Lake George or Washington DC?

At Lake George, swimming is a real part of the trip. The clear fresh water is warm enough from late June to early September. The state beach at the south end of the village is broad and lifeguarded, Shepard Park and Bolton Landing have smaller beaches, and many people swim from boats or from the islands in the Narrows. There is no surf or salt water, and on hot weekends the sand fills early.

Washington has no swimming to offer. The rivers are for looking at and paddling on. The small, brackish beaches near Annapolis are an hour away and the Atlantic resorts are a weekend trip, so in practice you cool off in a hotel pool.

Washington is by far the better place to eat. Ethiopian restaurants cluster around Shaw and U Street, Columbia Heights is full of pupusas, and half-smokes, blue crabs and Chesapeake oysters give the city its local flavour. You can graze at Eastern Market and Union Market, and serious tasting menus cover the top end.

Lake George eats like a summer resort, with pizza, pancakes and waterfront decks where you pay for the view. The more careful dining rooms near Bolton Landing serve Adirondack game and lake fish, but keen eaters drive to Saratoga Springs, and many places close out of season.

Washington could fill a week with museums alone. The Smithsonian collections line the Mall, the National Gallery has first-class painting and the African American history museum is moving, and almost all of it is free. Around them stand the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, the Library of Congress reading room and Arlington Cemetery.

Lake George's history comes down to one story: Fort William Henry, a reconstruction of the fort besieged in 1757 that lies behind The Last of the Mohicans. Add the small museum in the old courthouse and an afternoon covers it. The region's weightier sites, Ticonderoga and Saratoga, are a drive away.

Lake George's nightlife is summer weekends in the bars on Canada Street and the waterfront decks, where day-trippers and boaters drink beer with a view of the lake. There are no real clubs, and from autumn onwards the evenings are quiet.

Washington has a proper scene from Thursday to Saturday all year. There are cocktail bars, rooftops and late dance spots along 14th Street and U Street, a rowdier strip in Adams Morgan, dive bars on H Street, beer gardens by the river at the Wharf and Navy Yard, and Dupont Circle for LGBTQ+ nights. It won't be the reason you go, but it fills your evenings well.

At Lake George the outdoors is the whole point. The lake lies inside the Adirondack Park, with more than a hundred islands to kayak or sail between and the Narrows as its finest stretch. The views from Prospect Mountain, Black Mountain and the Tongue Mountain range are among the best in the Adirondacks. The High Peaks are within two hours, and in winter you can ski at Gore Mountain.

Washington is green for a capital. You can walk or cycle Rock Creek Park and the C&O Canal towpath, and Great Falls is half an hour upriver. Shenandoah's ridges are within two hours. Still, this is nature fitted around a city stay, and July and August are too sticky for hard days out.

Washington is the richer base. Old Town Alexandria is a Metro ride away, Baltimore is under an hour by train and Philadelphia about two hours by fast train, so many outings need no car. Mount Vernon, Annapolis, Gettysburg, Antietam and Harpers Ferry add a long list of colonial and Civil War sites.

Lake George has a smaller but good choice. Saratoga Springs, with its spa and racecourse, is under an hour south. Fort Ticonderoga looks over Lake Champlain, and Lake Placid and the Vermont towns make longer drives. Every one of them means driving.

Both are easy with children, but in very different ways. Lake George is a classic summer resort. It has the Great Escape theme park and water park, a gently sloping lifeguarded beach, paddlewheel steamboats, and mini golf and arcades along Canada Street, plus cottages with kitchens. Out of summer most of it shuts, and you will need a car.

Washington keeps children busy through teaching rather than rides. There are the dinosaurs at Natural History, the rockets at Air and Space, the free National Zoo and the carousel on the Mall, and buggies are easy on the Metro thanks to its lifts. The drawbacks are long, exposed walks in summer heat and no beach or theme park nearby.

Washington is easy without a car. The centre is a flat grid, and the Metro reaches Arlington, Alexandria and the airport with lifts at every station. Bike-share and riverside paths link the monuments. The gaps are Georgetown, which has no station, and thinner service late at night.

Lake George's village takes minutes to cross on foot, from Canada Street to the pier and the fort, and seasonal trolleys run to Glens Falls. Beyond that, the western shore, the trailheads and every day trip need a car, and summer traffic and parking are a nuisance. A rented boat is the best way to see the lake.

Neither city is worth a trip just for shopping, but Washington offers more. Georgetown's M Street and Wisconsin Avenue mix boutiques and antiques in old brick buildings, and CityCenterDC gathers the luxury labels. Eastern Market's weekend stalls and the museum shops are good for gifts.

In Lake George, Canada Street sells T-shirts, fudge and beachwear, and the outlet centres on Route 9 are the main serious shopping. The souvenirs that belong to the place are Adirondack crafts, rustic furniture, maple syrup and balsam pillows.

Both are expensive at their peak, but Lake George is easier to do cheaply. Older motels on Route 9, cottages where you can cook and rooms in Glens Falls cut costs, beaches and trails are free or cheap, and weekdays and the months either side of summer cost much less.

Washington's hotels are expensive all year and dearer still in cherry blossom season, and restaurants are priced for expense accounts. The big saving is that the museums, zoo and memorials are free. That makes the days cheap but does little for the bill for your room.

Washington is a real theatre city. Arena Stage, the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth, the Folger's small playhouse and Ford's Theatre all have regular seasons, and the National Symphony and the Washington National Opera give it a classical calendar. Around U Street, the restored Lincoln and Howard theatres book touring acts, and go-go is the city's own sound.

Lake George offers summer pleasures rather than a season. There are free concerts by the water in Shepard Park, a September jazz weekend, an August chamber music festival and summer theatre. For orchestras and big names, you drive to the amphitheatre in Saratoga Springs.

Lake George is better for slowing down, as long as you stay away from the village centre. The resort hotels near Bolton Landing have full spas, lakeside cottages make for quiet mornings on the water, and the historic mineral baths of Saratoga Springs are under an hour away. Early autumn is the calmest time.

Washington runs at the pace of a working government town, with hotel spas and yoga studios but no bathing tradition. Rest there comes from an early walk around the Tidal Basin or a bench in the Dumbarton Oaks gardens, and you have to plan it yourself.