Catskills or Nantucket?

Nantucket has the beaches, and the Catskills do not. On the island you can choose between calm, shallow water at Jetties and Children's Beach near town and long open-Atlantic sand with real surf at Surfside, Cisco and Madaket, and the two are only a short ride apart.

With no coast, swimming in the Catskills means the sandy beach at North-South Lake, Pleasant Pond and cold, clear swimming holes along the Esopus and in the Peekamoose valley. These are great on a hot afternoon, but they are a dip, not the reason for the trip.

The two are about level, and the difference is land against sea. The Catskills eat like dairy and orchard country, with farm stands, maple syrup, cider, local cheeses, old diners, and breweries and cideries spread across the hills. Kingston has the widest choice.

Nantucket cooks from the water: oysters, autumn bay scallops, striped bass, lobster rolls at the harbour, and polished New England dinners in old houses in town. In both places, many kitchens close or keep short hours out of season.

Nantucket has the stronger sights because the town itself is the attraction. It is an intact whaling seaport of cobbled streets, captains' houses and church spires, and the Whaling Museum and its sperm whale skeleton are worth a few hours.

The Catskills' heritage is spread out and tied to the landscape. Thomas Cole's house shows the Hudson River School painters, the Byrdcliffe colony stands above Woodstock, Bethel has its museum about the 1960s, and Kingston's Stockade district has old stone houses. Each region fills about two days.

Neither is a place to go out, but Nantucket has a little more life on summer nights. In July and August the harbour pubs and Main Street bars fill up, and one long-standing dance bar out of town has live bands. In the Catskills, an evening means a brewery taproom, a country tavern or a cocktail bar in Kingston or Woodstock, and more often a fire pit outside the cabin.

The Catskills are the clear winner for the outdoors. There are dozens of forested summits, deep cloves, the tough Devil's Path ridge, fire towers looking out over wooded ridges, Kaaterskill Falls, and the famous fly-fishing water of the Beaverkill and Willowemoc. Skiing and snowshoeing add a winter season, and autumn colour is the high point of the year.

Nantucket's outdoors is gentle and flat. You cycle across heath, cranberry bogs and moorland, sail or kayak in the harbour, cast for bluefish, and head out to Great Point to watch seals. It is pleasant, but there is no climbing to be done.

The Catskills win easily, because the Hudson Valley is on the doorstep. By car you can reach Olana, the antique dealers of Hudson, the Roosevelt home at Hyde Park, Storm King's sculpture park, and Cooperstown to the west.

Nantucket lies 50km out to sea, so the summer ferry to Martha's Vineyard is really the only easy day out. Cape Cod is possible, but the crossing makes it a long day, and most visitors simply stay on the island.

Nantucket is the easier summer vacation with children. It has lifeguarded, shallow water at Children's Beach, flat bike paths away from traffic, a small safe town where older children can roam, and the whale skeleton for a rainy day. The catch is that family rooms are costly and get booked early.

The Catskills give families more room, with cabins and farmhouses, lake beaches, tubing, apple picking and beginner ski lessons. The downside is long, winding drives between them, and wet days are hard to fill.

On Nantucket, getting there takes the effort: a ferry from Hyannis or a short flight. Once you arrive, you can do without a car. The town is walkable, paved paths reach Sconset, Madaket and Surfside, and a shuttle runs to the beaches in summer.

In the Catskills a car is essential. Coaches reach a few towns, but not the trailheads or swimming holes, and the roads wind through cloves and over passes, so places that look close on the map are often half an hour or more apart.

Nantucket offers more, in a small and polished way. Main Street has preppy boutiques, interiors shops and galleries, plus island crafts such as lightship baskets and scrimshaw. Catskills shopping means rummaging rather than browsing: antique barns along Route 28, potters and jewellers in Woodstock, and general stores and farm stands. Neither has department stores or much fashion.

Neither is cheap, but the Catskills cost much less. Weekend inns around Woodstock and Hunter are pricey, but state campgrounds, older motels, weekday stays and the western Delaware County side bring the cost well down, and hiking and swimming holes are free.

Nantucket is among the most expensive summer destinations in the United States. Rooms, rental houses and meals all carry island prices, and bringing a car over makes it worse. June and September help a little, but only the beaches and bike paths come cheap.

The Catskills have the deeper music scene, at least in summer. Woodstock keeps up a steady run of folk and rock in barns and halls, the Maverick chamber series has played in its wooden hall in the woods since 1916, Bethel's amphitheatre books big touring acts, and bluegrass festivals fill weekends in the hills.

Nantucket's programme is smaller: two theatre companies, chamber concerts and readings at the Atheneum, and the June film festival. In both places, the winter calendar is thin.

Both are about slowing down rather than spa treatments, but the Catskills offer more for it. There is a Zen monastery at Mount Tremper and a Tibetan Buddhist centre above Woodstock, both of which take guests, along with yoga retreats, resort spas with outdoor tubs, and wood-stove cabins built for doing nothing.

Nantucket's calm comes from the island itself: no traffic lights, quiet moorland roads, and days that go from bike to beach to dinner. It has only a few hotel spas.