Lake George or Milwaukee?

Lake George is the better place for a swim. Its clear water warms up enough in July and August for long swims. The state beach at the south end of the village has sand, lifeguards and a view of the mountains, and there are smaller beaches at Shepard Park, Bolton Landing and the islands in the Narrows, which you reach by boat.

Bradford Beach in Milwaukee is the busier place to spend an afternoon, with volleyball and cabanas below the bluffs. But Lake Michigan stays cooler and can turn cold overnight when the wind changes, so many people only paddle. Neither has surf or salt water.

Lake George eats like a summer resort: pizza, pancake houses, ice cream and waterfront decks where the view matters more than the cooking. Bolton Landing has a few more careful dining rooms, but people who care about food tend to drive to Saratoga Springs for dinner.

Milwaukee has a real local table, shaped by its German, Polish and Serbian immigrants. Try the Friday fish fry, frozen custard, bratwurst, cheese curds and a supper club with its relish tray. Beer is poured in taprooms across Walker's Point and the Third Ward, and the Public Market and the South Side's Mexican cooking add more reasons to plan your days around meals.

Most of what Lake George offers is Fort William Henry, the reconstructed fort from the 1757 siege behind The Last of the Mohicans, and a small museum in the old courthouse. The region's bigger history at Ticonderoga and Saratoga means a drive.

Milwaukee has enough for two or three full days. There is the Milwaukee Art Museum in Calatrava's winged pavilion, the Harley-Davidson Museum and the Public Museum. Then there is the city that brewing wealth built: the Pabst Mansion, the domed Basilica of St Josaphat and the cream-brick warehouses of the Third Ward.

A night out at Lake George means a summer weekend on a deck along Canada Street with boaters and day-trippers, and from autumn on the village goes quiet. Milwaukee has more variety, and it lasts all year: the corner tavern with regulars and a pool table, the loud Water Street strip, Brady Street's mix of dive bars and cocktail places, and the taprooms and LGBTQ bars of Walker's Point. Neither is a place for clubbing.

Lake George is far stronger for the outdoors. The lake runs 50km between forested ridges inside the Adirondack Park, with islands to camp on and the Narrows to paddle. The views from Tongue Mountain and Black Mountain are some of the best in the Adirondacks, and the High Peaks are within two hours. Autumn colour from late September and downhill skiing at Gore Mountain mean the season runs beyond summer.

Milwaukee's outdoors is gentler and more urban. Olmsted's Lake Park sits on the bluffs, and there is long, flat cycling on the Oak Leaf and Hank Aaron trails. You can kayak the Milwaukee River through the centre, and the glacial hills of Kettle Moraine are about an hour away.

Both have good outings, but of different kinds. From Lake George they lead to history and mountains: Saratoga Springs with its racecourse and battlefield, Fort Ticonderoga above Lake Champlain, Olympic Lake Placid and the Vermont towns. You need a car for all of them.

Milwaukee's best day out is a major city, Chicago, about an hour and a half away by train. The other trips are smaller towns and architecture: Madison between its two lakes, Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings in Racine, Cedarburg's stone mills and the planned village of Kohler.

Lake George is set up for children in summer. There is the Great Escape and its water park, a lifeguarded beach that slopes gently into the water, paddlewheel steamboat cruises, musket demonstrations at the fort and a street of mini golf and arcades, plus cottages with kitchens. The drawback is that out of season most of it closes.

Milwaukee has fewer obvious attractions for children but works for more of the year. It has the county zoo, Discovery World's freshwater aquariums and the Betty Brinn Children's Museum. The glass Mitchell Park Domes are a warm escape in winter.

In Lake George you can walk between Canada Street, the steamboat pier and the fort in a few minutes, and seasonal trolleys run to Glens Falls. Beyond that, the western shore, the trailheads and every day trip need a car, and summer traffic in the village is a nuisance. A rented boat is the best way to see the lake.

Milwaukee also leans on cars but needs them less. Downtown, the Third Ward and the lakefront are easy to walk and are linked by the Riverwalk, The Hop streetcar and buses. Ride-hailing covers the zoo and the Harley-Davidson Museum.

Neither is a place to travel to for shopping, but Milwaukee has more to browse. Canada Street in Lake George is mostly T-shirts and fudge, the outlet centres on Route 9 are the main shopping, and the best gifts are Adirondack crafts, maple syrup and balsam pillows.

Milwaukee's Third Ward has independent boutiques and design shops in old warehouses, and Brady Street adds vintage and record shops. The Public Market is the place to buy Wisconsin cheese to take home.

Milwaukee is somewhat easier on the budget. Lake George in July and August is priced like a resort, and lakefront rooms, boat rentals and theme park tickets add up quickly for a family. Older motels on Route 9, beds in Glens Falls and weekday or off-season stays bring the cost down.

Milwaukee's hotels cost well below those in the coastal cities, and tavern beer, fish fries and the lakefront are cheap or free. Big festival and game weekends push hotel rates up, though, and a hire car adds to the bill.

Live performance at Lake George is a summer affair. There are free concerts by the water in Shepard Park, a September jazz weekend, an August chamber music festival and summer theatre. For orchestras, ballet and big touring acts, you drive to the amphitheatre in Saratoga Springs.

Milwaukee has its own symphony, opera, ballet and repertory theatre, with performances well beyond the summer, and touring bands play the ornate 1895 Pabst Theater. Its summer highlight is Summerfest, with hundreds of acts on the lakefront over several weeks.

Lake George offers more rest, as long as you stay away from the village centre. The resort hotels near Bolton Landing have full spas, a lakeside cottage sets a slow pace, and the historic mineral baths in Saratoga Springs are under an hour away. Early autumn is the calmest time.

Milwaukee has hotel and day spas, and a walk along the lakefront or the Riverwalk is the most restful thing on offer. For a proper spa day you have to drive an hour north to Kohler.