Catskills or Outer Banks?

Beaches are what the Outer Banks are about. More than 100 miles of open Atlantic sand run from the beach-house towns of Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills to the empty dunes of Cape Hatteras. The sea is warm through summer, but the surf and rip currents need respect. Small children are safer in the calm sound behind the islands.

The Catskills have no coast at all. Swimming there means the sandy lake beach at North-South Lake, Pleasant Pond, or the cold rock pools along the Esopus and in the Peekamoose valley. These are lovely on a hot afternoon, but the season is short, and nobody would plan a beach trip around them.

Neither place is really a food destination, but the Catskills come out a little ahead because there is more variety. You get farm stands, maple syrup, local cheese and cider, plus breweries and distilleries in the hills, and Kingston has a proper choice of restaurants.

The Outer Banks offer one thing done simply: steamed shrimp, soft-shell crab and fried fish baskets at dockside shacks, or fresh fish from Wanchese to cook in your rental. Once you step away from seafood, both places quickly run out of options.

The Outer Banks have the stronger set of landmarks, even though they are spread out. The Wright Brothers memorial marks the 1903 first flight, Fort Raleigh tells the story of the Lost Colony, and the striped lighthouses at Bodie Island and Cape Hatteras are sights in their own right.

The Catskills' heritage is gentler and centres on art. Thomas Cole's house tells the Hudson River School story, the Byrdcliffe colony stands above Woodstock, and Kingston's Stockade district has old stone houses. Both places give you a couple of good days of sightseeing, not a week.

Both are early-night places, but the Outer Banks have a little more going on. On summer weekends there are beach bars and taprooms along the bypass in Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head, and sunset drinks on decks over the sound. In the Catskills, an evening out means a tavern or a cocktail bar in Kingston or Woodstock, and most nights end at a fire pit. Neither has a club scene worth mentioning.

The Catskills offer more for anyone who wants to be active outdoors. You get forested peaks above 1,000m, waterfalls in the deep cloves, demanding ridge hikes, fire-tower viewpoints and well-known fly-fishing rivers around Livingston Manor. In winter there is skiing and snowshoeing, and in autumn the hills turn colour.

The Outer Banks are flat and open, and their strengths lie on the water and in wildlife. The shallow sounds near Rodanthe and Avon are world-class for kiteboarding and windsurfing. Wild mustangs roam north of Corolla, and Pea Island draws huge flocks of migrating birds. Walking there, though, means beach and short forest trails, not climbs.

The Catskills have the Hudson Valley right next door, and it gives you far more days out. Options include Frederic Church's hilltop house at Olana, the antique dealers of Hudson, the Roosevelt home at Hyde Park and the Vanderbilt mansion. Storm King and Beacon are good for art lovers, and Cooperstown lies to the west.

From the Outer Banks, the best outing is the ferry to Ocracoke's sandy lanes. Beyond that, colonial Edenton and the museums of Norfolk are pleasant, but neither is worth a long drive on its own.

The Outer Banks are built around the family beach week, and children get much more to do. There are sandcastles and crab-catching, plus the dunes at Jockey's Ridge, the aquarium on Roanoke Island, wild-horse tours and lighthouse climbs. Parents just need to keep watch in the surf.

The Catskills suit families who like simple outdoor time: short waterfall walks, apple picking, tubing on the Esopus and beginner ski slopes at Hunter and Windham. There is little else aimed at children, though, and with winding drives between towns, a rainy day is harder to fill.

Both are car-only places, and neither is easier overall, but they are hard in different ways. In the Catskills, the drives wind through narrow cloves, so towns that look close on the map can be up to an hour apart. Coaches from New York reach a few towns, but not the trailheads.

The Outer Banks are a long, thin line of roads with no public transport at all. Kitty Hawk to Nags Head is easy by bike, but Corolla to Hatteras takes a couple of hours. Summer Saturday changeovers can jam the bridges, and Ocracoke can only be reached by ferry.

The Catskills make for better browsing. There are antique barns along Route 28, potters, jewellers and craft galleries in Woodstock that grew out of its arts-colony days, and old general stores in Phoenicia and Andes. On the Outer Banks, shopping mostly means surf shops and beachwear, with the nicest stops being the craft galleries on the Duck boardwalk and the Manteo waterfront. Neither place has fashion or luxury shopping.

In the Catskills, costs drop the further west you go and the earlier in the week you arrive. Summer and autumn weekends around Woodstock and Hunter are expensive, while weekday stays, state campgrounds and the Delaware County side cost much less.

On the Outer Banks, the big cost is a summer oceanfront house, often let only by the full week. It works out cheaper for a large group sharing the rent and cooking fish bought at the docks. Late spring and autumn bring rents down, though by then the sea is cooler. In both places the main attractions, the trails in one and the beaches in the other, cost nothing.

The Catskills have the deeper music scene. Folk and roots concerts play in Woodstock barns, the Maverick chamber series performs in its wooden hall in the woods, and big touring acts come to the amphitheatre on the 1969 festival grounds at Bethel. Bluegrass festivals fill summer weekends.

On the Outer Banks, the one real draw is The Lost Colony, an outdoor drama staged on summer nights on Roanoke Island since 1937. Apart from that, there are bands playing on bar decks. In both places the calendar thins out sharply once summer ends.

The Catskills are the more restful choice and offer more for a wellness trip. Alongside cabins built for reading by the stove, there are resort spas around Woodstock, a Zen monastery at Mount Tremper, a Tibetan Buddhist centre and yoga retreats that take guests.

On the Outer Banks, relaxation means a beach week with no plans and the sound of the surf from the porch, especially in the quiet villages of Hatteras Island and Ocracoke. Beyond a few day spas and yoga studios, there is little organised wellness.