Lake George or Pittsburgh?

Lake George is a genuine place for a swimming vacation in summer. The broad, lifeguarded state beach is at the south end of the village, Shepard Park has a smaller one, and you can swim by boat from the island campsites of the Narrows. The water is fresh, clear and calm. The beaches are modest in size, though, the season is short, and they fill early on hot weekends.

Pittsburgh has nothing like this. Nobody swims in its three rivers, so a swim means about 45 minutes in the car to the small reservoir beaches at Lake Arthur, or two hours to Presque Isle on Lake Erie. Both make a good day out but are not a reason to come.

Pittsburgh is much the better place to eat. Its Central and Eastern European roots show in the pierogies and haluski, and the Strip District is a long market street worth a morning on its own. Lawrenceville and East Liberty have chef-led kitchens in old industrial buildings, with craft breweries to match.

Lake George eats like a summer resort: pizza, pancakes, ice cream and waterfront decks where the view does the work. A few dining rooms around Bolton Landing serve Adirondack game and lake fish, but keen eaters usually drive to Saratoga Springs. Out of season many places in the village close.

The gap here is wide. Pittsburgh's steel fortunes paid for the Carnegie Museums in Oakland, the Frick estate and the Cathedral of Learning with its Nationality Rooms. On the North Side, the Andy Warhol Museum and the Mattress Factory add serious modern art. The view of the bridges from Mount Washington, reached by incline, is a sight in itself.

Lake George's history centres on one event, the 1757 siege, told at the reconstructed Fort William Henry, plus a small museum in the old courthouse. The region's more important heritage, Fort Ticonderoga and Saratoga, is a drive away.

Neither city is a place for clubbing, but Pittsburgh offers far more evenings out, all year round. Its bars are spread over neighbourhoods with different characters. Lawrenceville's Butler Street has cocktail bars and breweries, East Carson Street is the loud student strip, and the bars around the stadiums fill with fans on game nights.

At Lake George, going out means summer weekends drinking beer on the waterfront decks along Canada Street, loud until closing time. From autumn to spring the evenings are quiet.

Both have green hills and autumn colour, but Lake George sits in wilder country. The village lies inside the Adirondack Park, Prospect Mountain rises right behind it, and the lake runs about 50km past forested islands you can paddle to. Winter brings downhill skiing at Gore Mountain, cross-country trails and ice fishing on the frozen lake.

Pittsburgh's outdoors is a city's outdoors: ravine trails in Frick and Schenley parks, riverside cycle paths and kayaking under the downtown bridges. Its big landscape, the Youghiogheny gorge at Ohiopyle with its whitewater rafting, is an hour and a half away. The Great Allegheny Passage cycle trail runs there from the city.

Lake George has the better choice of day trips, though every one needs a car. Saratoga Springs, with its racecourse, mineral springs and battlefield, is under an hour south, and Fort Ticonderoga is about an hour north above Lake Champlain. Lake Placid and the Vermont towns of Bennington and Manchester are also within reach.

Pittsburgh's day trips mostly follow one route into the Laurel Highlands: Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob, Ligonier's fort and the Flight 93 memorial. Beyond that there is Old Economy Village, or a long drive to Cleveland.

Both suit children well, and Lake George is a little ahead for a summer week. The whole resort is built around families: gently sloping lifeguarded water, a theme park and water park a short drive south, steamboat cruises and a whole street of mini golf and arcades. Motels with pools and cottages with kitchens make staying easy. Out of season most of it closes.

Pittsburgh is the better choice in other months or in bad weather. It has the Carnegie Science Center, the Children's Museum, the National Aviary and the dinosaur halls, plus Kennywood's wooden roller coasters in summer.

Pittsburgh is easier to manage without a car. Downtown, the Strip and the North Side's museums are linked on foot across the bridges and by the T light rail, and the inclines climb Mount Washington. Reaching Oakland or Lawrenceville, though, means buses or ride-hailing, and the hills make walking slow.

At Lake George, the walkable part is a few village streets around the pier and Shepard Park, with seasonal trolleys to Glens Falls. Everywhere else you drive, and summer traffic and parking are a nuisance. A rented boat is the most enjoyable way to get around the lake.

Neither place is worth a trip for shopping, but Pittsburgh gives you more to browse: the stalls and kitchenware of the Strip District, independent and vintage shops on Butler Street, and boutiques along Walnut Street in Shadyside. Lake George's Canada Street sells mostly T-shirts and fudge, so the real shopping is at the outlet centres on Route 9. The gifts worth taking home are Adirondack crafts, maple syrup and balsam pillows.

Pittsburgh is the cheaper stay. Hotel rooms cost well below coastal-city rates, even downtown, and meals and beer are fairly priced. Tips and rides between neighbourhoods add up, though, and rates rise on big football and concert weekends.

In July and August, Lake George costs what a resort costs, and boat hire and theme park tickets quickly mount up for a family. It is much cheaper on weekdays and outside the summer, or from a cottage with a kitchen or a room in Glens Falls, and its beaches and trails cost little.

Pittsburgh has a proper year-round season. The Pittsburgh Symphony plays in Heinz Hall, the Benedum Center has opera, ballet and touring musicals, and the Public Theater and smaller South Side companies put on plays. Its jazz history goes back to the Hill District of August Wilson's plays, and indie bands fill the clubs of Lawrenceville.

At Lake George, performances are a summer thing: free concerts by the water in Shepard Park, a September jazz weekend, an August chamber music festival and summer theatre. For orchestras and ballet, visitors go to the amphitheatre in Saratoga Springs.

Lake George is the more restful place, as long as you stay away from the village centre in July and August. The resort hotels on the islands and points near Bolton Landing have full spas, and cottages by the water set a slow pace. Saratoga's historic mineral baths are under an hour away, and early autumn is the calmest time.

Pittsburgh has no bathing tradition, only hotel and day spas. Its quiet corners are Phipps Conservatory's warm glasshouses and the paths of Frick Park. A real spa stay means driving out to the Laurel Highlands.