Lee Street Beach
Evanston, IL
Lee Street Beach, at 1111 Lake Shore Boulevard, is Evanston's family beach, with small guarded swim areas, a playground, and plenty of picnic spots. It's popular with parents of young children. A shared beach wheelchair program serves Lee, Dempster, and Greenwood beaches.
A great little family beach with a playground, though the swim areas are small.
How we score beachesAsk the lifeguards about the free beach wheelchairs if anyone in your group needs one.
Street parking along Lake Shore Boulevard.
Free beach wheelchairs, one adult and one child size, are shared among Lee, Dempster, and Greenwood beaches.
Admission is required from late May to Labor Day. The swim areas are small, so arrive early on hot weekends.
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.