Lake George or Louisville?

Here the gap is total. Lake George has clear freshwater swimming from the lifeguarded state beach at the southern end of the village, smaller beaches at Shepard Park and Bolton Landing, and island swimming in the Narrows if you have a boat, though the water is only warm from late June to early September.

Louisville has no swimming of its own. The Ohio is a working river with barges and strong currents, so summer bathing means a pool or a drive out to a reservoir lake in the countryside.

Lake George eats like a resort: pizza, pancakes, ice cream and lakeside decks where the view outshines the plate. A few dining rooms near Bolton Landing serve Adirondack game and lake fish, but people who care about food tend to drive to Saratoga Springs for dinner.

Louisville is far better for food and drink. Bourbon comes first, poured by the hundred along Whiskey Row and in downtown distillery tasting rooms, and the city has its own dishes in the hot brown, burgoo and Derby pie. The better Southern and farm-to-table kitchens are in NuLu, the Highlands and Butchertown.

Culture at Lake George comes down to Fort William Henry, the reconstruction of the fort besieged in 1757, the episode behind The Last of the Mohicans, plus a small museum in the old courthouse. Beyond that the village is motels and arcades, and the region's bigger history at Fort Ticonderoga and Saratoga means a drive.

Louisville has much more to see within the city. Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum, the Muhammad Ali Center, the Slugger and Frazier museums among the cast-iron fronts of Whiskey Row, the Speed Art Museum and the Victorian streets of Old Louisville fill two or three good days.

Lake George only goes out on summer weekends. Then it is beer on the decks along Canada Street and the waterfront with boaters and day-trippers, and from autumn to spring the evenings are quiet.

Louisville has more nights out and more choice, though still bars rather than clubs. Bardstown Road has dive bars and patios, NuLu and Butchertown serve cocktails and bourbon, some places stay open very late, and Derby time in spring brings the whole city out.

This is Lake George's great strength. The lake stretches about 50km between forested ridges, with more than a hundred islands to paddle or sail among and summit views from Prospect, Black and Tongue mountains. The High Peaks are under two hours away, the autumn colour from late September is spectacular, and in winter there is skiing at Gore Mountain.

Louisville's outdoors is gentler and mostly in town: Olmsted's Cherokee and Iroquois parks, the Big Four Bridge over the Ohio, the fossil beds at the Falls of the Ohio and woodland trails in Bernheim Forest. Its one great natural sight, Mammoth Cave, is about an hour and a half away.

Both make good bases for driving out, and both need a car. The difference is the theme. From Lake George the outings are about history and scenery: the spa town and racecourse of Saratoga Springs, Fort Ticonderoga above Lake Champlain, Olympic Lake Placid, and the New England towns of Vermont to the east.

From Louisville the pull is bourbon country, with Bardstown and the distilleries around Frankfort and Lawrenceburg to tour and taste, plus Lexington's horse farms and Keeneland, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill and Lincoln's birthplace. For the distillery days you need a designated driver or a tour.

Lake George is built for children in summer. It has a gently sloping, lifeguarded beach, the Great Escape and its water park just to the south, paddlewheel steamboats from the village pier, musket demonstrations at the fort and a whole street of mini golf and arcades, with cottages and motel pools to stay in. The drawbacks are crowded peak weekends and most attractions closing outside the summer.

Louisville is a sound alternative that works all year, though it is not quite a match. It has the zoo, the Kentucky Science Center, Kentucky Kingdom, underground tram tours in the Mega Cavern and splash areas by the river, but the attractions are spread out and the summer heat is heavy.

You need a car in both. Lake George's village takes a few minutes to cross on foot, and seasonal trolleys reach Glens Falls and the outlets, but the western shore, the trailheads and every day trip need a car, and in summer traffic and parking in the village are a nuisance.

Louisville is a little easier. There is no rail and the buses are little use, but downtown and NuLu are walkable, distances are short and traffic is mild, so driving or ride-hailing between Churchill Downs, the Highlands and the parks is painless.

Neither is worth the trip for shopping, but you bring different things home. Lake George has T-shirts and fudge on Canada Street, outlet centres on Route 9 for American brands, and a few shops with Adirondack crafts, maple syrup and balsam pillows.

Louisville has a bit more character: design shops and galleries in NuLu, vintage clothing, records and antiques on Bardstown Road, and bourbon bottles rarely sold elsewhere, along with Derby hats and racing memorabilia.

Overall costs come out about the same, but the expensive parts differ. At Lake George, lakefront rooms on July and August weekends are dear, and theme park tickets and boat hire add up. Older motels on Route 9, cottages with kitchens, weekdays and the quieter seasons are much cheaper.

In Louisville, hotel rooms are reasonable outside the racing season, but daily spending on meals with tax and tips and on getting around by car adds up steadily. Derby week in spring sends room rates soaring and is best avoided on a budget.

At Lake George, live music is mostly outdoors and in summer: free concerts by the water in Shepard Park, a jazz weekend in September, an August chamber music festival and summer theatre. For orchestras and big touring acts, people drive less than an hour to the amphitheatre at Saratoga Springs.

Louisville has a full programme all year. The Kentucky Center hosts the orchestra, opera and ballet, Actors Theatre is known for staging new American plays, the Palace Theatre takes touring concerts, and bars on Bardstown Road have regular bluegrass and Americana bands.

Lake George is the more restful of the two, as long as you stay away from the village in summer. The resort hotels on the islands and points near Bolton Landing have full spas, lakeside cottages make for slow mornings on the water, and the historic mineral baths of Saratoga Springs are less than an hour south. Early autumn is the calmest time.

Louisville has hotel spas, a few day spas and a slower pace, such as an afternoon on a porch in the Highlands or a drive through horse country. For a proper spa break you drive about an hour and a half to French Lick and West Baden Springs in Indiana.