Lake George or Rehoboth Beach?

Both have short swimming seasons, but at Rehoboth the beach is the whole point. A long, wide strip of pale Atlantic sand runs in front of the boardwalk, the surf is usually moderate, and there are wilder stretches at Cape Henlopen and Delaware Seashore State Park when the town end fills up.

At Lake George you swim in calm, clear fresh water, with no waves and no salt. The state beach at the southern end of the village is the main stretch of sand, with smaller beaches at Shepard Park and Bolton Landing. The real pleasure is swimming from a rented boat or from the islands in the Narrows, but the beaches themselves are small and fill early on hot weekends.

Rehoboth is the better place to eat. Decades as Washington's summer escape have given Rehoboth Avenue a run of chef-led restaurants. The Mid-Atlantic shore adds real local food in steamed blue crabs, crab cakes and raw bars, and the town has a strong craft beer scene that started here.

In Lake George village, most of the eating is pizza, pancakes and waterfront decks where the view does the work. The more careful dining rooms are up the shore at Bolton Landing and in the resort hotels, serving Adirondack game and lake fish, and visitors who care about food often drive to Saratoga Springs for dinner.

Neither is a culture destination, and both send history lovers elsewhere, to Fort Ticonderoga and Saratoga from one and to Lewes from the other. Lake George at least has a set piece in Fort William Henry, the reconstruction of the fort besieged in 1757 that lies behind The Last of the Mohicans, with musket demonstrations and excavated grounds. Rehoboth's offer is quieter and more about art: the Rehoboth Art League's galleries in their garden at Henlopen Acres, and the shaded streets left from the town's Methodist camp-meeting beginnings.

Rehoboth has the more sociable evenings. It is a long-established LGBTQ resort, with piano lounges, drag nights and bars around Baltimore Avenue, and Dewey Beach next door adds big deck bars and a younger, louder weekend crowd.

Lake George's night out is beer on the decks along Canada Street and the waterfront, busy with boaters on summer weekends, and there is little beyond that. Neither town has proper clubs, and both go quiet once summer ends.

This is where Lake George pulls well ahead. The lake runs about 50km between forested ridges and is dotted with islands where you can camp. The climbs up Prospect Mountain, Black Mountain and the Tongue Mountain range look out over the Adirondack Park, the High Peaks are within two hours, autumn colour arrives from late September, and in winter you can ski at Gore Mountain.

Rehoboth's outdoors is flat and gentle. It has the tall dunes and the Gordons Pond trail at Cape Henlopen, the cycle path to Lewes through woods and wetland, kayaking on the inland bays and dolphins offshore. It is lovely for easy rides and paddles, but there is no climbing and nothing like the mountain scenery.

Lake George has the stronger list of outings. Saratoga Springs, with its racecourse, mineral springs and battlefield, is under an hour south. Fort Ticonderoga stands over Lake Champlain about an hour north, and Lake Placid and the Vermont towns of Bennington and Manchester are also within a drive.

Rehoboth's best outing is right next door: historic Lewes, from where the ferry crosses Delaware Bay to the Victorian streets of Cape May. Beyond that, Ocean City, Berlin, Dover and Chincoteague make pleasant but forgettable days.

Both are traditional family resorts and work about equally well with children. The difference is the setting. Lake George has the Great Escape theme park and water park, steamboat cruises from the village pier, gently shelving lake water and the mini golf and wax museums of Canada Street.

Rehoboth offers an ocean day instead, with lifeguarded sand a few steps from the rental houses and the gentle rides of Funland on the boardwalk. Cape Henlopen adds calm bay water and a nature centre for small children. In both towns summer weekends are crowded, and there is little for children out of season.

Rehoboth is much easier without a car. On its flat grid, downtown, the boardwalk and the beach are a short walk apart, bikes are everywhere, the cycle trail runs on to Lewes, and a seasonal trolley goes to Dewey Beach and the outlets.

In Lake George, only the village core around Canada Street, the steamboat pier and Fort William Henry is walkable. The western shore hamlets, the trailheads and almost everything else need a car, although a rented boat is the best way to see the lake. Both towns are reached almost entirely by road, and the roads clog on summer weekends.

Rehoboth is the better place to shop, helped by Delaware having no sales tax. Big outlet centres on the highway draw shoppers from several states, and Rehoboth Avenue has independent boutiques, bookshops, galleries and home stores among the beachwear.

Lake George has outlets of its own along Route 9, but the village street is mostly T-shirts and fudge. The best buys there are Adirondack crafts, rustic furniture, maple syrup and balsam pillows to take home.

In July and August both cost what a prosperous American resort costs, and both get much cheaper in spring and autumn. Lake George gives you a little more room to save, with older motels along Route 9, cottages with kitchens, cheaper beds in Glens Falls or Queensbury, and free or cheap beaches and trails.

In Rehoboth, rooms and rental houses near the beach carry steep summer premiums, and restaurant meals and parking add up. The beach itself costs nothing, though.

In both towns live performance is a modest summer extra, and for big names each sends you on a drive: from Lake George to the amphitheatre at Saratoga Springs, and from Rehoboth to an outdoor pavilion in Sussex County. Lake George leans towards music, with free concerts in Shepard Park, a September jazz weekend and an August chamber festival. Rehoboth has bandstand concerts, a local company staging musicals and cabaret for much of the year, and an autumn film festival.

Lake George is the more restful choice, as long as you stay away from the village. The resort hotels on the islands and points near Bolton Landing have full spas, lakeside cottages set a slow pace, and the historic mineral baths of Saratoga Springs are under an hour away. Early autumn is the calmest time.

Rehoboth has no bathing tradition, only a few day spas and yoga studios. Its restful side is the quiet of June and September, with walks on an empty boardwalk and bike rides under the pines.