Riviera Maya or Roatán?

Both sit on the same warm Caribbean, but the Riviera Maya has more beach and more kinds of it: over 100km of white sand from Puerto Morelos to Tulum, with town beaches at Playa del Carmen, turtle bays at Akumal and Xpu-Ha, and the sand below Tulum's cliff-top ruins. The drawback is sargassum, which in some years fouls the public beaches from spring into late summer.

Roatán's beach life centres on West Bay and the smaller Half Moon Bay, and its great strength is coral just a short swim from the sand. The choice is narrower, West Bay fills up on cruise ship days, and sand flies bite at dawn and dusk.

The Riviera Maya has a regional cuisine worth seeking out: cochinita pibil, sopa de lima and panuchos in the family-run places a few streets back from Playa del Carmen's Quinta Avenida and in Tulum town, plus a group of serious, wood-fired restaurants on Tulum's beach road.

Roatán eats well from the sea, with grilled snapper, conch and the Garifuna coconut stew tapado, and baleadas from roadside stalls for breakfast. Beyond that the range is thin and fine dining is scarce. In both places, visitors who stay inside an all-inclusive resort miss the best of it.

Neither place is a sightseeing destination, but the Riviera Maya at least has Maya ruins on its doorstep: the walled city above the sea at Tulum, the jungle pyramids and raised roads of Coba, and the smaller site at Muyil. Colonial towns and Chichen Itza are a day away inland.

Roatán's heritage lies in its people rather than its buildings: English-speaking Bay Islanders, the Garifuna village of Punta Gorda, and the stilt houses of Oak Ridge. A small museum covers pirates and settlers, and anything grander means a mainland trip of several days.

The Riviera Maya has two proper night scenes. Playa del Carmen's streets around Calle 12 run bars, rooftops and clubs past 3am, and Tulum draws a fashionable crowd to DJ nights in jungle clearings and beach clubs, especially in winter.

Roatán goes out in West End's beach and dock bars, full at sunset and lively on party nights, but there are no real clubs. With so many guests diving early the next morning, the island is quiet before midnight.

These two are about even, and both are at their best around the Mesoamerican Reef, but they show it differently. The Riviera Maya's wonder is fresh water underground: thousands of cenotes and cave systems like Dos Ojos and Gran Cenote, plus Cozumel's drift-dive walls and the lagoons and mangroves of Sian Ka'an, reached by boat. The land itself is flat and gives no views.

On Roatán the reef is right off the beach, protected by a marine park and often with visibility beyond 20m, and whale sharks pass neighbouring Utila in season. Above water it has green hills and eastern mangroves for kayaking, though no serious hiking.

The Riviera Maya has one great day out and a few good ones. Chichen Itza paired with colonial Valladolid is a long but rewarding road trip, Ek Balam is the quieter version, and ferries cross to Cozumel and, from Cancun, Isla Mujeres.

Roatán's outings are almost all by boat: Utila's wooden harbour village makes the best day, and the protected Cayos Cochinos a longer trip. La Ceiba on the mainland is mostly a transit point, and Copán's ruins are too far for a day.

For children the Riviera Maya is much the easier choice. Resorts with kids' clubs and shallow pools, eco-parks with underground rivers to float down, calm turtle bays at Akumal and short visits to the ruins give a full week. The heat and mosquitoes are the main drawbacks.

Roatán works as a plain beach stay in West Bay, with snorkelling off the sand, glass-bottom boats and small animal parks. Basic medical facilities, sand flies and unlit roads make it better suited to older children who swim well or want to learn to dive.

The Riviera Maya is easier to get around, because everything sits along one flat coastal highway served by long-distance buses and colectivo vans that stop on request at beaches and cenote turnoffs. Bicycles suit Tulum, and a hire car opens up Coba. Taxis, especially in Tulum, cost more than they should.

Roatán's West End and West Bay are walkable and linked by water taxi. Beyond them a single hilly road with minibuses and taxis, where you agree the fare first, leads east, and it is potholed and unlit at night.

The Riviera Maya gives shoppers more to work with: Playa del Carmen's long pedestrian Quinta Avenida for silver, Talavera pottery and beachwear, and Tulum's small boutiques of linen, baskets and design pieces. The best crafts, such as embroidered huipiles, are better bought inland in Valladolid.

Roatán offers little more than souvenirs, carved mahogany and shell jewellery from stalls in West End and by the cruise piers, with a few galleries of local painting. Pack what you need before you go.

Neither is cheap for its country, but Roatán is somewhat kinder to a budget. West Bay resorts charge Caribbean prices, yet West End has simple guesthouses, dive hostels and cheap food stalls, and dive courses cost less here than almost anywhere in the Caribbean.

On the Riviera Maya, Tulum's beach hotels and restaurants charge like European resorts, and eco-park tickets and cenote fees soon add up. Staying a few blocks back in Playa del Carmen or Puerto Morelos and travelling by colectivo keeps costs down. Winter is the most expensive season on both.

Neither place is for theatre or concert lovers, but the Riviera Maya has more on stage: big eco-park evening spectacles of Maya ball games, folk dance and mariachi, resort shows, and live Latin, reggae and rock in the bars of Playa del Carmen and Tulum.

Roatán's one distinctive tradition is Garifuna drumming and punta dance, seen at Punta Gorda and village celebrations. Apart from that there is a beach-bar band in West End on a good night.

The Riviera Maya is the stronger wellness destination by a distance. Tulum's jungle yoga shalas, retreats and palm-thatch spas, the traditional temazcal sweat lodge, and some of Mexico's largest resort spas between Playa del Carmen and Tulum give real choice. Puerto Morelos and Akumal are the calmest bases.

Roatán has resort spas, massages under the palms and a few yoga classes. What it really offers is a slow pace, with hammocks over the eastern mangroves and early nights, as long as you avoid the western beaches on cruise days.