Lake George or Stowe?

Only Lake George can make swimming the centre of a summer stay. It has a long, clear lake, the broad lifeguarded state beach at the southern end of the village and the smaller one in Shepard Park. There are little beaches in Bolton Landing too, and you can swim from boats or the island campsites in the Narrows.

Stowe has no shore of its own. A swim there means a rocky stream hole or a half-hour drive to the small, unguarded beaches at Waterbury Reservoir or Lake Elmore, so it is a way to cool off after a hike rather than a plan for the day.

Stowe is the better place to eat, thanks to what Vermont produces. There are hazy IPAs from breweries with followings across the country, farm cheddar, maple syrup and cider doughnuts, and farm-to-table dining rooms along Mountain Road.

The village at Lake George runs on pizza, burgers, pancake houses and waterfront decks where you are mostly paying for the view. The more careful cooking, with Adirondack game and lake fish, is up the western shore around Bolton Landing, and people who care about food often drive to Saratoga Springs for dinner.

Neither is a culture destination, but Lake George has more history you can actually visit. Fort William Henry, a reconstruction of the British fort besieged in 1757 that inspired The Last of the Mohicans, fills a good morning, and the historical association's museum in the old courthouse adds a little more.

Stowe's appeal is mostly how it looks: the white steeple, the clapboard buildings and the covered bridges. Add the ski museum, a small arts centre and the von Trapp estate, and an afternoon covers it.

Lake George has the livelier evenings, though only in summer. On weekends Canada Street and the waterfront bars fill with boaters and day-trippers, and some decks stay loud until closing, but the village goes quiet once summer ends.

Stowe's evenings are busiest in winter and finish early: après-ski in the base-lodge bars, brewery taprooms and the odd band on Mountain Road. Neither town has clubs, and Stowe sends its night owls to Burlington.

Both are superb for the outdoors, and the difference is water against mountain. Lake George is a vacation on the lake, with kayaking, sailing and paddleboarding among more than a hundred islands, and ridge views from Prospect, Black and Tongue Mountains. The High Peaks are under two hours north.

Stowe is built around Mount Mansfield, Vermont's highest peak, with the Long Trail, Smugglers' Notch and mountain-bike trails on its slopes. For skiers the gap is clear: from Lake George it is about an hour to Gore Mountain, while in Stowe the lifts are at the top of the valley road.

Lake George has the better day trips. Saratoga Springs is under an hour south, with its racecourse, mineral springs and Revolutionary War battlefield. Fort Ticonderoga stands over Lake Champlain, and Lake Placid and the Vermont towns of Bennington and Manchester are also within reach.

Stowe's list is gentler. The best of it is Burlington's lakefront and pedestrian street with the Shelburne Museum nearby, plus Montpelier's gold-domed statehouse and the cider mills of Waterbury. From either town, every one of these trips needs a car.

Lake George is built for children in a way Stowe is not. It has the Great Escape and its water park, a gently sloping beach with lifeguards, paddlewheel steamboats from the village pier, musket demonstrations at the fort and a whole street of mini golf and arcades.

Stowe suits active families instead, with ski school on beginner slopes, the flat river path for bikes and pushchairs, and sugarhouses where children can watch maple syrup being made. There are no attractions made just for children, though, and in winter the family resort over Smugglers' Notch is an hour's drive round the mountain.

Lake George packs its centre into one compact village, where the steamboat pier, Shepard Park and the fort are minutes apart on foot. Seasonal trolleys run to Glens Falls and the outlets, but the western shore and the trailheads need a car, and summer traffic and parking are a nuisance.

Stowe stretches about 11km along a single valley road. The riverside path links much of it for walkers and cyclists in the warmer months, and a free shuttle runs in ski season. Otherwise you drive here too, with snow tyres in winter.

Lake George's one serious shopping trip is to the outlet centres on Route 9, a short drive south, selling American brands. Among the fudge and T-shirt shops on Canada Street there are also Adirondack crafts, rustic furniture and balsam pillows worth finding for a gift.

Stowe's shops are smaller and more local: ski and outdoor gear, galleries, pottery and wool, with cheddar and maple syrup to take home. There are no outlets or fashion names, so it is a place to pick up a few things rather than to shop.

Lake George is the easier of the two on a budget. High summer is expensive, but older motels on Route 9, cottages with kitchens and cheaper beds in Glens Falls or Queensbury keep costs down. Most beaches and trails are free, and weekdays and the shoulder seasons cost much less.

Stowe is priced as one of the best-known ski resorts in the east, and lift tickets, ski rental and resort dining come on top of the lodging, especially at Christmas, in the school vacations and during foliage season. Prices ease in summer and fall sharply in spring and November.

Both have small programmes that run mostly in summer, but of different kinds. Lake George leans on outdoor music: free concerts by the water in Shepard Park, a long-running September jazz weekend and an August chamber music festival. For orchestras and ballet, the amphitheatre at Saratoga Springs is under an hour away.

Stowe has a proper indoor stage at the base of Spruce Peak for touring musicians, comedy and family shows. It also has community theatre in summer and hillside concerts linked to the von Trapp legacy, and Burlington is the fallback for anything bigger.

Stowe is the better choice for slowing down. Its resort spas have saunas, steam rooms and heated outdoor pools where you can sit in hot water as snow falls, couples come for spa weekends, and the valley goes still once the day's skiing or hiking is over.

At Lake George the calm is away from the village, in the spa hotels near Bolton Landing and in early autumn mornings on the water, while Canada Street in July is anything but restful. The nearest bathing tradition is in Saratoga Springs, whose historic mineral baths are under an hour south.