Puebla or Puerto Vallarta?

There is no contest here. Puebla lies more than 2,000m up, several hours from the Gulf coast, and swimming means a hotel pool or a spring-fed balneario on the edge of town.

Puerto Vallarta is built around its beaches. You can choose between the busy sand of Los Muertos, rock pools at Conchas Chinas, coves such as Yelapa reached by boat, and surf breaks at Sayulita, all in water that stays warm through the year.

Puebla has the stronger food scene and the more distinctive one. This is where mole poblano started, in convent kitchens, and everyday eating runs from cemitas and chalupas to tacos árabes and the boxed sweets of the Calle de los Dulces, all of it cheap.

Puerto Vallarta's strength is Pacific seafood: pescado zarandeado grilled on the beach, ceviche and aguachile, with marlin tacos and raicilla in the evening. It has a broader range of restaurants with sea views, but much of the seafront food is safe tourist fare.

Puebla is the place for sightseeing. Its colonial grid packs dozens of churches into a few blocks, and the gilded Capilla del Rosario, the seventeenth-century Palafoxiana library, the Museo Amparo and the forts of the 1862 battle could fill several days.

Puerto Vallarta's charm is its townscape, not monuments. There are whitewashed streets on the hill, the crown-topped church tower and the sculptures along the Malecón, and a small naval museum and the galleries are enough for an afternoon.

Puerto Vallarta goes out later and harder. Dance clubs face the sea along the Malecón and fill after midnight, and the Zona Romántica adds rooftop bars, beach clubs and one of Latin America's longest-established gay scenes.

Puebla's evenings are more about conversation: mezcal bars, cantinas and terraces looking onto the cathedral. For dancing, students head out to the bar strip in Cholula or the clubs of Angelópolis.

Puerto Vallarta puts nature on the doorstep. Humpback whales calve in the bay in winter, boats go out to Los Arcos and the Marietas Islands for snorkelling, and coastal trails run through jungle to Yelapa.

Puebla's landscape is grander but further away. Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl rise on the skyline, and La Malinche is a serious climb to over 4,400m, but almost every outing needs a car, a tour or an early bus.

Puebla has more to see within easy reach, and of greater weight. There is the Great Pyramid at Cholula, the tiled village churches of Tonantzintla and Acatepec, the Huejotzingo convent, and Tlaxcala with the Cacaxtla murals, and even Mexico City is possible in a long day.

Puerto Vallarta's outings are mostly beach towns along the coast, such as Sayulita and San Pancho, plus the boat to Yelapa. The best inland trip is to the old silver town of San Sebastián del Oeste.

Puerto Vallarta is the easier choice with children, as long as the beach is the plan. There are gentle water and kids' clubs in Nuevo Vallarta, whale and turtle trips, and ice cream on the Malecón in the evening.

Puebla's main draw for children is the drive-through Africam Safari, plus the tunnels at Cholula and the observation wheel. Otherwise its churches and museums are aimed at adults, and the altitude can tire small legs.

Neither city has a metro, and in both you rely on taxis and ride-hailing once you leave the centre, but the layouts differ. Puebla's historic core is a flat, logical grid where nearly everything is a short walk from the zócalo, and day trips mean buses or tours.

Puerto Vallarta's centre is compact but cobbled and steep in places, and the town then runs a long way round the bay. Coastal buses and water taxis to the south-shore villages help, and a car is useful for the Riviera Nayarit.

Puebla has a little more to offer, and it is built around one craft. You can watch Talavera pottery being painted in old workshops, then browse onyx at El Parián and the weekend antiques stalls on the Callejón de los Sapos, with large malls in Angelópolis for brands.

Puerto Vallarta's best buys are Huichol yarn paintings and beadwork, along with gallery art and silver from the river-island stalls, though the mass-produced souvenirs need sifting.

Puebla is clearly cheaper, even by Mexican standards. Colonial-house hotels near the zócalo, street food and taxis all cost little, and only the smartest places approach international prices.

Puerto Vallarta charges resort prices on the beachfront, for boat tours and in the winter high season. You can still save by eating at inland taco stands and family places, taking local buses and staying in old-centre guesthouses.

Performance is a side attraction in both cities, but the style differs. Puebla leans formal: plays and concerts in the historic Teatro Principal, orchestral and dance evenings at the university's cultural complex, and folk dance around the 5 de Mayo festivities.

Puerto Vallarta's stage is more informal. It has drag, comedy and revues in the Zona Romántica's cabaret scene in winter, Latin jazz in the bars, and the Papantla flyers spinning down their pole on the Malecón.

Puerto Vallarta is better for unwinding. The pace of slow mornings and sunsets over the bay helps, along with resort and hillside spas, beachside massage, and yoga retreats in the roadless villages to the south.

Puebla offers temazcal sweat lodges around Cholula and the sulphur pools of the Agua Azul balneario. Otherwise its calm comes from shaded courtyards and long lunches, and city traffic breaks it up.