Red Arrow Beach
Manitowoc, WI
Red Arrow Beach is Manitowoc's main city beach, part of the 30 acre Red Arrow Park on the south side of town. An accessible lakefront walkway runs along the sand, and the Mariners Trail follows the lake shore north toward Two Rivers. The SS Badger car ferry to Ludington sails from Manitowoc's harbor.
A spacious city beach with an accessible walkway, though it's busy on summer weekends.
How we score beachesBike the Mariners Trail from here along the lake toward Two Rivers. It's flat and hugs the water most of the way.
Parking at Red Arrow Park.
An accessible lakefront walkway runs beside the beach.
The water warms to swimmable by mid July. On windy fall days, surfers show up in wetsuits.
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.
