San Miguel de Allende or Sayulita?

There is no contest here. San Miguel is on the high central plateau, so swimming means a hotel pool or a soak in the warm spring pools in the valley. If you want a beach, plan it as a separate part of the trip.

Sayulita is built around its bay. The gentle, rolling waves make it one of the best places on the Pacific coast to learn to surf, and the sea stays warm all year. If the town beach is crowded, or the river mouth is muddy after rain, Playa de los Muertos and Playa Carricitos are a short walk away, and San Pancho and Punta de Mita have longer, quieter sand.

San Miguel eats better and offers more choice. There are rooftop terraces over the Parroquia, courtyard restaurants in colonial houses and chefs cooking with Bajío nopal, mesquite and local cheeses. At the cheaper end are the Mercado Ignacio Ramírez and the Sunday tianguis, and Guanajuato wines fill many of the wine lists.

Sayulita's strength is simpler food: fish tacos, ceviche and aguachile from the morning's catch, and whole grilled fish at the beach shacks. Beyond that, many menus are aimed at the surf crowd, with smoothie bowls and pizza. For a serious dinner, people drive to Puerto Vallarta.

In San Miguel, the whole centre is the sight. It is a UNESCO-listed hillside of cobbles and ochre façades under the pink spires of the Parroquia, and San Felipe Neri, the Templo de la Concepción, Casa de Allende and the Siqueiros mural are all within a few blocks. There are no major museums, so two unhurried days cover it.

Sayulita has almost nothing of this kind: a small plaza, a modest church, the hillside cemetery and Huichol art in the galleries. For culture, take a day out to the old town of Puerto Vallarta.

Neither has a club scene, and in both, serious clubbers have to go elsewhere, but the evenings feel different. In San Miguel, the night starts with drinks on a rooftop as the Parroquia lights up and moves on to mezcal bars and cantinas. It stays busy late mainly at weekends, when visitors arrive from Mexico City and Querétaro.

Sayulita's nights are younger and depend more on the season. The evening starts with sunset drinks on the sand. In winter, a few blocks of bars around the plaza have DJs and a surf and backpacker crowd, but in summer many nights end early.

Sayulita has far more to do outdoors. Jungle-covered hills run down to the Pacific, and the surfing ranges from beginner waves in the bay to reef breaks at Punta de Mita. From December to March, humpback whales come into the Bay of Banderas to calve, and boats go out to the Marietas Islands reserve.

San Miguel's landscape is dry scrub and cactus. The best way to see it is on the canyon trails of El Charco del Ingenio, on horseback, by mountain bike or from a hot-air balloon at dawn. It fills a morning rather than a whole trip.

San Miguel is the much better base for day trips. Guanajuato, with its painted houses packed into a ravine, and Querétaro, with its aqueduct and convents, are each about an hour away, and the murals of Atotonilco are closer still. Dolores Hidalgo, Mineral de Pozos, Bernal and Cañada de la Virgen add to the list, though you need a car or a driver for the smaller places.

The outings from Sayulita are along the coast. You can visit the malecón and old town of Puerto Vallarta, the villages of San Pancho, Bucerías and Chacala, or spend a long day at the old port of San Blas and its mangroves. They are pleasant, but none is a major heritage site.

Sayulita works better with children, mainly because of the water. Surf schools take children out on soft waves, and Playa de los Muertos is a sheltered cove for younger swimmers. There are no attractions built for children, though, and the summer heat is heavy.

San Miguel is a town for adults, full of galleries and rooftop bars. Older children may enjoy the spring pools, a horse ride or the fireworks at the fiestas, but younger ones soon run out of things to do. A pushchair is hard work in both places, on San Miguel's steep cobbles and on Sayulita's dusty lanes full of golf carts.

In both places you walk once you have arrived, and in both the walking is hard on the feet. San Miguel's centre is compact but steep, and the uneven stones feel harder at an altitude of about 1,900m. There is no airport in town, so you arrive by shuttle from Querétaro or León.

Sayulita is smaller still, and you can cross it in ten minutes. Its lanes are dirt or cobble with almost no pavements, and you share them with golf carts. The airport at Puerto Vallarta is about an hour away by slow bus or taxi. To reach the neighbouring beaches, you need a taxi, a golf cart or a hire car.

San Miguel is the place to shop for crafts and the home. The stepped Mercado de Artesanías sells punched tin lanterns, blown glass and silver, design shops carry talavera, rugs and carved furniture, and the old textile mill is full of studios and antique dealers. There is no fashion and there are no big brands.

Shopping in Sayulita is smaller and suited to the beach, with boutiques for linen, swimwear and jewellery, and surf shops. The best buy is Huichol beadwork. It is worth an hour or two rather than a whole day.

Both cost more than most of Mexico, and neither is a budget base. In San Miguel, the money goes on boutique hotels in colonial houses and restaurants around the Jardín, and costs peak at weekends and during the festivals. The churches and streets you came to see cost nothing.

Sayulita is priced for North American visitors. Villas, surf lessons and boat trips add up, and good places book up early for Christmas, New Year and Semana Santa. The ways to save differ: in Sayulita, a summer stay costs noticeably less, while in San Miguel you save by eating and sleeping away from the centre.

San Miguel has a real, if modest, programme. The nineteenth-century Teatro Ángela Peralta hosts concerts and dance, and chamber music and jazz festivals fill their seasons. Mariachi bands play on the Jardín every evening, and there is street music at the Alborada and during Holy Week.

Sayulita has no theatre or concert hall at all. Live music means a band in a bar on a high-season evening or a busker by the plaza. For anything more formal, you have to go to Puerto Vallarta.

San Miguel comes out ahead, thanks to its hot springs. The open-air pools and domed grottoes of hot mineral water towards Atotonilco make an easy half day. The town adds day spas, temazcal sweat lodges and yoga, and the slow pace of courtyards and rooftops suits its dry, mild climate.

Sayulita's strength is yoga. There are hillside shalas, week-long retreats, massage and sound healing, all fitted around the surf and the sunset. It has no thermal baths, and the village centre is noisy in high season, so if you want real quiet, stay on the hillsides or out towards San Pancho.