Lake George or Portland, Maine?

Lake George is the place to actually swim. The freshwater lake warms to about 24°C in high summer, and the state beach at the southern end of the village is sandy and lifeguarded, with mountains across the water. Boaters can also swim off the islands in the Narrows. The season runs only from late June to early September, and on hot weekends the beaches fill early.

Portland's strands at Crescent Beach, Higgins Beach and Pine Point are wider and prettier than the lake beaches, and Old Orchard Beach has the pier and arcades of a classic seaside resort. The Gulf of Maine stays cold, though, so most people walk the sand and wade rather than swim.

Lake George eats like a summer resort: pizza, pancakes, ice cream and waterfront decks where the view does most of the work. A few more careful dining rooms around Bolton Landing serve Adirondack game and lake fish, and visitors who care about food often drive to Saratoga Springs for dinner.

Portland is a city where people plan their days around meals. You get lobster rolls at harbour shacks, Maine oysters at raw bars, chowder, good bakeries and chef-run kitchens using local produce, plus the brewery taprooms of East Bayside and Industrial Way. Expect queues at the best-known places in summer.

Neither is a culture destination, but Portland gives you more to see. Lake George's history centres on Fort William Henry, the reconstructed fort behind The Last of the Mohicans, plus a small museum in the old courthouse. The region's major sites, Fort Ticonderoga and Saratoga, are a drive away.

Portland has the brick and granite Old Port, rebuilt after the fire of 1866, the Portland Museum of Art with its Winslow Homer holdings, Victoria Mansion and Longfellow's childhood home. Portland Head Light is just outside town. Together they fill a day or two comfortably.

Both are bar towns with no real clubs, but Portland's evenings have more range and hold up better outside summer. At Lake George, going out means beer on the decks along Canada Street and the waterfront with a young boating crowd, and it goes quiet from autumn. Portland adds oyster and cocktail bars in the Old Port, busy brewery taprooms in the early evening and calmer wine bars in the West End and Munjoy Hill, which suit a drink after a good dinner.

Lake George has the stronger outdoors. You can kayak, sail and camp on islands along a 50km lake between forested ridges, climb Prospect Mountain, Black Mountain or the Tongue Mountain range for wide views, and reach the Adirondack High Peaks in under two hours. Gore Mountain gives serious downhill skiing in winter.

Portland's outdoors is coastal and gentler: island ferries across Casco Bay, sea kayaks, schooners and whale-watching cruises, and clifftop walks at Cape Elizabeth. For real mountains it is about two hours to the White Mountains.

Both make good bases for driving out, and both need a car to do it. From Lake George the trips are inland and historic: Saratoga Springs with its spa and racecourse, Fort Ticonderoga above Lake Champlain, Olympic Lake Placid and the Vermont towns over the state line.

From Portland the trips run along the coast through a string of harbour towns: Kennebunkport, Ogunquit with its cliff path, colonial Portsmouth, Bath and its maritime museum, and Camden with its windjammers. The choice comes down to forts and spa history or sea captains' houses and lighthouses.

Lake George is a traditional family resort. Steamboat cruises leave from the village pier, there are musket demonstrations at Fort William Henry, and Canada Street has arcades and wax museums. Motels with pools and cottages with kitchens make the logistics easy, though most attractions close outside summer.

Portland is relaxed with children, with the Children's Museum and Theatre of Maine, island ferries and tide pools at Two Lights. It has no theme park, zoo or major aquarium, though, so the days are gentler and shorter on big outings.

Lake George's village centre takes only a few minutes to cross on foot, and seasonal trolleys run to Glens Falls. But the shore hamlets, trailheads and day trips all need a car, and summer traffic and parking are a nuisance. A rented boat is the best way to see the lake itself.

Portland is easier without a car, at least on the peninsula. The Old Port, Congress Street, the West End and Munjoy Hill are all a walk apart, if sometimes uphill, and ferries leave from the waterfront for the islands. The beaches and the coast towns still call for a hire car.

Lake George's Canada Street sells T-shirts, fudge and beachwear, so the real shopping is in the outlet centres on Route 9, plus Adirondack crafts, maple syrup and balsam pillows for gifts. Portland has independent boutiques along Exchange, Fore and Middle Streets selling Maine pottery, woollens and art, galleries on Congress Street, and the Freeport outlets around L.L.Bean twenty minutes north. Neither will hold a keen shopper for long, but Portland makes the more interesting afternoon.

Lake George is the cheaper of the two, though neither is a bargain in summer. Older motels on Route 9, cottages with kitchens, rooms in Glens Falls or Queensbury and free beaches and trails keep costs down, and weekdays and the off-season are much cheaper.

Portland's peninsula hotels charge big-city rates in July, August and on foliage weekends, and its lobster, oysters and chef-run dining make eating out expensive. Seafood shacks, brewery food trucks and walking instead of driving help to cut costs.

At Lake George live performance 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, and for big names people drive to the amphitheatre in Saratoga Springs.

Portland has a steadier calendar through the year. The Portland Symphony Orchestra plays at Merrill Auditorium, Portland Stage puts on professional theatre, and touring bands and folk acts play the historic State Theatre and smaller rooms on Congress Street.

Lake George has the edge here. The resort hotels on the points and islands near Bolton Landing have full spas, lakeside cottages make for slow mornings, and the historic mineral baths of Saratoga Springs are under an hour away. Keep away from the village centre in high summer, as early autumn is the calm season.

Portland has hotel and day spas but no bathing tradition. Rest there means a ferry to a quiet island, dusk on the Eastern Promenade or a long lunch by the water, with a waterfront sauna or a cold sea dip for the bold.