Boston or Lake Placid?

Neither is a beach destination, but the swimming is very different. Boston has the sea: Revere Beach is a subway ride away, and the North Shore has the dunes of Crane Beach. The Atlantic stays cold even in late summer, though.

Lake Placid has only fresh water, at small beaches on Mirror Lake, along the Saranac chain and in the rocky pools of the Ausable. In midsummer the shallower lakes are actually warmer than Boston's sea, but the season lasts only a few weeks.

Boston is far ahead. Its seafood, from Duxbury oysters and fried clams to lobster rolls and chowder, is worth planning meals around, and the North End's Italian pastry shops, Chinatown's dim sum and the chef-led kitchens of Cambridge and the South End give it range.

Lake Placid offers mountain resort food: brewpubs, big diner breakfasts, pizza and a few lodge dining rooms with lake views. It is fine after a day on the trails, but maple syrup and craft beer are as local as it gets.

The gap here is wide. Boston has the Revolution on its streets, from the Old State House to the Old North Church, along with the brownstones of Back Bay and Beacon Hill, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Gardner and the Harvard museums across the river. That is enough to fill a week.

Lake Placid's sights are sporting ones: the 1980 'Miracle on Ice' rink, the Olympic museum and the ski jumps above town, plus John Brown's Farm just outside the village. It all takes about a day.

Boston isn't a late-night city, but it still offers far more of an evening out. There are Irish pubs around Faneuil Hall, game-night crowds near Fenway, cocktail lounges in the Seaport and student bars in Allston and Cambridge, though most close by 2am.

In Lake Placid the evening is a few brewpubs on Main Street and a lakeside hotel bar, livelier after a ski day, and most people are in bed early for a dawn start.

Lake Placid wins. It sits in the Adirondack wilderness, with Mount Marcy, New York's highest summit, nearby, half-day climbs up Cascade and Mount Jo, the biggest ski vertical in the East on Whiteface, and lakes and rivers for canoeing, fly fishing and climbing. In winter there is cross-country skiing and skating on frozen lakes.

Boston's outdoors is gentler and coastal: Olmsted's Emerald Necklace, sailing on the Charles, the Harbor Islands and whale-watching trips out to Stellwagen Bank. The whales are something Lake Placid cannot offer, but for mountains Boston sends you north.

Boston has much more within reach. Salem and Concord are short train rides away, Lexington, Plymouth and the North Shore fishing towns are close, and Newport's mansions and Cape Cod make longer outings.

From Lake Placid, most outings lead into the wilderness. Saranac Lake, Keene and the Wild Center are nearby, and Fort Ticonderoga, Burlington and Montreal are a drive of an hour and a half or more, all by car.

Boston gives children more variety: the New England Aquarium, the Museum of Science, the Children's Museum, the swan boats in the Public Garden and the decks of the USS Constitution, all in a flat, compact centre.

Lake Placid suits active families. There is skating on the Olympic rinks, the ride up the ski jump tower, bobsled runs, the toboggan chute onto the frozen lake and the Whiteface ski school, with Santa's Workshop nearby. It is great for a winter sports trip, but there is less to do on a wet day.

In Boston you can leave the car behind. The North End, Beacon Hill, Back Bay and the waterfront are all walkable, and the T and the harbour ferries cover the rest, though the subway is slow in places and stops around midnight.

Lake Placid village is easy on foot, but the trailheads, Whiteface and the lakes are spread across mountain roads with few buses, so a car is essential, often on winter roads.

Boston has real shopping streets: the boutiques and flagships along Newbury Street, the malls at Copley and the Prudential Center, antiques on Charles Street and bookshops in Harvard Square. Lake Placid has one stretch of Main Street, good for outdoor gear, fly-fishing tackle and maple products but with no fashion.

Neither is cheap, but Lake Placid is easier on the budget. Older motels, self-catering cabins and the quiet weeks of spring and late autumn bring costs down, and hiking and paddling are free, though a rental car and lift tickets add up.

Boston's hotel rooms are among the most expensive in the country, and meals out cost a lot. The main savings come from the free Freedom Trail and parks and from not needing taxis or a car.

Boston is a serious arts city. The Symphony Orchestra plays in one of the world's finest concert halls, and the city also has the Pops, the Handel and Haydn Society and Boston Ballet. New drama is staged at the A.R.T., and Berklee students fill small jazz rooms.

Lake Placid has a summer season from the Sinfonietta, including free concerts at the bandshell by Mirror Lake, plus the occasional event at the arts centre. For most of the year there is little to see.

Boston offers rest in short breaks between sightseeing: a treatment at a Back Bay day spa, a bench by the lagoon in the Public Garden, or an unhurried hour under the old trees of the Arnold Arboretum. None of it lasts beyond an afternoon. For a stay that is truly restful, the usual answer is to add a few nights on the coast, at an inn on Cape Ann or Cape Cod, at the end of a city trip.

Lake Placid has rest built into the day. Its spas sit inside the larger lodges, so a sauna, hot tub or massage follows straight on from a cold morning on the trails or the slopes of Whiteface, with no trip across town. Neither place has thermal baths, but here the effort outdoors does half the work, and the evenings ask nothing more of you.