The only real difference between vacation/2nd home is whether you are renting it and the distance from your main place. We had a lake house at the same time we had the place at the beach and outside of a very specific rental deal we fell into at the beach did not rent either. The lake house was close and got used more frequently, the beach house was a long ways off and got used for longer periods of time.
For us, the beach house was easier to justify and was more of what we were looking for because we would actually get away with the kids for long periods including the entire summers. It got to where we would go to the lake for the day or maybe the weekend, but the kids would opt out or they would bring multiple friends with them. It became more of a hang out spot for the which was fine, but it wasn’t a place for the family to get away together as they got a little older. We rarely are trips to without friends once they were past 10 or so which meant they didn’t really spend any time together doing anything. At the beach they were locked up together for up to 2 months at a time which helped their relationship out long term. We also where there with no one else so there was a lot more family game time, movie time, eating together every meal, etc. than what we had at the lake house that was only an hour from the house.
There are always people around to take care of things at the place in a vacation spot. We had a couple that did the landscaping, house cleaning, stopped by 1-2 a week to check everything, did repairs, etc for what was really a pretty reasonable fee. The older people that lived in the neighborhood also kept an eye on things so we never worried about that house. We constantly worried about the lake house because no one was there, the houses around it were all weekend places, etc so I spent a lot more time running back and forth between our place and it checking things out.
The easiest thing we have or have had is land. Bushhog parts of it occasionally or have someone do it and just show up. We went the shop route there with a small attached place, so there just isn’t much to worry about with it.