Boston or Lake George?

Lake George is the better place to swim. Its clear fresh water warms enough in midsummer that swimming becomes the heart of a stay. You can swim at the lifeguarded state beach at the southern end of the village, at Shepard Park, or from a boat moored off the islands in the Narrows.

Boston has sand more than swimming. Revere Beach is a subway ride away and the dunes of Crane Beach are up the North Shore, but the Atlantic stays cold even in August. What Boston has that the lake does not is salt water and open coast. The lake beaches are small and fill early on hot weekends.

Boston is the far better place to eat. Oysters from Duxbury and Wellfleet, lobster rolls and chowder, the North End's cannoli and the chef-led kitchens of Cambridge and the South End give you real choice, though at a high price.

Lake George eats like a summer resort, with pizza, pancakes and ice cream in the village. A few more careful dining rooms up the shore at Bolton Landing serve Adirondack game and lake fish. Visitors who care about food tend to drive to Saratoga Springs for dinner.

The gap here is wide. Boston has the Freedom Trail from the Common to the USS Constitution, the preserved streets of Beacon Hill and Back Bay, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Gardner, and Harvard across the river. That is enough for a week.

At Lake George the sights come down to Fort William Henry, the reconstructed British fort behind The Last of the Mohicans, and a small historical museum in the old courthouse. The region's more important history, at Fort Ticonderoga and Saratoga, is a drive away.

Neither place keeps going until dawn, but Boston gives you far more evenings out. There are Irish pubs around Faneuil Hall, sports bars by Fenway on game nights, cocktail lounges in the Seaport, and student bars in Allston and Cambridge that stay busy midweek.

At Lake George, nightlife means summer weekends of beer on the decks along Canada Street and the waterfront, loud with boaters and day-trippers. Out of season, and in Bolton Landing at any time of year, evenings are quiet.

Lake George has wild country right outside the village. The lake runs about 50km between forested ridges and holds more than a hundred islands, and Prospect Mountain rises straight above the village. The Adirondack High Peaks and the ski slopes of Gore Mountain are a drive away.

Boston's outdoors is gentler and more urban: Olmsted's Emerald Necklace, sailing and paddling on the Charles, ferries to the Harbor Islands and humpbacks at Stellwagen Bank. Whale-watching is the one thing the lake cannot match, but for mountains Bostonians head north.

Boston has the longer list of day trips, and they are easier to reach. Salem and Concord are on the commuter rail, and Lexington, Plymouth, the North Shore fishing towns, Newport and Cape Cod spread the choice across history and coast.

The outings from Lake George are fewer but good. There is Saratoga Springs with its racecourse and battlefield, Fort Ticonderoga above Lake Champlain, Lake Placid, and the Vermont towns of Bennington and Manchester. Every one of them needs a car.

Both work well with children, in quite different ways. Boston has big institutions built for young visitors: the New England Aquarium, the Museum of Science and the Children's Museum. Add the swan boats in the Public Garden and a game at Fenway, and it works all year round.

Lake George is the classic summer resort, with the Great Escape and its water park, a calm lifeguarded beach, steamboat cruises, mini golf and motels with pools. It is the better choice for a week of play in July. Boston is the better choice for a city break, or for any other season.

Boston is far easier without a car. Downtown, the North End, Beacon Hill, Back Bay and the waterfront are a short walk apart. The T and the harbour ferries reach Cambridge, the airport and the islands, even if service ends around midnight.

At Lake George only the village itself is walkable, from Canada Street to the steamboat pier. Seasonal trolleys help a little, but the western shore, the trailheads and every day trip need a car. The lake itself is best seen from a rented boat.

A shopping afternoon in Boston means walking the brownstone blocks of Newbury Street, past fashion flagships, small boutiques and galleries, with the Copley Place and Prudential Center malls close by for department stores and luxury labels. Charles Street on Beacon Hill adds antiques, and Harvard Square has bookshops.

At Lake George the choice is much narrower. Canada Street is mostly T-shirts, fudge and beachwear, and the serious shopping means driving to the outlet centres on Route 9. The gifts worth taking home are local: Adirondack crafts, maple syrup and balsam pillows.

Neither place is cheap, but Lake George is easier on a budget. Midsummer weekends and lakefront rooms are priced like any American resort. Older motels on Route 9, cottages with kitchens, and free beaches and trails bring the bill down, and spring, late autumn and weekdays are much cheaper.

Boston is expensive in every season, with some of the costliest hotel rooms in the country and high restaurant bills. Its savings are the free Freedom Trail and parks, and a centre small enough to walk.

Classical music in Boston is of the very highest standard. There is the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Symphony Hall, the Pops on the Esplanade, the Handel and Haydn Society and Boston Ballet. Add serious theatre at the Huntington and the A.R.T., and student jazz from Berklee.

Lake George has a summer programme: free concerts in Shepard Park, a jazz weekend in September, a chamber music festival in August and summer theatre. For orchestras and big touring acts, visitors drive to the amphitheatre in Saratoga Springs.

Lake George is the more restful choice, as long as you stay away from the village. The resort hotels near Bolton Landing have full spas, quiet lakeside cottages set a slow pace, and the historic mineral baths of Saratoga Springs are under an hour south. In July and August the arcades and traffic of Canada Street are anything but calm.

Boston is a brisk, purposeful city. Rest there means a day spa in Back Bay or a slow walk through the Public Garden, along the Esplanade or in the Arnold Arboretum.