Lake Placid

Swimming here means fresh water, not sea. Mirror Lake, in the middle of the village, has a small public beach with a lifeguarded area. Lake Placid itself and the many ponds and lakes nearby, including the Saranac chain, have more swimming spots, and on the West Branch of the Ausable there are rocky swimming holes. In midsummer the shallower lakes reach about 22°C and are a real pleasure on a hot afternoon.

The season is short, though. Swimming is comfortable from late June to the end of August, and the rest of the year the water is cold or frozen. The beaches are small strips of sand and grass, so a swim is something you add to a day of hiking or paddling, not why you come.

Eating in Lake Placid is what you'd expect from an American mountain resort village. Main Street has brewpubs, diners serving big breakfasts, pizza and burger places, and a few more polished dining rooms in the lakeside lodges, where you get regional produce and a view of the water. Maple syrup, local craft beer and hearty après-ski food are about as local as it gets. There is no real regional cuisine, no market culture and not much range, and in the shoulder seasons some kitchens cut back. Most visitors are perfectly happy eating well after a day outdoors. Nobody comes here for the food.

Lake Placid's heritage is sporting. The village hosted the Winter Olympics in 1932 and 1980, and the venues are still in use. The Olympic Center houses the rink of the 1980 'Miracle on Ice' game and a small Olympic museum. The ski jumps rise above the edge of town, and the speed skating oval sits in front of the old high school. The other notable site is John Brown's Farm, the abolitionist's home and grave, just outside the village. The streets are pleasant, with some old Adirondack lodge architecture, but there are no art collections or historic districts of note. A sightseeing visit takes a day or so.

Evenings centre on a few pubs and brewpubs along Main Street, plus hotel bars by the lake. These get lively after a ski day in winter or when a big event is in town. There are no clubs and little after midnight. Most visitors have dinner and a beer or two and go to bed early, ready for an early start on a trail or the slopes.

This is the main reason to come. Lake Placid sits on the edge of the High Peaks of the Adirondacks, a large protected wilderness of rounded, forested summits, rocky ridges, lakes and rivers. Trailheads for Mount Marcy, the highest point in New York at 1,629m, and dozens of other peaks are a short drive away. Shorter climbs such as Cascade and Mount Jo give big views in half a day. Whiteface, about 15km away, has the biggest ski vertical in the eastern United States, and there is also cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and skating on the lakes.

In summer and autumn the focus is on the water. You can canoe and kayak through the Saranac Lakes and the St. Regis canoe area, fly fish on the Ausable, and rock climb at Chapel Pond and the Cascade cliffs. The road up Whiteface makes a classic climb for cyclists. Peak foliage comes in late September and early October. Winters are long and cold, and spring brings mud and blackflies.

Most excursions from Lake Placid lead into the wilderness rather than to other towns, and the list of places to visit is short. Saranac Lake, a historic village that was once a cure town for tuberculosis, is a few minutes down the road. Tupper Lake has the Wild Center, a natural history museum, and the arts town of Keene is close by too.

Further out, Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain is an 18th-century fort restored in the 1900s, about an hour and a half away. Burlington, a lakeside college town in Vermont, is about two hours away by road and car ferry. Montreal is just over two hours away, across the border. You'll need a car for all of them.

Lake Placid works well for active families. The village is small and safe, and Mirror Lake has a beach and a lakeside path. The Olympic sites are fun for children: there are public skating sessions on the Olympic rinks, a chairlift and elevator up the ski jump tower, and bobsled rides at Mount Van Hoevenberg. In winter there is a toboggan chute down onto the frozen lake, and Whiteface has a good ski school.

Santa's Workshop at North Pole, a long-running Christmas theme park, is about 20 minutes away, and the Wild Center in Tupper Lake suits curious children. Easy hikes and canoe trips round things out. There are no big theme parks or aquariums, and the long drives and cold winters take some planning.

The village is easy on foot. Main Street, Mirror Lake, the Olympic Center and most hotels and restaurants are within a short walk of each other. Beyond that you'll need a car. Whiteface, the High Peaks trailheads, the lakes and nearby towns are spread across the mountains, and local buses are few and limited. There is a small regional airport nearby, and the nearest Amtrak station is about an hour's drive away. Expect winding mountain roads and proper winter driving conditions for much of the year.

Shopping means one stretch of Main Street, with outdoor outfitters, ski and fly-fishing shops, galleries, Olympic souvenirs and gift shops selling rustic Adirondack décor, balsam pillows and maple products. It's pleasant for browsing and handy for gear, but there is no fashion, no department store and no market of note.

Lake Placid is a resort and is priced like one. Lakeside lodges and hotels on Main Street are expensive in the busy seasons: winter weekends, summer, the autumn foliage weeks and the big sporting events. Meals out cost what they do in American resort towns, and lift tickets, guides and gear rental add up. Older motels on the edge of the village, self-catering cabins and the quiet weeks of spring and late autumn bring costs down a lot. Hiking, paddling your own canoe and swimming in the lakes cost nothing, but most visitors will also need a rental car.

Live performance is modest and mostly seasonal. The Lake Placid Sinfonietta, a chamber orchestra with roots in the early 1900s, plays a summer season that includes free concerts at the bandshell by Mirror Lake. The village arts centre puts on occasional concerts, theatre and films, and in summer some bars and lakeside lawns have small live bands. For most of the year there is little to attend.

Lake Placid has no bathing tradition, so the spa side is a few full-service spas in the larger lakeside and mountain lodges, offering massages, saunas and hot tubs after a day in the cold. Its restorative side comes from the setting. The village is quiet, there's a calm walk around Mirror Lake, and the old Adirondack lodges and cabins have porches over still water and fireplaces in winter. It suits travellers who unwind outdoors and then warm up by a fire, rather than those looking for thermal baths.