Atlantic City or Lake George?

The two are close for swimming, but the water is completely different. Atlantic City has a long, broad ocean beach running the length of Absecon Island, free to use and stretching on to quieter Ventnor and Margate. It also has real surf and rip currents, so you swim between the flags.

Lake George offers clear, calm freshwater with mountains behind it. The beaches are smaller: the state strand, Shepard Park and the hamlet beaches, which fill early on hot weekends. Swimming from a rented boat or an island in the Narrows is something the ocean coast cannot offer.

Atlantic City eats better. It has a real local tradition: the Italian-American restaurants of Ducktown, oversized subs on soft rolls, a century of Boardwalk saltwater taffy, and crab shacks around Gardner's Basin. The casino dining rooms add polish if not much originality.

At Lake George, most meals are pizza, pancakes and waterfront decks where you pay for the view. The better tables are in Bolton Landing and the shore hotels, and serious eaters drive to Saratoga Springs.

Neither is a culture destination, but Atlantic City has a little more to see. There is the original Boardwalk, the Monopoly street names, Boardwalk Hall with its giant pipe organ, and Lucy the Elephant in Margate. All of it fits into a day.

Lake George's heritage is almost all military. The reconstructed Fort William Henry recalls the siege behind The Last of the Mohicans, and the stronger history, at Fort Ticonderoga and Saratoga, means a drive out of the village.

Atlantic City has the bigger and later night out, and almost all of it happens indoors. You move from a gaming floor to a lounge to a dance floor without leaving the resort, with a drink on the sand as the outdoor alternative in warm weather. There is no street of bars to drift between, though, and the stretches between the towers are no place for a late stroll. It is liveliest on a summer Saturday, and on a winter weeknight the resorts feel half empty.

Lake George has a single kind of evening: beer on a deck overlooking the water along Canada Street, with a young boating crowd that keeps it loud on summer weekends. It suits a sociable evening after a day on the lake, but not a late night of dancing. Its season is shorter than the coast's, and once summer ends the village and the shore hamlets go quiet early.

This is where Lake George is strongest. It is a 50km lake between forested ridges, dotted with island campsites, and it is ideal for sailing and paddling. Prospect Mountain rises right above the village, and the whole place sits inside the Adirondack Park, with spectacular autumn colour and skiing at Gore Mountain in winter.

Atlantic City's nature is flat and coastal. The salt marsh at the Forsythe refuge is good for herons and shorebirds, and you can kayak the back bays or canoe in the Pine Barrens. It is a pleasant extra, not a reason to come.

Both have plenty of good outings within reach, but the flavour differs. From Atlantic City the big draw is Philadelphia, reachable by train, with Victorian Cape May and the boardwalks of Ocean City and Wildwood along the shore.

From Lake George you head inland, to the springs and racecourse of Saratoga Springs, Fort Ticonderoga above Lake Champlain, Olympic Lake Placid and the Vermont towns. Every one of them needs a car.

Lake George is the stronger family resort by some way. It has gentle, lifeguarded lake water, paddlewheel steamers, a theme park and water park just south, mini golf along Canada Street, and plenty of motels with pools and cottages with kitchens.

In Atlantic City the beach and the Steel Pier rides do most of the work, while the casinos keep under-21s out and some blocks are rundown. Many families end up staying in Ocean City nearby instead.

Atlantic City is easier without a car. The Boardwalk runs straight for miles past the beach and casinos, jitneys run along Pacific Avenue around the clock, and a rail line links it to Philadelphia. Out-of-town sights still mean driving.

Lake George's village is compact enough to cross on foot in minutes, and seasonal trolleys run to Glens Falls. Almost everything else, from the western shore to the trailheads, needs a car, and summer parking is a nuisance. A rented boat is the nicest way to explore.

Neither place is worth travelling to for shopping. Both have American brand outlets and souvenir strips selling T-shirts and fudge. What differs is the local gift. In Atlantic City it is a box of Boardwalk saltwater taffy. At Lake George it is Adirondack crafts, rustic furniture, maple syrup and balsam pillows, which make the more distinctive buy.

Atlantic City is somewhat easier on the budget, especially midweek or out of season, when casino hotels cut room rates to fill them. The beach, the Boardwalk and much of the free entertainment cost nothing, though resort fees and parking add up.

At Lake George, July and August mean full resort pricing on lakefront rooms, plus boat rentals and theme park tickets for the family. Savings come from rental cottages with kitchens, older motels on Route 9, staying in Glens Falls, or visiting outside high summer.

Atlantic City has more on the stage, and it is mostly big names: touring pop and rock acts and comedians in the casino arenas, plus concerts and boxing at Boardwalk Hall. You plan a weekend around a particular show.

Lake George is smaller and more seasonal, with free lakeside concerts in Shepard Park, a September jazz weekend, an August chamber music festival and summer theatre. For major orchestras, people drive to Saratoga Springs.

Lake George is the more restful of the two. Away from the village, the grand hotels near Bolton Landing have full spas, and quiet early mornings on the water set an unhurried pace. The historic mineral baths of Saratoga Springs are within an hour.

Atlantic City's calm is mostly found inside the casino hotel spas, and the sleepless gaming floors work against it. Its most peaceful moments come out of season, walking an empty Boardwalk by the winter sea.