The 9 Best Swimming Holes in Colorado

Strawberry Park Natural Hot Springs sits in a forested canyon along Hot Springs Creek about 7 miles north of Steamboat Springs, where geothermal water mixes with creek water in a series of stacked, rock-lined pools. The water runs roughly 98 to 106 degrees depending on which pool you pick, hottest up top and cooler near the entrance, and visitors describe it as clear and odorless. The creek itself supplies a bracing 40 to 50 degree cold plunge that regulars alternate with the hot pools.

To be clear, this is a soaking spot rather than a place to swim laps, and it runs as a paid, reservation-only facility rather than a wild swimming hole. Winter is described as the most atmospheric time to visit, though the steep unpaved access road can demand 4WD and snow tires, and fall brings aspen color with manageable crowds.

Paradise Cove, also known as Guffey Gorge, is one of Colorado's best-known natural swimming holes: a plunge pool below a small cascading waterfall inside a narrow granite gorge cut by West Fourmile Creek. A half-mile trail drops from the BLM parking lot to the water, and on warm June and July days the gorge fills up fast with swimmers and, notoriously, cliff jumpers launching from ledges reported at roughly 20 to 100 feet.

About that jumping: the BLM explicitly recommends against it. The pool's depth is inconsistent and changes frequently, and the site has a documented history of injuries and emergency rescues. Treat it as a beautiful place to swim and wade below the falls instead, wear real shoes on the steep, loose trail, and arrive early, because the lot fills and roadside parking gets ticketed or towed.

South Canyon Hot Springs is the free, primitive alternative to Glenwood Springs' famous commercial pools, a couple of rock-lined soaking pools on a hillside above South Canyon Creek, 3 to 4 miles west of downtown. This is more soaking spot than swimming hole: the main pool holds several people at roughly 100 to 105 degrees, with a smaller, hotter pool near the source that can hit 109 to 112 and sometimes turns murky.

Getting there is a short unofficial walk from a roadside pullout, crossing the creek with no bridge and climbing a brushy path that gets slick after rain or snow. Fair warning: clothing-optional is the established norm here, and locals recommend weekdays or early mornings, since the little pullout fills on weekends.

Soda Lake Beach is the swim beach on Big Soda Lake inside Bear Creek Lake Park, and for anyone hunting a natural swimming hole near Denver, it is one of the few metro spots with an officially sanctioned natural-water beach. Visitors consistently describe the water as crystal clear with a distinctive turquoise color, notably clearer than most Front Range reservoirs, plus cold and calm, which is exactly what you want on a hot foothills afternoon.

The sandy beach fronts a roped-off swim area with a platform and, when water levels allow, a lap lane, while paddleboarders and kayakers share the rest of the lake. It sits at about 5,700 feet with views toward Red Rocks a few miles off. Know the trade-offs: no lifeguards, occasional algae-bloom closures in past summers, and a parking lot that regulars describe as chaos on summer weekends, so go early.

Grand Lake Town Beach sits a block from the historic downtown, right on the shore of Colorado's largest and deepest natural lake. Multiple visitors describe the water as crystal clear and calm, and the small sandy beach slopes gently, so kids wade and build sandcastles in the shallows while the peaks across the water do the scenery work.

Just know what you are getting into: this glacially formed lake is fed by snowmelt draining off the Continental Divide, so the water stays cold even in summer, and there are no lifeguards. Still, for anyone staying in town it is far and away the most convenient swimming hole around, and winds are common at this elevation, so a calm morning is your best window.

Prospect Lake anchors the middle of Memorial Park in Colorado Springs, an urban lake with a designated swim beach that the city opens only on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. This is a city-park place to swim rather than a natural swimming hole: a sandy beach area beside the Beach House and its volleyball courts, with a 1.25-mile paved trail with fitness stations looping the water.

Swimming is free and confined strictly to the beach, with no lifeguard on duty at any time, and wading or swimming anywhere else on the lake is prohibited. Worth knowing before you go: the lake has a documented history of toxic blue-green algae, including a 2020 closure, and the city installed an aeration system in 2024 to fight future blooms, so check current advisories first.

Long known as Rock Canyon Swim Beach and now sometimes called Kestrel Pond, this is Lake Pueblo State Park's designated swimming hole, set in a canyon just below Pueblo Dam along the Arkansas River. The draw is a sandy beach with a gradual entry into a sheltered, pond-like swim area, and visitors quoted in local news say they prefer it to the open reservoir, with surface temps hitting a comfortable 70 to 75 degrees by midsummer.

Since the rebrand, the area also allows paddleboards, kayaks, and canoes, but that change came with a catch: it no longer counts as a dedicated swim beach under state rules, so it is not subject to routine bacteria testing, and a 2022 E. coli closure is on the books. Check current park advisories before you swim, and get there early because regulars say the lot fills by late morning on summer weekends.

May Queen Campground sits at the far western end of Turquoise Lake, 9 miles west of Leadville at 9,900 feet, where Lake Fork creek flows into the reservoir under lodgepole pines. Swimming is officially listed among the campground's activities, but be honest with yourself about what that means at this elevation: campers report the water is very cold even in June.

This is high-altitude reservoir swimming rather than a warm summer swimming hole, best suited to people who genuinely like cold water. Families still get on the lake, campers report kids out on paddleboards, and in normal water years the shoreline is a short, flat walk from camp.

Aurora Reservoir's Swim Beach is the City of Aurora's official lake to swim in, a fenced, lifeguarded swim area on an 800-acre municipal reservoir in southeastern Aurora. Since the rest of the reservoir is limited to non-motorized and electric-motor boats, the beach is the only sanctioned swimming zone, and it runs seasonally from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day.

This is untreated natural water, so the city tests it regularly and closes the swim area temporarily when bacteria levels spike, then reopens once retesting comes back clean. The city also advises arriving by 10 a.m. in summer to beat entry-line delays and capacity closures, so an early start pays off here.