Lake Placid or Montreal?

Neither city is a beach destination, and in both you swim only in fresh water, from late June to August. Lake Placid has the edge because there is water everywhere: the small beach on Mirror Lake in the village, the Saranac chain and rocky swimming holes on the West Branch of the Ausable, all easy to fit into a day of hiking.

Montreal has fewer places to swim, and they get busier: the filtered lake beach at Parc Jean-Drapeau, a small river beach in Verdun, and the sandier shore at Oka, about an hour west.

On food the gap is wide. Montreal has a cuisine of its own, from wood-fired Mile End bagels and smoked meat to Québécois bistros serving game and local cheese. Add the Jean-Talon and Atwater markets and a long list of Portuguese, Haitian, Lebanese and Vietnamese kitchens, and you could plan whole days around eating.

Lake Placid feeds you well after a day outside, with diners, brewpubs, pizza and a few dining rooms in the lakeside lodges. Maple syrup and craft beer are about as regional as it gets, though, and some kitchens cut back outside the busy seasons.

Montreal is a proper sightseeing city. The grey-stone streets of Old Montreal, the Notre-Dame Basilica, Saint Joseph's Oratory and the Museum of Fine Arts give you enough for two or three full days.

Lake Placid's sights are mostly sporting. The rink of the 1980 Olympic hockey upset, the ski jumps and the speed skating oval appeal to anyone with a feel for Olympic history, and John Brown's Farm adds an abolitionist chapter. A day covers it all.

Lake Placid winds down after dinner. You might have a beer in a Main Street brewpub or a hotel bar by the lake, and the bars get livelier after a ski day, but the village is quiet well before midnight.

Montreal is the opposite. Bars serve until 3am every night, and you can choose between clubs and dive bars along Boulevard Saint-Laurent, wine bars in Mile End, the big gay clubs of the Village and summer terraces that stay full late.

Lake Placid is built for the outdoors in a way Montreal is not. The High Peaks wilderness starts at the edge of the village. Mount Marcy, Cascade and Mount Jo are there for hiking, Whiteface for downhill skiing, the Saranac Lakes and the St. Regis canoe area for paddling, and the Ausable for fly fishing.

Montreal's nature is gentler and closer to hand: walks and winter skating on Mount Royal, cycling along the Lachine Canal, and even surfing a standing river wave below the Lachine Rapids. For bigger landscapes it relies on the Laurentians, about an hour and a half north.

Montreal has more varied places to go, and you don't always need a car. Ottawa's Parliament buildings and national museums are about two hours away by train, and the Eastern Townships and Mont-Tremblant are easy drives. Quebec City works best as an overnight stay.

From Lake Placid, most outings head into the woods. Saranac Lake, Keene and the Wild Center in Tupper Lake are close. Fort Ticonderoga and Burlington take longer, and Montreal itself is just over two hours away. You need a car for all of them.

Both work with children, but Montreal has more to fill long or rainy days. There are the Biodome, the Insectarium and the Botanical Garden at the Olympic Park, the Science Centre in the Old Port, the amusement park on Île Sainte-Hélène, and the Granby Zoo about an hour out.

Lake Placid suits active families instead, with skating on the Olympic rinks, bobsled rides at Mount Van Hoevenberg, the toboggan chute onto the frozen lake and Santa's Workshop nearby. The village is small and safe, but almost everything beyond it means a drive.

In Lake Placid you can walk between Mirror Lake, the Olympic Center and Main Street. The trailheads, Whiteface and nearby towns all need a car, though, often on winding mountain roads in winter conditions.

In Montreal you don't need a car at all. Four metro lines, bike-share and separated bike lanes link the central neighbourhoods, and downtown the underground network keeps you out of the cold.

Montreal is the better place to shop. There are department stores along Rue Sainte-Catherine, the luxury end on Sherbrooke, independent boutiques and vintage shops in Mile End and Saint-Henri, and market stalls selling ice cider and cheese.

Lake Placid has one stretch of Main Street. It is useful for outdoor gear, fly-fishing kit and maple products, and has little beyond that.

Neither is a bargain, but your money goes further in Montreal. Much of its best food is casual, the metro makes a car unnecessary and many summer festival concerts are free. Winter, outside Christmas and New Year, brings hotel rates down.

Lake Placid charges resort prices in its busy seasons, and lift tickets, guides, gear rental and a hire car add up. You can save with older motels, self-catering cabins and the quiet weeks of spring and late autumn, and hiking and lake swimming cost nothing.

Montreal has a full performing calendar. Place des Arts has the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the opera and the ballet, and there is a large French-language theatre scene. Contemporary circus is a local strength, rooted in the National Circus School and TOHU, and the summer Jazz Festival puts on many free shows.

What Lake Placid offers is small and seasonal. It is mainly the Sinfonietta's summer concerts at the Mirror Lake bandshell, plus occasional shows at the village arts centre.

Montreal has a real bathing culture in the Quebec Nordic spa: hot pools, saunas and cold plunges, used all year round. There are spa circuits on Nuns' Island and on a ferry moored in the Old Port, and forest spas about an hour north.

Lake Placid has a few spas in its lodges, and its calm comes more from the setting: a slow walk round Mirror Lake, a porch over still water, a fire after a cold day.