

Puerto Escondido's Pacific is wilder. Zicatela's golden sand is for watching surfers, not for swimming, so swimmers use the coves of Carrizalillo, Puerto Angelito and Manzanillo. These are calm and clear for snorkelling but small, and Carrizalillo sits at the bottom of a long stairway.

Neither town is worth the journey for food alone, but they taste different. Playa has a long-settled Italian and Argentine community, so good pizza, pasta and coffee are easy to find, and the best tacos al pastor and cochinita pibil are a few blocks inland from Quinta Avenida.

Puerto Escondido cooks the food of Oaxaca: fish grilled a la talla at beach palapas, tlayudas and moles in the market, and mezcal from the valleys poured everywhere.

Neither town has much to see, so culture means a trip out. From Playa that is easy: the small Xaman Ha ruins sit within Playacar, and the great Maya sites are a day trip away. In Puerto Escondido you meet the culture in the market, on the fishing beach and at festivals rather than in sights, and museums or architecture mean the long journey inland to Oaxaca city.

Playa del Carmen is the place for a big night out. Calle 12 and its corner of Quinta Avenida are packed with bars and clubs playing reggaeton and EDM until the early hours, and beach clubs run day parties. Quieter mezcal bars sit further north, and touts come with the strip.

Going out in Puerto Escondido is smaller and barefoot, centred on La Punta's open-air bars and the sunset places along Zicatela. It can run late in winter and in the Mexican vacation weeks, but it thins out in the rains and has no real club culture.

Both are about the ocean, but in different ways. Playa's outdoors is mostly underwater: snorkelling and diving in the clear cenotes along the Ruta de los Cenotes, on the Mesoamerican Reef off Cozumel and with the turtles in Akumal's bay.

Puerto Escondido's happens on the surface: surf at Zicatela, humpback whales offshore in winter, bioluminescence on the Manialtepec lagoon and crocodiles in Chacahua's mangroves. Neither offers real hiking, though Puerto at least has the forested Sierra Sur behind it.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. From Playa del Carmen you can reach the cliff-top ruins of Tulum, the jungle city of Coba, Chichen Itza and colonial Valladolid, with Cozumel and Isla Mujeres by boat, so a week can mix beach days with history.

From Puerto Escondido nearly every outing is more coast: the beach villages of Mazunte, San Agustinillo and Zipolite, the bays of Huatulco and the lagoon village of Chacahua. Oaxaca city and the mezcal valleys need an overnight stay.

Playa del Carmen has been set up for children in a way Puerto has not. The parks of Xcaret, Xel-Ha and Xplor offer underground rivers, zip lines and snorkelling lagoons, and the resorts of Playacar keep families well away from the noise of Calle 12.

Puerto Escondido suits families who are happy with simple days in the calm coves, plus turtle releases and dolphin trips for older children. The town is spread out and the open beaches have dangerous surf, so it takes more planning and closer watching.

Getting around is simpler in Playa. Its small, flat centre is easy to walk end to end, colectivos run along Highway 307 to beaches and cenotes, and buses, the Cozumel ferry and the Tren Maya connect it to the rest of the region. Puerto Escondido is split into separate pockets linked by taxi, steep hills and patchy pavements make walking tiring in the heat, and trips along the coast need a colectivo or a driver.

Neither is a place to go shopping, but Playa has more to offer. Quinta Avenida runs for several kilometres with silver, Talavera pottery and Huichol beadwork, has a few linen boutiques at its northern end and ends at an open-air mall of international brands. In Puerto Escondido there are the craft stalls of El Adoquin with alebrijes and embroidered blouses, plus surf shops in Zicatela. Mezcal is the best thing to take home, and Oaxaca city is the real place for crafts.

In Playa del Carmen the cost follows the tourist map. Hotels near the beach, meals on Quinta Avenida, the resorts of Playacar and the big eco-parks are priced much as they would be in Western Europe or the United States, and dive trips add up fast. The bill only falls once you move a few blocks inland, where apartments, taco stands and colectivo rides bring daily spending closer to the rest of Mexico.

Puerto Escondido starts from a lower base, so the same kind of trip usually costs less. Its expensive corner is the surf strip of Zicatela and La Punta, with design hotels, beachfront villas and international menus, while tlayudas from the evening stalls in the centre and lunches at the beach palapas stay cheap. When you go matters more here than in Playa, because the town fills up with Mexican families over Christmas and Easter, and room prices rise with them.

Neither has a theatre season or concert life. Playa has a little more to watch, chiefly the evening show at Xcaret, which tells Mexican history through dance and the Maya ball game, plus fire dancers on the beach and live bands along Quinta Avenida. In Puerto Escondido it comes down to bar bands, the odd jazz or son jarocho night and the traditional dances of the November festival.

Both offer the temazcal sweat lodge, yoga and beach massages, so the difference is the setting. In Playa, rest means a resort spa in Playacar or a yoga studio in the quieter streets to the north, away from Calle 12. Puerto Escondido is slow without trying, with open-air yoga in the hills and more retreats nearby in Mazunte, but it has no large spas, and La Punta's late nights are a problem for light sleepers.