Puerto Vallarta or Los Cabos?

These are two equally strong beach destinations with different coasts. In Los Cabos the shore splits in two: Medano Beach and coves such as Chileno Bay and Santa Maria Bay on the Sea of Cortez side are calm and clear for snorkelling, while the Pacific beaches, including many in front of the resorts, are too rough to swim. You need to know which side of the cape you are on.

Puerto Vallarta's beaches all face one large and mostly gentle bay, and the water is a few degrees warmer for much of the year. Playa Los Muertos is the lively town beach, Nuevo Vallarta has long flat sands and the jungle coves to the south are reached by water taxi. The sand is coarse and golden, and summer rain can cloud the sea.

Both cities cook from the Pacific catch, but Puerto Vallarta eats better. Taco carts selling birria and al pastor appear on corners in the centre at night, pescado zarandeado is grilled over wood on the beach, and raicilla is a local spirit to try. On top of that there is a wide range of restaurants up to chef-run dining rooms in the hills.

Los Cabos has good fish tacos, aguachile and Baja wines, and it is at its best in San José del Cabo and the farm restaurants above it. Around the Cabo San Lucas marina and in the resorts, though, most meals are generic and expensive.

Neither city is a sightseeing destination, but Puerto Vallarta has a little more to see. Its whitewashed, red-tiled streets climb the hill behind the crown-topped Guadalupe church, the Malecón is lined with bronze sculptures, and the Naval Museum and the small museum on the Cuale river island fill an afternoon. Los Cabos has San José del Cabo's plaza, mission church and gallery art walk, and not much more, because Cabo San Lucas grew from a fishing village with little old fabric left.

The two are equally lively after dark but in different ways. Cabo San Lucas is a straightforward party town: big, loud bars and clubs behind the marina, day drinking on Medano Beach and at its rowdiest around spring break.

Puerto Vallarta has more variety. There are dance clubs facing the sea on the Malecón, and in the Zona Romántica rooftop and mezcal bars and one of Latin America's best-known gay scenes. Its nights quieten down noticeably in the wet summer.

Both are excellent for the outdoors, but the landscapes could hardly be more different. Los Cabos is desert of cactus and granite meeting deep water, which brings marlin sportfishing, whales passing close enough to watch from shore, the sea lions at Land's End and the living reef of Cabo Pulmo. The Sierra de la Laguna offers serious hikes for anyone with the energy.

Puerto Vallarta is green, with jungle ridges dropping into the bay. Here the outings are snorkelling at Los Arcos, boat trips to the Marietas Islands, coastal trails to Yelapa, zip-lines and summer turtle nesting.

Puerto Vallarta has more within easy reach. Bucerías, surfy Sayulita and quiet San Pancho are each about an hour up the coast, Yelapa is a boat ride away, and the mountain road to the silver town of San Sebastián del Oeste makes a fine inland day.

From Los Cabos the choices are fewer and further apart: adobe Todos Santos, a long day in La Paz, or a loop by car through El Triunfo and Miraflores. Beyond those there is mostly open desert.

Puerto Vallarta gives children more to do outside the hotel. They can swim in the calm bay, visit the small zoo at Mismaloya and the water parks, join turtle releases in season and walk the Malecón in the evening. The main drawbacks are steep cobbled streets with a pushchair and the summer heat.

In Los Cabos family life revolves around the all-inclusive pool and kids' club. Chileno Bay and glass-bottom boats are good outings, but there is no zoo or aquarium, and the Pacific surf calls for close watching.

Puerto Vallarta is the easier of the two without a car. The old centre and the Zona Romántica are joined on foot by the Malecón and the Cuale footbridges, and cheap buses, ride-hailing and water taxis cover the rest, although the town stretches a long way north along the bay.

Los Cabos is two towns about 30km apart with resorts strung along the highway between them. Most hotels stand on their own, so visitors end up paying for taxis and shuttles or hiring a car.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Puerto Vallarta has the better things to take home. The best buys are Huichol yarn paintings and beadwork from the Sierra Madre, along with the galleries of the old centre and the river market selling silver and textiles. Los Cabos has duty-free malls at the marina aimed at cruise passengers and, more interestingly, the galleries and folk art of San José del Cabo.

This is the widest gap between the two. Los Cabos is among the most expensive places to visit in Mexico, with corridor hotels, marina restaurants and taxis all priced close to US resort levels, and only San José del Cabo's taco stands offer much relief.

Puerto Vallarta also charges tourist prices on the beachfront, but the gap with local prices is wide and easy to use. Eating a few streets inland, taking the buses and staying in the old centre make it good value.

Neither offers theatre or a concert season, but Puerto Vallarta at least has evening shows. The Zona Romántica has a long-running winter cabaret scene of drag, comedy and revues, bars put on Latin jazz and acoustic sets, and the Papantla flyers descend their pole on the Malecón. In Los Cabos live entertainment comes down to cover bands in Cabo San Lucas, mariachi and resort dinner shows.

Both offer resort spas and the temazcal sweat lodge, and Los Cabos has a slight edge. The luxury hotels along its corridor make their spas a selling point, with treatment rooms facing the sea and beach yoga, so a quiet stay comes easily if you avoid Cabo San Lucas.

Puerto Vallarta encourages a slow pace in a different way, with long afternoons and sunsets over the bay. Its quietest retreats are the yoga centres in the south-shore villages that have no road.