Backpack and Snorkel Travel Guide for Indiana Dunes National Park Beaches - Indiana Dunes Beaches Purple Travel Guide
You may be hearing of Indiana Dunes National Park for the very first time, but hundreds of thousands of people know and love this park. Its proximity to Chicago makes it a popular summer weekend getaway for people from the windy city. This Indiana Dunes Beaches Purple Travel Guide explains the best things to see and do for a relaxing vaction in Indiana Dunes National Park.
While there are many beaches in Indiana Dunes National Park and Indiana Dunes State Park, parking is limited. While the beach is free for everyone, accessing the beach can be a headache as much of beachfront is private property and most local communities do not allow on-street parking.
Having said all that, if you come in summer, and especially on a summer weekend, come early! "Early" means before 10am. If you come at 9am, chances are that you will find some free on-street parking. After these spots fill up, you will need to park at the paid parking lots.
We visited over the 4th of July weekend and found that after 11am many parking lots were full and, because of that, entire beach access roads were closed. Where some parking was still available, there was a more than 1h backlog to get to the respective parking lots.
When you decide on which beach you want to visit, keep in mind that all beaches are basically sections of the same many miles long sandy shoreline and thus, all beaches are quite similar.
Here is a list of beaches of Indiana Dunes National Park.
A |
Miller Woods Beach and Lake Street Beach |
B |
Marquette Park Beach * go here on busy days |
C |
Wells Street Beach |
D |
West Beach * recommended |
E |
Ogden Dunes Beach |
F |
Porter Beach |
G |
Indiana Dunes State Park Beach |
H |
Kemil Beach |
I |
Dunbar Beach |
J |
Lake View Beach |
K |
Central Beach |
L |
Mount Baldy Beach |
WEST BEACH IN INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL PARK
* find the map and more in our free travel guide *West Beach is the most popular beach in Indiana Dunes National Park. The reasons for this are easily understood: parking is only $6 per vehicle per day, there is ample parking, the park building has restrooms, showers and a concession stand, there are beach guards and there are different hiking trails.
Because of the large parking lots, this beach gets busy in summer, but if you don't mind walking a bit from the beach access to the left or right, you will escape some of the noise and get to more serene parts of the beach.
Facilities and amenities:
Parking lot: paved; 600 spots for cars and 20 for buses and RVs
Restrooms
Potable water
Showers
Lockers
Concession stand
Covered picnic shelters: 8 near the parking lot; wheelchair accessible; 6 month advance reservation required (www.recreation.gov)
Life guards on duty: Friday before Memorial Day through Labor Day
Access to West Beach Trails
Back to Beaches Overview
MARQUETTE PARK IN INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL PARK
* find the map and more in our free travel guide *If all parking lots for the beaches in the area are full, don't worry. Marquette Park will likely still have space for you. This park has some roadside parking and paid parking at $10 per day per vehicle at the time of writing. If you want to kayak, you can either do this in the lagoon or in Lake Michigan. Unlike in some other states, we did not need to have life vests and kayakers and swimmers had to share the same area.
Due to speed boat activity, swimming and kayaking is only allowed within the first 200ft (50-60m) from the beach. This distance is strictly enforced by the life guards. Unfortunately, even at 200ft out, the water is only waist deep, which will likely put a big damper on any swimming activity for adults.
Facilities and amenities:
Paved parking lots: $10 per day
Restrooms
Potable water
Concession stands
Life guards on duty: Friday before Memorial Day through Labor Day
Back to Beaches Overview
CENTRAL (AVENUE) BEACH IN INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL PARK
* find the map and more in our free travel guide *Located west of Mount Baldy Beach. This beach is close to Michigan City and sees traffic from its residents.
Facilities and amenities:
Parking lot: 68 paved spots for cars
Restrooms
Potable water
No life guards on duty
Back to Beaches Overview
DUNBAR BEACH IN INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL PARK
* find the map and more in our free travel guide *Located right between Kemil Beach and Lake View Beach, but served by a different parking lot.
Facilities and amenities:
Parking lots: 24 paved spots for cars
Restrooms
Potable water
No life guards on duty
Back to Beaches Overview
INDIANA DUNES STATE PARK BEACH
* find the map and more in our free travel guide *Please be advised that Indiana Dunes State Park is much older than Indiana Dunes National Park and both parks are operated by different entities and have different fee systems that are completely independent of each other.
Besides access to the beach and large parking lots, Indiana Dunes State Park has 16 miles of hiking trails. The beach gets busy during summer due to the large parking lots.
Facilities and amenities:
Admission is $7 per vehicle with Indiana license plate and $12 for other non-commercial vehicles.
Paved parking lots: $10 per day (weekdays), $12 per day (weekends)
Restrooms
Potable water
Concession stands during summer
Life guards on duty between Memorial and Labor Day weekends in one small area
140 camp sites
Back to Beaches Overview
KEMIL BEACH IN INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL PARK
* find the map and more in our free travel guide *This beach is just a few feet from the closest parking lot. Parking here is extremely limited and you may see some people walking long distances to get to the beach. It seems to me that the sand here is a bit whiter than on several other beaches.
Facilities and amenities:
Parking lot: 96 paved spots for cars
Restrooms
Potable water
No life guards on duty
Access to Dune Ridge Trail
Back to Beaches Overview
LAKE VIEW BEACH IN INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL PARK
* find the map and more in our free travel guide *Lake View Beach has on-street parking in front of the entrance. It is known for good views of Lake Michigan. Stairs are leading down to the beach.
Facilities and amenities:
Parking lots: 25 paved spots for cars
Restrooms
Potable water
No life guards on duty
Covered picnic shelters: no reservations - first come first serve
Back to Beaches Overview
MILLER WOODS BEACH AND LAKE STREET BEACH IN INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL PARK
* find the map and more in our free travel guide *Lake Street Beach sees locals from Gary, IN due to its proximity to town. Miller Woods beach can be accessed either through Lake Street Beach or through the 3.4 mile Paul H. Douglas Trail and is therefore often deserted.
Back to Beaches Overview
MOUNT BALDY BEACH IN INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL PARK
* find the map and more in our free travel guide *Located east of Central Beach and right in front of the Mount Baldy sand dune. The dunes are closed to visitors and dangerous – access only permitted via guided ranger-led tours.
This is the closest beach to Michigan City and popular with locals.
Facilities and amenities:
Parking lot: 89 paved spots for cars, 3 for buses and RVs
Restrooms
Potable water
No life guards on duty
Back to Beaches Overview
OGDEN DUNES BEACH IN INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL PARK
* find the map and more in our free travel guide *This beach is not very busy due to limited parking in this area. Some of the beach has been eroded away and was replaced by a beach wall. Ogden Dunes Beach can be reached by walking east on the beach from West Beach.
Facilities and amenities:
Limited off-street parking; TripAdvisor reviewers suggest to go to the corner of Diana and Sunset and park off the road; otherwise you may be ticketed or towed
Restrooms
No life guards on duty
Back to Beaches Overview
PORTER BEACH IN INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL PARK
* find the map and more in our free travel guide *This beach is located close to the 1933 World Expo homes. To access it from the street level, you will need to walk down the dune to Lake Michigan. Parking here is extremely limited and you may see some people walking long distances to get to the beach. There is a privately operated parking lot close to the beach where they tried to charge us $30 per vehicle per day. There is no on-street parking anywhere near the beach.
My impression is that the sand here is a bit whiter than on many other beaches.
Facilities and amenities:
Parking lots: two lots – one is paved the other is gravel; 65 spots for cars
Restrooms
Potable water
No life guards on duty
Back to Beaches Overview
WELLS STREET BEACH IN INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL PARK
* find the map and more in our free travel guide *This beach is privately operated. From here it is an easy walk east on the beach to West Beach.
Facilities and amenities:
Paved parking lot: $10 per day (weekdays), $12 per day (weekends)
Restrooms
Potable water
No life guards on duty
Back to Beaches Overview
Which part of Indiana Dunes National Park do you want to visit next?
Other popular Purple Travel Guides you may be interested in:
Like this Backpack and Snorkel Purple Travel Guide? Pin these for later:
