Adirondacks or Nantucket?

Nantucket has the real beaches. On the sound side, Jetties and Children's Beach have calm, shallow water, and the south shore at Surfside, Cisco and Madaket has long Atlantic sand and proper surf, with Madaket the place to watch the sunset.

The Adirondacks swim in fresh water instead. Lake George has sandy public beaches, and Mirror Lake and the Saranac and Fulton chains have town beaches, docks and campground shores. At their summer peak the lakes are as warm as Nantucket's sheltered side, but there is no salt, no surf and no long stretch of sand.

Nantucket eats noticeably better. Local oysters, bay scallops, striped bass and lobster appear at harbour clam shacks and in refined New England cooking served in old town houses, and there is an island brewery, distillery and winery too.

Adirondack food is fuel after a day outside: diner pancakes with maple syrup, summer burger stands, brewpubs, and trout or steak in log-built lodge dining rooms. Lake Placid and Saranac Lake have a few ambitious kitchens. Neither place is a food destination, but the island's seafood gives meals a sense of place that the mountains rarely do.

For history and sights, Nantucket is the stronger choice. The Adirondacks' heritage is real but scattered. Fort Ticonderoga and Fort William Henry recall the colonial wars, Great Camps such as Sagamore and Santanoni show Gilded Age rustic luxury, Lake Placid keeps its Olympic venues and Saranac Lake its cure cottages. Each fills an afternoon, but long drives separate them and none is a major museum.

Nantucket keeps its past in one walkable town. It is one of the most intact early American seaports, with cobbled Main Street, Federal-style captains' houses and white spires, and the Whaling Museum and its sperm whale skeleton a few minutes' walk from the harbour. Sconset's rose-covered cottages are a bike ride away, and two days covers the lot.

Neither place is for night owls, but Nantucket is the more sociable of the two. In July and August the harbour pubs and hotel bars fill up after dinner, and a long-standing dance bar out of town has live bands, although everything closes early.

In the Adirondacks most evenings end by the campfire. The exception is the bar strip and party boats at Lake George village on summer weekends, which draw a younger crowd. Lake Placid has a few brewpubs, and elsewhere there is a single tavern per town.

This is where the Adirondacks are in a different league. They have forty-six High Peaks, including Mount Marcy at about 1,630m, thousands of lakes linked by canoe routes and portages, moose in the north, blazing autumn foliage and a full winter of skiing and ice climbing. The one warning is the blackflies of late spring.

Nantucket's outdoors is gentle and flat. Cycling across moorland and past cranberry bogs, sailing in the harbour, surfcasting and seeing the seals at Great Point make pleasant active days, but there are no hills and no long walks.

The Adirondacks have far more to reach. Saratoga Springs and Albany are easy drives from Lake George, ferries cross Lake Champlain to Burlington and the Vermont farm villages, and Montreal is a long but possible day from the northern lakes.

Nantucket is limited by the sea around it. In summer the inter-island ferry to Martha's Vineyard's harbour towns is the one obvious outing, and a day on Cape Cod via Hyannis gets long once you add the crossings.

The Adirondacks offer children more to do. There is a large theme park and water park near Lake George, another water park at Old Forge, the treetop walkway at the Wild Center, bobsled rides at Lake Placid and the long-running Christmas village, all on top of cabin-and-canoe lake life. The catch is the drives between them and High Peaks trails too tough for small legs.

Nantucket is simpler and calmer. Lifeguarded shallow beaches, flat bike paths away from traffic and a safe little town give older children some freedom. The south shore surf is too rough for young swimmers, though, and there is nothing built for children on a large scale.

Nantucket is far easier once you arrive. The town is walkable, paved bike paths run out to Sconset, Madaket and Surfside, and a summer shuttle reaches the main beaches, so most visitors never need a car. Reaching the island takes a ferry or a short flight.

In the Adirondacks a car is essential. Winding two-lane forest roads make Lake George to Lake Placid well over an hour and a half, and the train and few buses do not reach trailheads or lakes. Only Lake Placid and Lake George village are pleasant on foot.

Nantucket has the better shopping, though it is still small. Main Street's preppy boutiques, interiors shops and galleries cater to a well-off summer crowd, and the island's own crafts are woven lightship baskets and scrimshaw.

Adirondack shopping is more practical and rustic: outdoor gear in Lake Placid, an outlet strip south of Lake George, and craft-fair finds such as twig furniture, pack baskets, balsam pillows and maple syrup.

Neither place is a bargain in peak season, but the Adirondacks are far easier on the wallet. Lake Placid and the Lake George waterfront charge resort rates, but the central and western lakes have family motels and state campgrounds, and the trails, lakes and summits cost nothing.

Nantucket is one of the most expensive summer destinations in the country. Rooms, rental houses and meals all carry island prices, and bringing a car over adds a lot more. June and September cost less, but nowhere on the island is cheap.

Both places only come alive in summer, and the Adirondacks have a little more to offer. There are chamber festivals in lakeside churches around Lake George, a summer opera programme for young singers near Schroon Lake and an arts centre in Lake Placid. From the southern lakes, the Saratoga amphitheatre is within reach for orchestral and ballet seasons.

Nantucket has two theatre companies, concerts and readings at the Atheneum, and its June film festival, the one event people travel for.

The Adirondacks have a slight edge for rest, and it comes from heritage rather than treatments. Saranac Lake grew up as a place to recover in mountain air, a porch over a still lake at dawn does much of the work, and the historic mineral baths of Saratoga Springs lie just south of the park. The grand resorts on Lake George add a few spas.

Nantucket offers a lighter kind of calm: an island without traffic lights, where the day runs from bike ride to beach to dinner. A few hotel spas and summer yoga classes are all it adds, so come here to unwind rather than to be pampered.