Puerto Escondido or Puerto Vallarta?

Both are serious beach destinations, and the difference is the kind of water. Puerto Escondido sits on the open Pacific: Zicatela's long golden beach is for watching heavy surf rather than swimming, so swimmers and snorkellers head for the small sheltered coves of Carrizalillo, Puerto Angelito and Manzanillo, and the sea stays warmer through the winter.

Puerto Vallarta lies inside Banderas Bay, so the water is generally calmer and swimming is possible from the main town beach at Los Muertos, with long, flat sands at Nuevo Vallarta and jungle coves like Las Animas and Yelapa reached by water taxi. Expect busier stretches lined with loungers and coarser sand than at Puerto Escondido's coves.

Puerto Vallarta eats better. Beyond the beach grills and street tacos of birria and marlin, it has a real restaurant tier, with chef-run dining rooms in the hills that a town of Puerto Escondido's size lacks.

Puerto Escondido's strength is narrower: grilled fish, ceviche and the Oaxacan cooking of tlayudas, moles and tamales, washed down with mezcal, plus the international cafés of La Punta. It is good, honest eating, but the choice runs out sooner.

Neither town is a sightseeing trip, but Puerto Vallarta at least has a townscape worth walking: whitewashed, red-tiled lanes climbing the hill, the crown-topped Guadalupe church, the sculptures of the Malecón and a couple of small museums by the Cuale river.

Puerto Escondido has almost nothing in that line beyond El Adoquin, a small church and the lighthouse. Its culture is the Oaxacan coast itself, met in the market and on the fishing beach, and anyone wanting more must go inland to Oaxaca city.

Puerto Vallarta has the bigger night out, with dance clubs on the Malecón filling after midnight, rooftop and mezcal bars in the Zona Romántica and one of Latin America's best-established gay scenes.

Puerto Escondido's going out is a barefoot surf-town scene concentrated at La Punta, with open-air bars and reggaeton or electronic nights, and sunset drinks along Zicatela. It is fun and late in the high season but has no club culture, and both towns quieten in the rainy summer.

The outdoors is a strength in both, but in different shapes. Puerto Escondido's is the open ocean and its lagoons: world-famous surf, dolphin and turtle boat trips, bioluminescence at Manialtepec and the mangrove channels and crocodiles of Lagunas de Chacahua, with little hiking.

Puerto Vallarta mixes sea and mountain. Humpbacks calve in the bay in winter, boats go snorkelling at Los Arcos and the Marietas Islands, and the jungle-covered Sierra Madre behind town adds coastal trails to Yelapa, a botanical garden, zip-lines and mountain biking.

Puerto Vallarta offers more variety for days out. Bucerías, Sayulita and San Pancho line the coast to the north, boat-only Yelapa lies to the south, and the old silver town of San Sebastián del Oeste brings cobbles and pine-covered hills within reach inland.

From Puerto Escondido nearly everything is another beach: the villages of Mazunte, San Agustinillo and Zipolite, the port of Puerto Angel, the bays of Huatulco and Chacahua. Oaxaca city and the mezcal valleys need an overnight stay.

Puerto Vallarta is much better set up for children. The bay is gentle, resorts in Nuevo Vallarta are built around families, and whale trips, a zoo, water parks and turtle releases fill the days, though steep cobbles and summer heat take some managing.

Puerto Escondido works for families who want simple beach days in the calm coves, with turtle releases and surf lessons for older children. But Zicatela's currents rule out swimming there, nothing is built for children, and the town is spread out.

Neither town is easy on foot beyond its core, and in both taxis do most of the work. Puerto Vallarta has a compact walkable centre joined to the Zona Romántica by the Malecón, cheap local buses along the bay, ride-hailing and water taxis to the south shore.

Puerto Escondido splits into separate pockets, the centre, Rinconada and Zicatela to La Punta, linked by taxis and colectivo vans, with steep hills and patchy pavements in between. A car is unnecessary in either, but more useful around Puerto Vallarta for the mountains.

Puerto Vallarta gives shoppers more to find, chiefly Huichol yarn paintings and beadwork, a cluster of art galleries and the municipal market by the Cuale river for silver and textiles, plus malls for everyday needs.

Puerto Escondido's shopping is what a beach town needs: Oaxacan crafts, embroidered blouses and hammocks along El Adoquin, surf shops in Zicatela, and mezcal as the best souvenir.

Puerto Escondido is the cheaper of the two for most travellers. Street food, palapa lunches, taxis and guesthouses cost little and there are hardly any paid sights, though Zicatela's design hotels and international restaurants charge foreign prices.

Puerto Vallarta is a resort town where beachfront hotels, Malecón restaurants and boat tours are priced for visitors, so costs climb faster. Eating at inland taco stands and using local buses narrows the gap.

Neither is a place for theatre or concerts, but Puerto Vallarta has a lively informal stage: cabaret, drag and comedy revues in the Zona Romántica through winter, mariachis in the plazas, folkloric dance and the Papantla flyers on the Malecón.

In Puerto Escondido it comes down to bar bands and DJs in Zicatela and La Punta and the music and dances of the November festival.

Both invite a slow pace, and both offer the temazcal sweat lodge, but Puerto Escondido leans a little further into it, with yoga woven into town life in Zicatela and the hills, more retreats in nearby Mazunte and cheap beach massages.

Puerto Vallarta's version is more polished, built around resort and hill-hotel spas, with retreat centres in the roadless south-shore villages. In both, light sleepers should avoid the party districts, La Punta in one and the Malecón in the other.