Atlantic City or Lake Placid?

This is Atlantic City's home ground. Wide, pale sand runs under the Boardwalk and on through Ventnor, Margate and Longport. It's free, lifeguarded all summer, and the open Atlantic warms up enough for long swims, though rip currents mean you should stay between the flags.

Lake Placid has only fresh water: the small beach on Mirror Lake, lakes and ponds around Saranac, and rocky swimming holes on the Ausable. They're lovely on a hot afternoon, but they're strips of grass and sand you add to a day of hiking, not a beach vacation.

Neither is a food destination, but Atlantic City gives you more to choose from. There are the Italian-American dining rooms of Ducktown, huge subs on local rolls, crab shacks in Gardner's Basin, and the casino steakhouses and seafood rooms on top of that.

Lake Placid's Main Street keeps to brewpubs, diners, burgers and a few lodge dining rooms looking over the lake. Maple syrup and craft beer are about as local as it gets, and some kitchens cut back in the shoulder seasons.

Both are thin on culture, and you can see either in about a day, but the stories are very different. Atlantic City tells the story of the American seaside resort. It has the original Boardwalk, the street names from the Monopoly board, the Art Deco Boardwalk Hall with its giant organ, and Lucy the Elephant in Margate.

Lake Placid's history is about sport. You can stand in the 1980 'Miracle on Ice' rink, look up at the ski jumps above town and visit John Brown's farm and grave just outside the village.

Atlantic City clearly has the livelier nights. The casinos stay open all night, the big resorts hold nightclubs and pool parties on summer weekends, and there are beach bars on the sand, though it all fades midweek and in winter. The streets between the resorts feel empty after dark, so the night stays indoors.

In Lake Placid, an evening means dinner and a beer at a Main Street brewpub or a lakeside hotel bar, with no clubs and little open after midnight. Most people are asleep early for the trail or the slopes.

Here Lake Placid is in a different league. It sits on the edge of the Adirondack High Peaks, with Mount Marcy and Cascade a short drive away, Whiteface for skiing, canoe routes through the Saranac lakes, fly fishing on the Ausable and climbing at Chapel Pond. Autumn colour on the forested ridges is a sight in its own right.

Atlantic City's outdoors are low and flat. Its best spots are the wildlife loop at the Forsythe refuge for herons and shorebirds, kayaking and crabbing in the back bays, and canoeing in the Pine Barrens about an hour inland.

Atlantic City has better places within reach. Philadelphia, with Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, is about an hour and a half away, and Victorian Cape May is about an hour south. The boardwalk towns, Smithville and Batsto add easy half-days closer by.

From Lake Placid most outings head into the wilderness. The town trips are short: Saranac Lake, the Wild Center at Tupper Lake, and Fort Ticonderoga or Montreal at around two hours, all by car.

Lake Placid is the better choice with children. The village is small and safe. There's public skating on the Olympic rinks, a lift up the ski jump tower, bobsled rides at Mount Van Hoevenberg and a toboggan run onto the frozen lake. Santa's Workshop is about 20 minutes away.

In Atlantic City the beach and the rides on the Steel Pier do most of the work. Otherwise the city is built for adults, so many families stay down the shore in Ocean City instead.

Atlantic City is easier without a car. The Boardwalk is one long, level line to walk, jitneys run along Pacific Avenue around the clock, and trains and buses link it with Philadelphia and New York. You'll still want a car for the refuge, the Pine Barrens or Cape May.

Lake Placid's village is small enough to walk end to end, but almost everything you come for, from the trailheads to Whiteface, is out on winding mountain roads that are often wintry. The nearest Amtrak station is about an hour's drive away.

Atlantic City gives a shopping afternoon more range, though little of it is distinctive. Outlet stores close to the Boardwalk cover the big American brands at sensible prices, the casino resorts have their own shopping corridors for a rainy hour, and the Boardwalk stalls sell beachwear and T-shirts. The one thing worth taking home is a box of taffy, the seaside sweet the resort has been known for since its early days.

Lake Placid has less choice but more local character. Its single shopping street is mostly for kitting out the trip, and it's the better place to replace a forgotten fleece, rent skis or get advice on flies for the Ausable. What you take home has an Adirondack feel, such as balsam-scented pillows, maple syrup, lodge-style furnishings or a print from a local gallery, rather than anything to wear back in the city.

Atlantic City is generally the cheaper stay, as long as you avoid summer weekends. Midweek and outside summer, casino hotels cut their room rates sharply. The beach and Boardwalk are free, and subs and pizza keep meals cheap, though resort fees and parking add up.

Lake Placid is priced like a resort for most of the year, including winter, summer and the foliage weeks. Lift tickets, guides and a rental car add to that. Cabins, motels on the edge of the village and the quiet spring and late-autumn weeks bring costs down.

Atlantic City is the place for a big night out. Touring rock and pop acts, comedians and boxing fill the casino arenas and Boardwalk Hall, and summer adds free beach concerts and fireworks.

Lake Placid's offer is small and seasonal: the Lake Placid Sinfonietta's summer concerts at the Mirror Lake bandshell, the occasional play or film at the village arts centre, and a few bands on lakeside lawns.

Lake Placid is the more restful choice. Its lodge spas are modest, but you can take a quiet walk round Mirror Lake, sit on a porch over still water or end the day by a winter fire, which is the kind of rest most people come for.

Atlantic City has bigger casino spas, with saunas and indoor pools, but the round-the-clock casino buzz around them is hardly calming. Its peaceful moments come on an empty Boardwalk out of season.