Ontario Beach Park
Rochester, NY
Ontario Beach Park is Rochester's big city beach in the Charlotte neighborhood, where the Genesee River meets Lake Ontario. It's home to a historic 1905 Dentzel menagerie carousel and a long pier out to the harbor light. The wide sand beach and boardwalk fill with families, volleyball games, and festivals all summer.
A classic city beach with a historic carousel and pier, though it's crowded on festival weekends.
How we score beachesRide the 1905 Dentzel carousel, then walk the pier to the end at sunset.
Parking at the park; lots fill on summer weekends and festival days.
A paved boardwalk runs along the beach.
Guarded swimming runs in summer, and the park hosts concerts and festivals on many summer weekends. The pier is a popular fishing spot spring through fall.
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.