Bird Creek Park Beach
Port Austin, MI
Bird Creek Park Beach is Port Austin's in-town beach, a wide sweep of sand at the mouth of Bird Creek with restrooms, a playground, and the town's breakwall and marina next door. Downtown's shops and restaurants are a short walk away. Port Austin faces north, so on summer evenings you can watch the sun set over Saginaw Bay.
Wide sand and sunsets in walking distance of town, though it fills on summer weekends.
How we score beachesWalk out the breakwall at sunset, then head into town for dinner or ice cream.
Parking at the park and along downtown streets.
A short, flat walk from the lot to the sand.
Summer weekends are busy with day-trippers. The Port Austin Farmers Market on Saturday mornings draws crowds all summer.
More Great Lakes beaches
Sleeping Bear Dunes Beach
Empire, MI · Great Lakes
Freshwater Lake Michigan surf below towering sand dunes, some over 400 feet tall, with water clear enough to rival a coastline and a hike back up the dune to burn it off.
New Buffalo City Beach
New Buffalo, MI · Great Lakes
New Buffalo City Beach is the first real Lake Michigan beach you hit crossing from Indiana, a wide stretch of sand at the end of Whittaker Street beside the harbor and the Galien River channel. Chicago weekenders fill it in summer. The town's shops and restaurants are a five minute walk back up the street.
Warren Dunes State Park
Sawyer, MI · Great Lakes
Warren Dunes State Park in Sawyer has roughly three miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and some of the tallest dunes in southwest Michigan. Tower Hill rises about 260 feet above the lake, and climbing it and running back down is a rite of passage. On a hot July Saturday the beach feels like a small city.