Bar Harbor or Stowe?

Neither is a beach destination, but Bar Harbor at least has a shore. Sand Beach in Acadia is a striking cove of crushed shell between rock headlands, though the Atlantic there is too cold for more than a quick dip. Echo Lake, with its guarded beach and water in the low 20s°C, is where people actually swim.

Stowe has no sea at all. Its swimming is in rocky stream pools or at the small, unguarded sandy shores of Waterbury Reservoir and Lake Elmore, about half an hour away by car, which makes it the weaker of two thin options.

The two eat about equally well for small resort towns, but the food comes from different places. Bar Harbor's comes from the sea: lobster boiled in outdoor pots at waterfront shacks, chowder, steamed clams, wild blueberry pie, and popovers at Jordan Pond House inside the park.

Stowe's comes from the farm and the brewery. Vermont's hazy IPAs draw beer lovers from far away, and cheddar, maple syrup and cider doughnuts set the tone along Mountain Road, where meals mean après-ski taverns and farm-to-table dining rooms rather than picnic tables by a harbour. In both towns the choice shrinks sharply out of season.

Bar Harbor has a little more to fill a rainy morning. The Abbe Museum, devoted to the Wabanaki, is a serious small institution. The Shore Path past surviving Gilded Age cottages, the Tiffany windows of St Saviour's and the hand-cut granite bridges of the carriage roads give the town a history of its own.

Stowe's sights are more picture than substance: the white church steeple, the covered bridges, the ski museum and the von Trapp connection. They are pleasant for an afternoon but add up to less than Bar Harbor's short list.

Both are early-to-bed towns with no clubs, and neither stays lively much past midnight. The difference is the season. Bar Harbor's harbour-view bars and taprooms are busiest on summer evenings with hikers and cruise passengers. Stowe livens up in winter with après-ski in the base-lodge bars, and anyone wanting more drives to Burlington.

Both are outdoor destinations first, and equally strong ones, but the landscapes are very different. Bar Harbor puts mountains beside the sea: Acadia's pink-granite summits, Ocean Path past Thunder Hole, sea kayaking, puffin and whale cruises, tide pools and car-free carriage roads for cycling.

Stowe is inland and much higher, with Mount Mansfield at 1,339m against Cadillac Mountain's 466m. That height gives it a real ski area, glades and a large cross-country network, plus the Long Trail and the boulder-filled pass of Smugglers' Notch in summer. Choose by whether you want salt water or snow.

Neither works as a base for day trips, and both need a car for them. Bar Harbor's outings are a chain of coastal villages: Northeast and Southwest Harbor, the Cranberry Isles by small ferry, and Stonington and Camden further off.

Stowe's outings are more varied. Burlington has its lakefront and pedestrian street, the Shelburne Museum has historic buildings and a lake steamboat, and Montpelier has its gold-domed statehouse, so a day out there can be a small city or a museum rather than another harbour.

Both suit outdoor families better than those wanting entertainment laid on. In Bar Harbor children have tide pools, the sandbar walk to Bar Island, junior ranger activities and whale-watching boats from the town pier, all in a small town that is easy on foot.

Stowe adds a ski school with gentle beginner slopes, a separate children's resort with pools beyond Smugglers' Notch, and sugarhouses to visit in summer. The drawback is that every outing there involves the car.

Bar Harbor is much easier without a car, at least in summer. The harbour, Main Street and the Shore Path are minutes apart on foot, and the free Island Explorer buses reach the trailheads, Sand Beach and Jordan Pond. Out of season you will need to drive.

Stowe stretches along an 11km valley road, so beyond the walkable village and the riverside recreation path, a car is close to essential, and winter adds icy mountain roads. A ski-season shuttle runs along Mountain Road, but it does not reach the trailheads or the neighbouring towns.

Neither is worth planning a trip around for the shopping. Bar Harbor's Main Street leans towards souvenirs, fudge, outdoor fleece and galleries with Maine woodwork and knitwear. Stowe mixes ski and outdoor shops and a few boutiques with food to take home, maple syrup and cheddar from farm stands.

Both are dear, but the pressure falls at different times of year. Bar Harbor's bill is a summer problem: a small island town with far more visitors than beds, so rooms are scarce and costly from July through the leaf season, and boat trips and seafood dinners add to it. Once the colour fades the rates fall away, though by then many inns and kitchens have shut.

Stowe is the heavier spend of the two, because its prices are set by a major ski mountain. Winter is the expensive season, with lodging, equipment and resort meals priced for skiers and Christmas and the foliage weeks the dearest of all. Summer is noticeably kinder there, and in spring and November the plain motels along the valley road and brewery meals bring a stay down to modest levels.

Live performance is small and seasonal in both. Bar Harbor's best is summer chamber music in island churches and the art deco Criterion Theatre from 1932. Stowe has a performing arts centre at Spruce Peak with touring acts, summer community theatre, and outdoor concerts on the hillside lawns linked to the von Trapp family's musical legacy.

Stowe is the clear choice for a restful stay. Its larger resorts have full spas with saunas, steam rooms and heated outdoor pools where you can sit in hot water while snow falls, and couples come for spa weekends in the quiet seasons.

Bar Harbor has no spa culture beyond a massage at one of the bigger hotels. Its calm comes from a porch over Frenchman Bay in June or late autumn, and in high summer the cruise crowds make quiet hard to find in town.