Adirondacks

Swimming here means lakes, and there are hundreds of them. Lake George is the classic choice, with sandy public beaches near the village and at the southern end, clear water and islands to swim from by boat. Further north, Mirror Lake in Lake Placid, the Saranac chain and the Fulton Chain near Old Forge have small town beaches, state campground beaches and docks where a whole summer can pass between water and shore.

The season is short. The water reaches about 22°C to 24°C in July and August, June is bracing, and by mid-September most people only paddle. In those summer weeks lake life is the heart of a stay. There is no surf, no salt and no beach scene beyond families, rafts and picnic tables.

Eating in the mountains is mostly hearty and casual: diners serving pancakes with local maple syrup, roadside burger and ice-cream stands open only in summer, brewpubs, and dinners of steak and trout in log-built lodge dining rooms. Lake Placid and Saranac Lake have the widest choice, including a few ambitious kitchens, and the farms and orchards of the Champlain Valley supply cider, cheese and apples in autumn. Lake George village leans towards tourist fare. It is pleasant eating after a day outdoors, but small towns and long distances mean nobody comes here for the food.

The heritage here is specific and scattered. Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain and the reconstructed Fort William Henry at Lake George recall the colonial wars fought along these lakes. The Adirondack Experience museum at Blue Mountain Lake tells the story of guides, loggers and boatbuilders, and the Gilded Age Great Camps, such as Sagamore and Santanoni, show how wealthy families built rustic retreats of log and bark.

Lake Placid keeps the arenas, ski jumps and bobsled run of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics, and Saranac Lake has its cure cottages from its era as a tuberculosis retreat. Each is worth an afternoon, but they lie far apart and none is a major museum.

Evenings in the mountains are mostly campfires, porches and early nights before a hike. Lake George village is the exception in summer, with a strip of bars, waterfront decks and party boats that draw a young crowd on weekends. Lake Placid's Main Street has a handful of pubs and brewpubs busy in ski season and summer. Elsewhere, a tavern in each town is the whole of it.

This is one of the largest protected areas in the eastern United States, a patchwork of public forest and private land holding forty-six High Peaks, thousands of lakes and ponds, and rivers threading through spruce, birch and maple. Hikers base themselves in Lake Placid or Keene Valley for the High Peaks, including Mount Marcy at about 1,630m, with rocky summits above the treeline. Paddlers head for the St Regis Canoe Area and the Saranac Lakes, where you can travel for days between lean-tos and portages.

Autumn brings deep red and gold foliage from late September. Winter brings skiing at Whiteface and Gore, cross-country trails and ice climbing. Loons call on the lakes and moose roam the north. Blackflies make late spring trying.

The best outings lie around the edges of the park. From Lake George, Saratoga Springs is under an hour away, with its Victorian streets, mineral springs and historic racecourse, and Albany's capitol and state museum are about an hour away. From Lake Placid or the Champlain shore, ferries cross the lake to Vermont, where Burlington and the farm villages of the Champlain Valley make an easy day. Montreal is about two hours from the northern lakes, a long but feasible day. Within the park itself, most outings are to lakes and summits rather than other towns.

Family summers at the lake are a long tradition here: a rented cabin, a dock, canoes and calm, shallow beaches. Lake George is the busiest family base, with a large theme park and water park just south of the village, mini golf, paddle steamers and fort re-enactments. Old Forge has its own water park and easy lakes. The Wild Center in Tupper Lake is a natural history museum with a treetop walkway built for children, and Lake Placid lets older children ride the Olympic bobsled and visit the ski jumps. North of Lake Placid, a Christmas-themed village has entertained children since the middle of the last century.

Choose hikes with care, since High Peaks trails are steep and long. Expect drives between attractions.

A car is essential. The Northway motorway runs up the eastern side, but inside the park travel is on winding two-lane roads through forest, so Lake George to Lake Placid takes well over an hour and a half and Old Forge is further still. The roads are quiet and scenic, apart from summer weekend queues around Lake George. A daily train runs along Lake Champlain and a few buses link the larger towns, but neither reaches trailheads or lakes. Lake Placid and Lake George village are walkable once you arrive.

Shopping is a side activity. Lake Placid's Main Street has outdoor-gear shops, galleries and gift shops, and Lake George has souvenir stores along the main road and an outlet strip just south. The distinctive buys are local: rustic twig and bentwood furniture, pack baskets, balsam pillows, maple syrup and wool from craft shops and summer fairs scattered through the region.

The Adirondacks are not cheap in the main summer and foliage seasons. Lake Placid and the lakefront around Lake George charge resort prices for rooms, and cabin rentals book up early. Eating out means American restaurant prices plus tips. Visitors can save in the quieter towns of the central and western lakes, with family motels and state campgrounds, and much of the appeal, such as trails, lakes and summits, costs nothing to use.

Live performance here is mostly a summer affair. Small classical and chamber festivals fill lakeside churches and town halls around Lake George, a long-running summer opera programme trains young singers near Schroon Lake, and Lake Placid has an arts centre with concerts and touring shows. From the southern lakes, the large open-air amphitheatre at Saratoga Springs is an evening's drive away, with summer seasons of orchestral music and ballet as well as big concerts. Outside July and August, the programme is thin.

The restorative appeal lies in the pace: a porch over a still lake, a canoe at dawn, and evenings with no plans. Saranac Lake was built as a place to rest in mountain air, and the region still feels made for doing very little. Spa treatment is limited to grand lakeside resorts on Lake George and a few lodges in Lake Placid. The historic mineral baths of Saratoga Springs are just south of the park. There is no bathing tradition of its own, so this is a place to slow down rather than to visit spas.