Lake View Beach
Beverly Shores, IN
Lake View Beach sits at Lake Front Drive and Broadway in Beverly Shores, a national park beach with covered picnic shelters and grills. It's a good pick for a group cookout on the sand. Just up Lake Front Drive stand the Century of Progress homes, five houses moved here from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair.
Shaded shelters for picnics and a bit of World's Fair history nearby, though the beach itself is fairly narrow.
How we score beachesClaim a covered picnic shelter early; they're first come, first served.
A lot at the beach.
A short walk from the lot to the shelters and sand.
Leashed dogs (6 foot leash) are allowed on the beach.
The shelters book up with family cookouts on summer weekends. In fall, pair a beach walk with a look at the World's Fair houses along Lake Front Drive.
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.