Southport Park Beach
Kenosha, WI
Southport Park Beach is on Kenosha's south side, home to the Southport Beach House, a historic art deco building completed in 1940 and now a popular event venue. The park takes its name from Southport, Kenosha's original name, and the beach below looks out on open Lake Michigan.
A historic art deco beach house on a quiet south-side beach, though there are no lifeguards.
How we score beachesWalk around the art deco beach house before hitting the sand; it's one of the best-preserved 1940 beach buildings on the lake.
Parking at Southport Park.
A short walk from parking to the sand.
There are no lifeguards. On summer Saturdays the beach house is often booked for weddings, so parking can be tight.
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.