Detroit or Lake George?

Swimming is a side outing in Detroit but the heart of a summer stay at Lake George. Detroit has the small sandy beach on Belle Isle and the long lawn-backed shore of Lake St. Clair Metropark, about forty minutes' drive away, where the water is shallow and calm.

Lake George's clear water and mountain backdrop are a much bigger draw. There is the broad, lifeguarded state beach at the south end of the village and a smaller one in Shepard Park, and you can also swim from a rented boat or from the islands of the Narrows. The season is just as short in both, roughly July to early September.

Detroit is the place to eat well. It has its own dishes in the chilli-topped Coney dog and the square Detroit-style pizza, and Eastern Market fills up on Saturdays. The real depth is in the Lebanese and Yemeni kitchens of Dearborn, in Mexicantown and in the Polish bakeries of Hamtramck.

Lake George eats like a summer resort: pizza, burgers, ice cream and waterfront decks where the view outshines the plate. A few dining rooms in Bolton Landing serve lake fish and Adirondack game. Even so, keen eaters drive to Saratoga Springs, and many places shut outside the season.

Here the gap is wide. Detroit has a museum of national standing in the Detroit Institute of Arts, with Rivera's Detroit Industry murals. Around it are the Charles H. Wright Museum, the Motown Museum, the Henry Ford museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, and the Art Deco interiors of the Guardian and Fisher buildings.

Lake George's history comes down to Fort William Henry, the reconstructed fort behind The Last of the Mohicans, and a small museum in the old courthouse. The region's more important sites, Fort Ticonderoga and Saratoga, are a drive away.

Detroit's nights have a real identity as the birthplace of techno, with warehouse parties and small, serious clubs, plus cocktail bars and taprooms in Corktown and Midtown, though you take taxis between them. Lake George has no clubs at all. On summer weekends the decks along Canada Street fill with boaters drinking beer by the water, and from autumn to spring the village is quiet.

Detroit's landscape is flat. Its outdoors are Belle Isle's Olmsted-designed woods and lagoon, a ride along the RiverWalk, kayaking on the river and the wetlands of the metroparks.

Lake George sits inside the Adirondack Park, and the difference is plain. The lake stretches about 50km between forested ridges, its islands double as campsites, and the trails up Prospect Mountain, Black Mountain and the Tongue Mountain range give some of the best views in the region. Both have fine autumn colour, but only Lake George has hills to see it from, and Gore Mountain adds downhill skiing in winter.

Detroit's outings are pleasant but rarely the highlight of a trip: leafy Ann Arbor, Bavarian-themed Frankenmuth, the art museum in Toledo, and Windsor across the border if you bring a passport.

Lake George has the stronger set. Saratoga Springs, under an hour south, combines a spa town, a racecourse and a battlefield. Fort Ticonderoga stands above Lake Champlain an hour to the north, and Lake Placid and the Vermont towns of Bennington and Manchester are also within reach. Both places need a car for almost every trip.

Detroit has good attractions for children: the large Detroit Zoo with its polar bear tunnel, the hands-on Michigan Science Center and the steam trains and horse-drawn rides of Greenfield Village. They are spread across the metro area, though, and each one means a drive.

Lake George is built around family summers. The gently sloping beach, the water park, the paddlewheel steamers, the mini golf and motels with pools are all close together. Its limit is the season: outside the summer most of it shuts, while Detroit's indoor sights stay open all year.

Neither is easy without a car, but Detroit gives a visitor a little more to work with. The People Mover and the QLine streetcar link downtown, Midtown and New Center, which covers the main museums, theatres and stadiums. Dearborn and the zoo still mean a hire car or ride-hailing.

At Lake George you can walk from one end of the village to the other in a few minutes, and seasonal trolleys run to Glens Falls. The western-shore hamlets, the trailheads and the day trips all need a car, though, and summer parking is a nuisance. A rented boat is the best way to see the lake itself.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Detroit has the more interesting small-scale offer. Midtown and Corktown have independent boutiques and vintage shops selling Detroit-made watches and leather goods, and there is a large upscale mall in the northern suburbs for big brands.

Lake George's Canada Street sells T-shirts, fudge and beachwear, and the main serious shopping is at the outlet centres on Route 9. The best finds are gifts to take home: Adirondack crafts, maple syrup and balsam pillows.

Detroit is the cheaper stay. Hotels cost less than in most large American cities, and Coney dogs, pizza and Dearborn's Middle Eastern food are inexpensive, though a hire car, parking, tips and sales tax add up.

In July and August, Lake George charges resort rates for lakefront rooms, boat hire and theme park tickets. It is much better value on weekdays, in spring and in late autumn, or if you stay in Glens Falls or Queensbury, and its beaches and trails are free or cheap.

Detroit is a real music city with something on all year. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra plays in Orchestra Hall, there is opera in a restored downtown house and touring Broadway at the Fisher Theatre, and jazz, soul and rock fill small venues most nights.

Lake George's stage is mostly outdoors and only in summer: free concerts in Shepard Park, an August chamber music festival and summer theatre. Both hold jazz at the turn of September, but Detroit's free festival fills downtown streets, while Lake George's is a village weekend. For orchestras and big names, visitors there drive to the amphitheatre in Saratoga Springs.

Detroit has no spa culture. Relaxing there means a hotel spa or a slow walk along the RiverWalk or on Belle Isle.

Lake George offers far more calm, as long as you stay away from the village in high summer. The resort hotels near Bolton Landing have full spas, and lakeside cottages and early mornings on the water set an easy pace. Saratoga Springs' historic mineral baths are under an hour away, and early autumn is the quietest time to go.