Puerto Escondido or Sayulita?

Both towns are built around the beach, and both have warm Pacific water, but the beaches work very differently. Puerto Escondido's coast changes every few hundred metres. Zicatela is a powerful surf beach for watching, not swimming, while Carrizalillo, Puerto Angelito and Manzanillo are calm, clear coves good for snorkelling.

Sayulita has one main bay with soft, rolling waves where the whole village learns to surf. It gets crowded, so swimmers walk to Playa de los Muertos or along the jungle path to Carricitos. San Pancho and the Punta de Mita beaches are within half an hour, closer than Mazunte and Zipolite are to Puerto Escondido.

Puerto Escondido eats a little better. That is thanks to the cooking of Oaxaca: tlayudas, moles and tamales at the market and evening street stalls, mezcal from the valleys inland and fish grilled a la talla on the beach. Rinconada also has a handful of more polished restaurants.

Sayulita's best food is simpler and coastal: fish tacos, aguachile, al pastor around the plaza. Its layer of smoothie bowls and international menus can feel interchangeable, and for a serious dinner people drive to Puerto Vallarta.

Neither town is a sightseeing destination. Each has a modest church and a small centre and no museums at all. What differs is the cultural thread you meet. In Puerto Escondido it is the Oaxacan coast of the market, the fishing beach and the festivals, with Oaxaca city's architecture a long way inland. In Sayulita it is Huichol art sold in galleries, along with the hillside cemetery and the papel picado over the streets.

Puerto Escondido has the livelier nights. La Punta is a proper barefoot party quarter, with reggaeton and electronic nights running late in high season, and Zicatela's beachfront adds sunset bars and mezcal places.

Sayulita goes out more than a village usually would, with bars around the plaza and a few DJs past midnight in winter. Still, it is a few blocks rather than a district, and anyone wanting clubs drives to Puerto Vallarta. Both scenes go quiet in the rainy summer.

Puerto Escondido has the edge outdoors. Zicatela is one of the world's great big-wave breaks, and nearby you have the bioluminescent Manialtepec lagoon, the mangroves and crocodiles of Chacahua and turtle hatchling releases on the beaches.

Sayulita's nature is greener and gentler. Jungle hills run down to the sea, and footpaths and mountain-bike trails cross the headlands. In winter, humpbacks calve in the Bay of Banderas, and boats go out to the protected Marietas Islands. It is the better place for beginner surfers, less so for anyone chasing heavy waves.

Sayulita has more to do in a day. Puerto Vallarta, about an hour south, offers a real town, with its malecón, the old centre around the crowned Guadalupe church, and galleries. Beyond that, the colonial ruins and river trips of San Blas and fishing villages like Chacala are within reach.

From Puerto Escondido, the day trips are mostly more beach: Mazunte, Zipolite and Puerto Angel, or Huatulco's bays. Oaxaca city and the mezcal valleys really need an overnight stay.

These two are equally suited to families, and in similar ways: simple beach days, no zoo or aquarium, and strong heat. The details differ, though. Puerto Escondido has safe coves for paddling and snorkelling, but its open beaches are dangerous and the town is spread out.

Sayulita is compact, and its surf schools teach children on gentle waves. On the other hand, its cobbled lanes with no pavements and its golf-cart traffic make pushchairs hard work.

Sayulita is easier to get around because it is so small. You can cross the village on foot in about ten minutes, even if the cobbles and dirt lanes are rough. For the coast, there are slow buses to Puerto Vallarta, rented golf carts or a hire car.

Puerto Escondido is split into separate pockets: the centre, Rinconada and Zicatela down to La Punta. Steep hills and patchy pavements lie between them, so you end up taking plentiful taxis or colectivo vans every day.

Shopping in Puerto Escondido is practical. Its Oaxacan crafts are genuine, but on El Adoquin they share the street with the souvenir trade, and Zicatela's surf shops are for gear rather than browsing. Serious craft buyers wait for the markets and workshops of Oaxaca city inland, and a bottle of mezcal is the thing to take home from the coast.

Sayulita is the better place for an afternoon of shopping, because its small boutiques share a recognisable beach style instead of looking like a row of stalls. Its Huichol galleries also offer a speciality that Puerto Escondido has no equivalent for. Still, the shopping is on a village scale, with no fashion streets or department stores.

Puerto Escondido is clearly the cheaper vacation. Street tacos, market meals, taxis and simple guesthouses cost little. Only the design hotels and international restaurants of Zicatela and La Punta charge well above the local norm.

Sayulita's rooms, villas and visitor restaurants are priced for North Americans, and surf lessons and yoga add up. Taco stands, fondas and the regional bus stay cheap, and a summer visit lowers the cost of a room noticeably.

There is little stage culture in either town, with no theatre or concert hall in either. Puerto Escondido has bar bands, the odd son jarocho night and traditional dances at its November festival. Sayulita offers acoustic sets, buskers and occasional mariachi, and Puerto Vallarta is close by for a proper concert.

Both are slow-paced yoga towns, with open-air studios, retreats and temazcal sweat lodges, and neither has thermal baths. In Puerto Escondido, the yoga spreads into Mazunte nearby, beach massages are cheap, and light sleepers should avoid La Punta.

Sayulita has more of a retreat-villa culture, with sound healing alongside the yoga. Its crowded, noisy centre in high season sends people seeking real quiet to the hillsides or to San Pancho.