The 72 Best Swimming Holes in Minnesota

Gooseberry Falls is one of Minnesota's most-visited state parks, and in summer it doubles as a swimming hole. The Gooseberry River drops over three basalt-ledge waterfalls on its way to Lake Superior, and visitors describe the big plunge pools below the Middle and Lower Falls as popular wading and swimming spots, with people walking across the riverbed itself in low water. It is all a 5 to 10 minute walk from the visitor center lot on paved paths and stairs.

There is a second option here too: a rocky, boulder-lined swimming beach on Lake Superior itself, monitored weekly for water quality from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and noticeably colder than the river pools. The footing in the pools is uneven bedrock and boulders, and current picks up when the river runs high, so keep kids close, especially near the gorge edges. The CCC-built stone structures around the park are worth a look while you dry off.

Clifton E. French Regional Park puts a free, designated sand beach on the north shore of Medicine Lake, an 886-acre lake in the Minneapolis western suburbs. This is a big suburban lake rather than a secluded swimming hole, with a visitor center, boat launch, fishing pier, and trail network wrapped around the swim area, and changing rooms and restrooms right near the sand.

The beach is unguarded, so families need to bring their own supervision, and it helps to know the lake's water-quality record. Monitoring cited on the lake's watershed data shows algae levels rising over the past 20 years, with invasive weeds present, so expect summer water on the murky side rather than crystal clear. It is open Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Black Beach has one of the stranger origin stories on the North Shore: decades of taconite tailings built a broad, dark-gravel beach that turned into a genuinely good place to swim. The shallow, gently sloping shoreline warms up more than the deep rocky coast typical of Lake Superior, and visitors describe the water as crystal clear.

Locals kept this swimming hole quiet for years while it sat on mining-company land, and it only opened to the public in 2015. It is still Lake Superior, so the water runs cool even in the shallows, and summer weekends draw big crowds.

Cedar Lake Point Beach occupies a small peninsula on the west side of Cedar Lake, which means water on three sides and a sightline straight to the downtown Minneapolis skyline while you swim. It is one of three official lifeguarded beaches on the lake, part of the Chain of Lakes, with a sandy shore and marked swim areas for casual open-water swimming.

Of Cedar Lake's three beaches, this is the least developed, with clay soil and sparse turf instead of manicured lawn, plus restored woodland trails and small art installations on the peninsula. It reads more rustic than the typical city swimming hole. Watch for periodic E. coli advisories and algae blooms, and skip swimming after heavy rain.

Crystal Beach gives Minnesota's south metro an easy lake to swim in, a sandy city-run beach on Crystal Lake, which at nearly 300 acres is Burnsville's biggest lake. The city officially designates this swimming hole for swimming and keeps the swim area separate from the fishing area, testing E. coli levels from Memorial Day through Labor Day and closing the beach if the water fails Minnesota's standard.

There is no lifeguard, so you are on your own in the water, but the surrounding park makes it a full afternoon: playground, sand volleyball, picnic shelter, paved stroller-friendly trails, and a concession building. Canoe and paddleboard rentals run right from the beach during the summer season.

Carver Lake Park and Beach is Woodbury's official swimming hole, a designated sandy beach on Carver Lake with a big traditional playground next door and a separate toddler beach playground for the smallest visitors. The beach is unguarded, swim at your own risk, and the city keeps boats, canoes, and kayaks from launching through the swim area.

One thing the city does well here is water monitoring. It tests weekly for E. coli from Memorial Day through Labor Day and closes the beach when bacteria or blue-green algae blooms show up, which they periodically do, especially after heavy rain washes goose droppings into the swim area. The city's own advice is to skip swimming right after a big rainfall, avoid swallowing water, and shower afterward.

Iona's Beach is a 300 yard crescent of pink rhyolite stones on Lake Superior's North Shore, and the waves rolling those flattened stones make the beach literally chime, which is why they're called singing stones. It's also one of only four Minnesota Scientific and Natural Areas where the DNR explicitly allows swimming, making this a rare officially sanctioned Lake Superior swimming hole.

The water here is famously clear, transparent enough to reveal underwater rock detail, and famously cold. This is a place for a bracing dip and stone-song listening rather than a lazy sandy float, and the loose cobble underfoot demands sturdy water shoes.

Lake Carlos is the kind of lake to swim in that Minnesota does best, clear, deep, and spring-fed, with 2,605 acres of water reaching down to 163 feet. The state park's sandy beach has been the local swimming spot since 1937, and the WPA-built bath house from that era is still standing.

The beach slopes gently into a shallow shelf that works well for young kids, then drops off into much deeper water for stronger swimmers. There is no lifeguard, so stay alert once anyone moves past the shallows. The beach faces southeast and is warmest from late morning into early afternoon, and June through August is peak season.

Round Lake Park is Eden Prairie's casual neighborhood swimming hole, a designated sand beach on Round Lake surrounded by sports fields, a splash pad, a skate park, and playgrounds. The swim area is unguarded and posted swim at your own risk, with city rules capping it at 75 people in the water at once and requiring close adult supervision of young kids.

The beach runs Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, and the city treats the lake for algae and vegetation before each season. That said, it has a history of bacteria and blue-green algae closures, so check conditions before you go. When the water is open, it is a free, easy family swim close to home.

Firemen's Park wraps around one of Minnesota's more interesting manmade swimming holes: Clayhole Lake, a flooded quarry that supplied the clay for Chaska's famous yellow brick from roughly 1857 to 1940. When mining stopped, the pit filled with water, and today the city runs a free, official swim beach on it, complete with a roped-off swim area on a sandy beach.

The city says the Clayhole typically posts some of the lowest E. coli levels of the area beaches, though it has had at least one short precautionary closure after a flagged test, so a quick status check before you go is smart. Beyond the beach there is a concession stand, a splash-pad fountain for kids, paddleboat and paddleboard rentals, a boardwalk, fishing piers stocked with bluegill and largemouth bass, and a walking loop circling the lake.

Lake Harriet's Southeast Beach, the one everyone calls the south beach, is one of two lifeguarded places to swim on this 335-acre natural lake in southwest Minneapolis. It is a sandy, supervised swim area with marked boundaries on a calm city lake, which is why it earns a solid family recommendation, and free to swim at besides.

The setting is classic Chain of Lakes: a paved parkway with bike and pedestrian trails rings the water, the historic streetcar line runs near the bandshell, and summer concerts and the Bread & Pickle restaurant are close by. The park board monitors water quality weekly and discourages swimming after heavy rain, standard practice for an urban swimming hole, and lifeguards are on duty daily from June 13 through August 23.

Cascade Lake Park gives Rochester an in-town swimming hole with an official city-run beach, open from late May through Labor Day during daylight hours. Swimming stays within a fenced, designated beach area on Cascade Lake, and while there are no lifeguards, the city tests the water for bacteria weekly and posts a simple green, yellow, or red status so you know before you get in.

This is easy lake swimming for families and casual swimmers, small and contained rather than open water. The park around it earns the trip on its own, with paved bike and walking trails, nature playgrounds, picnic areas, and an amphitheater ringing the lake.

Big Marine Park Reserve is an 1,800-acre Washington County park in the northern St. Croix Valley, built around Big Marine Lake with roughly 80 percent of the land set aside for habitat preservation. The swimming hole here is an official beach on a gentle grade of shoreline that the county specifically markets as good for families with children, with a playground, fishing pier, and boat launch rounding out the day.

The beach is unguarded, so park rules put the responsibility squarely on adults to supervise kids in and out of the water. It is an easy lake to swim in otherwise, open daily from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Shady Oak Lake has been Minnetonka's lake to swim in for more than 80 years, and it's easy to see why the tradition stuck. The lake is spring fed with little stormwater runoff, so the city can honestly advertise clear water, and the beach comes with lifeguards, 76 feet of sandy shoreline, a high dive, and a designated lap-swim area.

It's a proper family setup rather than a wild swimming hole: kids under 12 need an adult along, life jackets are free to rent, and on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons a Wibit inflatable obstacle course goes out on the water from 1 to 5pm. Free parking rounds out one of the easier beach days in the Twin Cities suburbs.

Lac Lavon Park is where Burnsville locals go when they want unusually clear water without leaving the south metro. One local swimmer pegged the lake at roughly 12 feet of clarity and called it the clearest lake in Dakota County, which is rare praise for a suburban lake to swim in. The sandy beach has an easy, shallow-looking entry, though it is unguarded, so it is strictly swim-at-your-own-risk.

The 71-acre park around the swimming hole is built for a full day out, with a six-field softball complex, tennis and volleyball courts, a playground, a picnic shelter, and paved walking trails along the shore. Anglers work the same water for sunfish, crappie, and bass, and canoe storage racks rent by the year.

The swimming hole at McCarthy Beach State Park is a half-mile stretch of sand on Sturgeon Lake, where the water stays shallow for hundreds of feet from shore. That long, gradual shelf is the whole appeal for families: campers consistently describe the water as crystal clear and calm, perfect for water games and relaxed floating rather than deep-water swimming.

The 2,471-acre park sits on Minnesota's Iron Range among a chain of glacial lakes, with boreal forest of red and white pine rolling over the hills between them. There is additional informal water access on adjoining Side Lake if you want a quieter dip.

Golden Lake Park is Circle Pines' full-service lakeside park in the northern Twin Cities suburbs, built directly on the shore of Golden Lake with an official swimming beach as one of its main draws. The entry is described as shallow and the water calm, which makes it a lake to swim in for families and casual swimmers rather than anyone chasing distance.

This is a developed, open park with mowed lawns, picnic areas, two rental pavilions, a boat launch, and a fishing pier, plus a summer concession stand and a Thursday concert series on the lake. No lifeguard is guaranteed, so keep an eye on the kids at this swimming hole, and note that pets are not allowed on the beach.

Diamond Point Park is one of Bemidji's official designated swimming beaches, an in-town swimming hole on the west shore of Lake Bemidji right next to Bemidji State University and only about 1.6 miles from downtown. The city counts it among its largest lakeside parks, with an open-air pavilion and an indoor event building overlooking the water.

Timing matters here. Lake Bemidji is a eutrophic lake whose transparency peaks in May and June and declines later in the season, so early summer gets you the clearest water. The lake has also been recognized by Conde Nast Traveler among the top 100 U.S. swimming holes for water quality, so it has real credentials as a place to swim.

Lake Gervais County Park gives the northeast side of the Twin Cities a dependable swimming hole just minutes from St. Paul. The Ramsey County park sits on 235-acre Gervais Lake in Little Canada, with a developed swimming beach and changing facilities right on site, and the city notes it gets heavy use for swimming and picnicking all summer.

The lake itself has about 3.3 miles of shoreline and reaches depths of 41 feet, so there is plenty of water beyond the beach for paddlers too. The park opens at 5 a.m. and runs into the evening from early May through mid-November, which makes an early morning swim entirely doable.

Baylor Regional Park is a drive-up swimming hole done the county-park way: a developed sandy beach on Eagle Lake with water-play structures for kids, a playground next door, and a beach house with restrooms and a changing area right at the sand. Visitors describe it as relaxing and family-oriented, and since Carver County dropped its vehicle permit in 2019, day use is completely free.

The honest caveat is the water itself. Clarity varies year to year, with at least one visitor noting murkier water and more seaweed than in past seasons, and Eagle Lake has had recurring suspected blue-green algae blooms that temporarily close the beach, most recently in July 2026. Check the current status before you drive out, then enjoy the 201 acres of forest, prairie, and marsh, including a half-mile bog walk and an 18-hole disc golf course.

Crooked Lake Park & Beach is a modest but genuine swimming hole in Coon Rapids, a small sandy shoreline stretch on Crooked Lake where you can wade and swim near shore without any frills. The city treats it as a real public swim site, actively testing the water for E. coli during the summer season, but there are no lifeguards and the city is upfront that swimming is at your own risk.

That makes it a good fit for casual, self-supervised swimmers who just want easy lake access, with a ballfield, courts, and picnic groves in the surrounding park for the rest of the afternoon.

Whipple Beach is Baxter's community swimming hole, a large sandy public beach on the west shore of Whipple Lake, about 1.5 miles from downtown Baxter in the Brainerd Lakes area. Local news coverage paints the picture: as soon as the spring sun warms the water, the beach fills with swimmers and floaters, and it stays busy through every hot, humid stretch of summer.

The water is a pleasant surprise for a lake inside city limits. DNR surveys have measured clarity of roughly 8.5 to 14 feet, which is genuinely clear for a developed lake, though the basin the beach sits in runs shallow and can get weedy near shore. There are no lifeguards, and each August the beach hosts the swim leg of the YMCA Kids Triathlon.

Silver Lake Beach Park is Columbia Heights' one and only swimming beach, the city's own in-town place to swim on the shore of 49-acre Silver Lake. The city officially lists the swimming beach as an amenity and is upfront that there is no lifeguard on duty, so this is a self-supervised neighborhood swim rather than a staffed facility.

The park also connects by walking trail to the adjacent Silverwood Park, run by Three Rivers Park District, which shares the same lake and adds a fishing pier, more trails, and paddling access. Between the two parks, you can swim, fish, and get a kayak on the water without leaving this small lake.

East Bush Lake Beach has been a popular summertime swimming hole since 1956, and it is easy to see why it stuck. The park district describes Bush Lake as clear and shallow with excellent water quality, and the designated swim area is marked off with yellow buoys along the water's edge, which makes it a comfortable pick for families and casual lake swimmers.

The beach sits inside Bush Lake Park, part of the Hyland-Bush-Anderson Lakes Park Reserve in Bloomington, so you get paved and unpaved trails, picnic shelters, and boat access all in one visit. As of early 2026 it is operated by Three Rivers Park District in cooperation with the city.

Hiniker Pond is Mankato's homegrown swimming hole, a 28-acre spring-fed pond that formed in an old gravel pit and now anchors a 55-acre city park with a sandy beach, playground, picnic shelter, and walking trails. On hot summer days it draws big crowds of floaters and swimmers, and the city invested further in 2024 with sand volleyball, a new shelter, and a fitness obstacle course.

The important thing to know: there are no lifeguards. The beach is city-maintained but self-supervised open water, and a 2014 water rescue here is a reminder to take that seriously. The sandy beach gives kids an easy, gradual entry, so it works fine for families as long as an attentive adult is watching.

Beach Park is Lindstrom's 3-acre lakefront park on the west end of South Lindstrom Lake, with a sand swimming beach, a boat dock, a DNR fishing pier, and a picnic pavilion all sharing the shoreline. It reads as exactly what it is: a casual, family-oriented small-town swimming hole rather than a deep-water or adventure spot.

The city is upfront that the beach is unguarded, so bring your own supervision for the kids. With paved paths, a play structure, and a sand volleyball court, it works well as a low-effort summer afternoon, and the park is even used for ice fishing access in winter.

Wayzata Beach puts a proper lifeguarded swim beach right in downtown Wayzata, on Wayzata Bay along Lake Minnetonka's north shore. It is a large sandy beach with a grassy peninsula for sunbathing, picnic areas shaded by big ash trees, and a marina next door, an unusually convenient lake to swim in for something this pleasant.

Lifeguards are on duty mid-June through mid-August, roughly noon to 6 p.m. when conditions warrant, which makes this a supervised family swim spot rather than an informal swimming hole. Beach access is free, and with a playground and playing fields on site it is an easy full-afternoon stop with kids.

West Side Park and City Beach is Pine City's groomed town beach on the Snake River, less than a mile from downtown. It is less a wild swimming hole than an officially designated, lifeguarded stretch of river to swim in, and that is exactly the point: lifeguards are on duty daily all summer, which is a rarity worth planning around if you have kids.

The whole setup leans family. Two playgrounds, picnic shelters, and free paddleboat use with lifejackets included keep everyone busy, and the town runs swim lessons through the summer. If you want a supervised, low-stress river swim, this is the one.

Hill City Park and Campground is the town swimming hole for Hill City, Minnesota, a municipal park sitting right on the shore of Hill Lake in Aitkin County's north central lakes country. The city's own recreation page lists swimming and sunbathing as primary uses of the beach, and at 907 acres and roughly 4.5 miles long, this is a sizable lake to swim in.

The park bundles the beach with a boat landing, fishing dock, playground, and campground, and it connects to about 4.5 miles of paved city trails linking Hill City's other parks. No lifeguards are confirmed in any source, and the lake averages around 50 feet deep overall, so stay near the beach and keep kids supervised.

Avon City Beach is the kind of easy small-town swimming hole central Minnesota does well: a sandy public beach on Middle Spunk Lake, right in the town of Avon and just a couple of blocks from the Lake Wobegon Trail. The water is calm lake swimming with no current, and the city keeps it simple with picnic tables and restrooms at the beach.

It makes a natural cool-off stop if you are riding the 46-mile paved trail through Stearns County. Just know there is no lifeguard on duty, so families should plan to keep their own watch. The swim season runs June through August.

Excelsior Public Beach puts a swimming hole right in the middle of one of Lake Minnetonka's most charming downtowns. The swim area is a roped and buoyed zone directly off the shoreline of The Commons, a 13-acre lakefront park that dates to 1854 and also hosts a marina, playground, and summer movie nights. It is easy, direct lake access for families and casual swimmers, not a backcountry adventure.

There are no lifeguards, so it runs on a swim-at-your-own-risk basis, and Hennepin County and the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District periodically test for bacteria and blue-green algae, which can trigger closures. The official season runs Memorial Day through Labor Day, 7am to 8pm.

Starbuck City Park, known locally as Lakeshore Park, has been the town swimming hole since 1926, a sandy staffed beach on the eastern shore of Lake Minnewaska in Pope County. The city describes the water as crystal clear, and the setup is pure small-town summer: three rafts anchored offshore for kids to jump from, two slides into the water, and a band shell near the shore.

This is one of the most genuinely kid-friendly places to swim in this part of Minnesota. Lifeguards are on duty from noon to 5 p.m., swim lessons run the last week of July, and free kiddie kayaks and paddleboards are available for kids under 12 while the guards are watching.

32nd Street Beach sits on the east side of Bde Maka Ska, Minneapolis's largest lake at 424 acres, one of three official swimming beaches that make it an easy in-city lake to swim in. The setup is simple and convenient: a sandy beach with a buoy-marked swim zone, a pay lot directly at the beach address, and the Bde Maka Ska Pavilion with its eatery and boat rentals close by.

The one thing to know before you go: unlike Thomas Beach on the same lake, this swimming hole has no lifeguard on duty, so supervision is entirely on you. The park board still tests the water weekly for E. coli and blue-green algae and posts closures when thresholds are exceeded, and kids under 8 must have an adult with them.

Darling & Green Prairie Park is the local swimming hole for this rural stretch of Morrison County, a township-run beach on 182-acre Green Prairie Fish Lake a few miles northwest of Little Falls. Jointly maintained by Green Prairie and Darling Townships, it is a simple, maintained shoreline where you wade in from the beach rather than jump off rocks.

The park shares its site with the lake's concrete public boat ramp, so expect some boat traffic nearby, and no source mentions a lifeguard. It is an easygoing small-lake beach with pavilions, benches, and a volleyball court rounding out the park.

Lake Minnewashta Beach is the swimming hole inside Minnewashta Regional Park, a 340-acre Carver County park west of Chanhassen between Highway 5 and Highway 7. This is a proper county-maintained natural lake beach, sand underfoot with a bathhouse and restrooms right there, and it has a history of summer lifeguard staffing, though the county's current facilities list no longer mentions lifeguards, so present-day coverage is unconfirmed.

It is an easy lake to swim in for families who want a low-fuss day: no entrance fee, picnic shelters nearby, and about five miles of turf and natural-surface trails winding along the lakeshore through forest and prairie if you want to dry off with a walk.

Bonnie Beach Resort has been running on the north shore of Clitherall Lake since 1882, and its main draw is a 600-foot sandy swimming beach with a gradual slope and weed-free water, steps from the cabins. The resort says the lake's clarity exceeds 13 feet, and while that figure comes from their own description rather than an independent survey, Clitherall is a substantial lake, about 2,493 acres with over 14 miles of shoreline, so there is plenty of water to swim in.

This is a genuinely family-oriented setup rather than a rugged swimming hole. There is a swim raft anchored offshore, a shallow wading area, loaner life jackets, and pedal boats, paddleboards, and canoes for guest use. Note that it is a private resort, so day visitors need pre-approval and pay a fee, and there is no lifeguard on duty.

Libbs Lake Beach Park is a genuinely low-key neighborhood swimming hole on 22-acre Libbs Lake in Minnetonka, just south of Gray's Bay. The swim area sits in a small, calm bay-side pocket with no boat traffic to worry about, and the whole lake tops out around 8 feet deep. It is the kind of modest sandy beach you go to when you want a quiet swim, not a scene.

The city designates it for unsupervised swimming, so plan on watching your own crew in the water. With a fishing pier, picnic tables, and a parking lot of only about 8 spaces, the city itself calls it a biking or walking destination, so arrive on two wheels if you can.

Albert Lea City Beach is the kind of neighborhood swimming hole you wish every town had, a small 1.6-acre waterfront park with an official swim area right on Fountain Lake, inside city limits. The lake is part of the Shell Rock River flowage, and the beach pairs the swim area with a dock, sand volleyball, and a skate park.

The city is upfront that there are no lifeguards on duty, so swimmers watch out for themselves and parents stay close to their kids. It is free, easy, and open early to late, which is most of what you want from an in-town lake to swim in.

Menahga Beach sits right in the heart of the small city of Menahga in Wadena County, an in-town swimming hole on Spirit Lake that the city itself promotes for swimming, fishing, and kayaking. The setup is a sandy beach with a public pier, and the shore even hosts a summer concert series.

The city describes Spirit Lake as crystal clear, and the sandy beach makes for an easy, casual family swim. That said, no lifeguard presence could be confirmed, and a news report documented a teen needing rescue here, so treat it like any open-water lake and keep close watch on swimmers.

Schulze Lake Beach is one of only two official swimming beaches run by Dakota County Parks, tucked inside the roughly 2,000-acre Lebanon Hills Regional Park in Eagan. The county describes the water as clear with a sandy shore, and there's no admission charge, which explains why the lot fills up fast on hot summer days.

Swimming stays inside a roped, buoyed area, and there's no lifeguard on duty, so keep an eye on your kids. As swimming holes go it's a managed, family-friendly setup, with a bathhouse right there and the Lebanon Hills Visitor Center nearby for canoe and kayak rentals.

Owatonna's City Beach sits on Lake Kohlmier, a 35-acre lake tucked inside the 225-acre Kaplan's Woods Parkway on the southwest side of town. It is a developed, family-oriented municipal swimming hole, sand beach, fishing docks, boat and canoe rentals, playground, and picnic shelter all in one spot, with over 6 miles of trails winding through the woods around it.

One important note before you load the car: as of late July 2026 the city had temporarily closed Lake Kohlmier over water-quality test results, with no reopening date posted. Check the city's alerts or call Parks and Rec before making the trip.

Tioga Beach is the City of Cohasset's public sandy beach on Pokegama Lake, near the edge of Chippewa National Forest on Minnesota's Iron Range. The draw for families is the entry: a shallow, gradual sandy slope into the lake that works well for young kids, though there is no lifeguard, so it is swim-at-your-own-risk.

It is part of the larger Tioga Recreation Area, which also takes in the flooded Tioga Pit mine and a network of multi-use trails, so this swimming hole pairs easily with a bigger day of riding or hiking. Designated swimming, picnicking, and pier fishing are all set up on site.

Norway Beach is a sugar-sand swimming beach on the south shore of Cass Lake in Minnesota's Chippewa National Forest, a Forest Service designated swim area set among red and white pines. Cass Lake is huge, roughly 16,000 acres and the largest in an eight-lake chain, and campers say the sandy shoreline runs broad enough that you can stake out your own stretch even on busy days.

The swimming is calm, open lake water off gently sloping sand, an easy, dependable swimming hole for families and campers rather than anything wild. There is no lifeguard, and the one recurring nuisance is swimmer's itch, which shows up on Cass Lake seasonally. The Forest Service advises toweling dry or showering right after you get out, which is easy enough with four campground loops surrounding the beach.

Sand Point Beach is Prior Lake's big public swim spot, a 38-acre city park on Lower Prior Lake in the Twin Cities metro with a roped-off swim zone right off the sand. Visitors say the water is notably clear for the region, one account jokes you might be tempted to bring a snorkel, which is not something you hear about many metro lakes.

This swimming hole is built for families rather than open-water swimmers. Swimming outside the ropes is prohibited, parents are required to accompany kids in the water, and paved accessible paths lead right down to the sand. It gets a full beach season from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Fish Lake Park & Beach is Chisago County's most popular swimming beach by the county's own account, and the water quality backs that up: Secchi disk readings around 9.4 feet and an overall grade of B make Fish Lake the second-cleanest of 33 graded lakes in the county. That is solidly clear water for a Twin Cities-area lake, and local news calls the park a favorite specifically for its beach and water quality.

Expect company at this swimming hole on hot summer weekends, when crowds descend on the east-shore beach about 1.5 miles off the Harris exit from I-35. The fee system is friendly though, permits are only required Friday through Sunday and holidays during the summer season, and weekdays are free.

Paradise Beach is a quiet cobblestone pull-off on Lake Superior about 14 miles northeast of Grand Marais, better known for agate hunting than swimming, but it is a legitimate monitored swim spot. The Minnesota Department of Health tests the water weekly from June through August, and the beach passed its quality tests through the 2025 season.

Be honest with yourself about what this is: cold, open Lake Superior water over a rocky shore, remote enough that one visitor account flatly advises against swimming alone here. As a low-key place to swim on a calm summer day, paired with agate hunting and a picnic, it is a lovely stop.

Deephaven Beach is the City of Deephaven's main public beach on Lake Minnetonka's eastern shore, and it is one of the more developed swim spots in the Wayzata area. You swim off a sandy beach with a designated swimming dock in calm, generally clear bay water, and the entry is described as gradual, which makes it a dependable place to swim with kids in tow.

Lifeguards cover the beach Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., through about late August, so it is unguarded outside that window. Parking is the catch. Designated spaces require a Deephaven beach sticker from City Hall, and area parking is limited enough that arriving early is the standard advice for this popular swimming hole.

Tioga Pit is a swimming hole with a backstory: it is a flooded iron-ore mine pit five miles west of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, worked from 1955 to 1961 and reclaimed in the 1980s into the centerpiece of Cohasset's Tioga Recreation Area. The 51-acre lake runs roughly 225 feet deep, was stocked with trout and bass during reclamation, and the recreation area's own materials describe paddlers gliding across its turquoise blue water.

Swimming happens at a designated beach, with paddleboarding and kayaking popular on the same water, all surrounded by pine forest that grew back over the old mine lands. Just respect the depth. Beyond the beach shelf, the bottom drops away fast the way flooded mine pits do, and there is no lifeguard at either of the area's beaches.

Thomas Beach is the lifeguarded anchor of Bde Maka Ska's south shore, one of three named swimming beaches on Minneapolis's biggest Chain of Lakes water. The swim area is marked and covered by seasonal lifeguards, which makes it the dependable in-city swimming hole for families and casual swimmers, with paved walking and biking paths wrapping the whole lake around it.

This is typical urban lake water rather than clear spring-fed stuff, and the park board is upfront about the standard caveats: towel dry right after you get out to head off swimmer's itch, skip swimming after heavy rain, and check for periodic bacteria or algae closures. Lifeguards run 1pm to 7pm daily from June 13 through August 23, and kids under 8 need an adult with them.

South Pike Bay Campground gives campers a ready-made swimming hole on Pike Bay of Cass Lake, a sand beach in a designated picnic-and-swim area on the east side of the campground. The Forest Service describes the water here as clear, and the beach sits under a stand of mixed hardwoods and old-growth pine in the Chippewa National Forest, about 5 miles from the town of Cass Lake.

This is a lake-shore swim suited to families and campers rather than a wilderness scramble, and most sites put you under 5 minutes on foot from the sand. The on-site boat ramp is shared by swimmers, boaters, and anglers, so watch the little ones near the launch. The campground also serves as a trailhead for the paved 14-mile Migizi Bike Trail if you want to dry off and keep moving.

Riley Lake Public Beach is one of the rare Twin Cities swim spots that still puts lifeguards on the sand, staffed daily from roughly 10am to 7pm through the Memorial Day to Labor Day season. The swimming hole is a roped-off area of calm lake water capped at 75 swimmers at a time, with children 7 and under required to have active adult supervision, which tells you exactly the kind of family-first beach Eden Prairie is running here.

Clarity is the variable. The lake came off Minnesota's impaired-waters list based on its 10-year average, but blue-green algae blooms have forced temporary closures, including one in June 2025, and the city warns against swimming when the water looks like spilled green paint or pea soup. On a good day, though, it is a free, easy, guarded lake beach with the historic Riley-Jacques Farmstead, sports fields, playgrounds, and trails all in the same park.

Norway Beach is the Forest Service's officially designated swimming hole on Cass Lake, a sandy beach fronting the picnic shelter and campground on the south shore, about 4 miles east of the town of Cass Lake. The setting is classic Chippewa National Forest, red and white pine all around, with the campground loop sitting about 500 feet back from the shore.

Cass Lake is big, roughly 16,000 acres and the largest of the connected Cass Lake Chain, so this is an open, developed swim beach rather than a secluded hideaway. Boaters, water skiers, and tubers share the lake, which means kids can swim here fine with an adult watching, just keep an eye out for boat traffic near shore. Parking is limited and the official listing asks visitors to carpool, so arrive early on summer weekends.

Island Lake Beach is the kind of low-key swimming hole most people drive right past. It sits on the eastern shore of Island Lake, a 73-acre bog-stained lake inside Anoka County's Martin-Island-Linwood Lakes Regional Park Reserve near East Bethel. The county officially lists a swimming beach among the park's amenities, so despite the rustic, informal feel, this is a sanctioned place to swim.

Just know what you're getting. The DNR describes the water as bog-stained, that tea-colored tint typical of bog-fed lakes, and the shoreline is mostly dense woods and riparian bog. There's no lifeguard and no published depth info, so keep a close eye on kids once they wade out, since the dark water makes them harder to see.

North Star Campground puts a sandy beach on North Star Lake within easy walking distance of all 38 campsites, about 4 miles south of Marcell in the Chippewa National Forest. The lake's many sheltered bays and inlets keep the water calm and quiet, which makes this an officially designated swimming hole rather than an informal one, and a straightforward lake to swim in for anyone camping here.

The walk from any site is flat and takes just a few minutes. There is no documented lifeguard, so the sheltered, gentle-looking water still calls for an adult keeping watch over young kids. And this being bear country, food and coolers need to stay secured in hard-sided storage.

Middle Cormorant Beach is Becker County's public swim beach on the eastern shore of Middle Cormorant Lake, about 40 minutes east of Fargo-Moorhead in Minnesota lake country. The county and the local soil and water district rebuilt the whole site in 2018, replacing a rough gravel lot with three buoy-marked sandy swim zones, a paved parking area, a picnic shelter, and native plantings, and locals call it the lake's most popular spot for swimming and sunbathing.

The swimming itself is calm lake water in a groundwater-fed lake with no inflow or outflow, and regulars also use the beach to launch kayaks and canoes. It is a multi-use recreational beach rather than a secluded swimming hole, so pontoons, jet skis, and water skiers share the lake outside the buoys.

Despite the name, the swimming at Deer Lake Campground happens on Cut Foot Sioux Lake, on the wooded west shore near Lake Winnibigoshish in the Chippewa National Forest. The Forest Service designates sandy swimming beaches at both campground loops, a larger one at North Deer and a smaller one at South Deer, so campers get a designated swimming hole either way.

Reviewers describe easy lake access directly from the campsites, and the sandy beaches give the kind of gentle, gradual entry you expect from a natural lake shore. There is no lifeguard, so keep an adult on watch, and note that Cut Foot Sioux is better known among anglers for its walleye, northern pike, sunfish, and crappie.

Crescent Beach is the kind of easygoing suburban swimming hole that Lake Minnetonka does well. Jointly run by the cities of Tonka Bay and Shorewood near Excelsior, it has a sandy shoreline made for general public swimming, with lifeguards staffed in summer and Hennepin County running weekly bacteria testing through the season. It suits families and casual swimmers more than adventure seekers.

One caveat worth knowing: the beach has seen periodic closures for water quality, and at least one summer went by with no lifeguards due to staffing shortages. Check the current beach status before you load up the car. There is also a kayak and canoe launch if you want to paddle the lake instead of just swimming it.

Williams Narrows sits at a genuinely interesting spot on the map, where Cut Foot Sioux Lake pinches down to a channel roughly 100 feet wide before opening into the much larger Lake Winnibigoshish. The campground occupies a forest of birch, oak, and pine on the shore, about 15 miles north of Deer River, and its designated swimming beach sits between the two camping loops, a proper swimming hole for campers looking for a lake to swim in.

This is a rustic, forested lakeside campground rather than a developed day-use beach park, and the beach is used mainly by people staying at the site. There is no lifeguard and the boat ramp launches nearby, so keep small children supervised near the water.

Clayhole Beach might be the best argument that an old mine can make a great swimming hole. Firemen's Clayhole is a roughly 40-acre lake in downtown Chaska's Firemen's Park that formed when a former clay pit filled with groundwater, and the result is remarkably clear, deep water, with clarity often topping 13 feet, the kind of transparency usually associated with cold-water trout lakes.

The city runs it as a proper family beach: a sand swim area, paddleboat rentals, a concession stand, and an interactive water-play fountain for the little ones. The lake drops to around 37 to 40 feet deep, and a swim raft is anchored out for independent swimmers, so the city's rules require adults to supervise children and give weak swimmers one-on-one attention.

Sandy Beach is a small neighborhood swimming hole in Cottagewood, the lakeside pocket of Deephaven just down the street from the historic Cottagewood Store. It sits on Carson's Bay of Lake Minnetonka, a designated no-wake bay, so the water stays calm compared to the busier, boat-heavy parts of the lake. The city itself calls it a delightful swimming spot, and there is a swimming dock to jump from.

It is one of six public beaches the City of Deephaven maintains, but there is no lifeguard here, unlike the city's main Deephaven Beach, so it suits confident swimmers and families who keep close watch. The bay also draws canoers and kayakers who like the calm water.

Nocomo Beach is the kind of low-key neighborhood swimming hole most people drive right past. It sits on Lake Minnetonka in the residential Walden neighborhood of Deephaven, one of six public beaches the city maintains and one of just five spots the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District recognizes as official public swimming access on the lake. There is no lifeguard here, so it stays quiet, more a local wade-and-swim spot than a destination beach.

The water is calm lake swimming with no current to worry about, though clarity on Minnetonka varies by bay and season. Lake-wide tracking grades the water a B for quality with roughly 10 feet of visibility, but visitors report periodic algae blooms, so it is worth checking Hennepin County's beach monitoring before you go, especially later in summer.

Phalen Beach is Saint Paul's flagship swimming hole, a guarded sand beach on Lake Phalen inside the 494-acre Phalen Regional Park on the city's east side. Admission is free, lifeguards are on duty during posted hours, and there's a splash pad for the little ones, so it works just as well for a family afternoon as it does for a serious swim.

That serious swim part is real, by the way. The park runs a buoyed open-water swim course for registered adults, with a roughly 500 yard short loop and a 1,200 yard long loop, staffed by lifeguards on weekend middays and Monday evenings in season. Not many city beaches give you a structured place to swim laps in actual open water.

The Cedar Lake Ice Hole is a swimming hole in the most literal sense: an opening cut and kept clear in the winter ice of Cedar Lake, in the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes, by a volunteer community coordinated through the nonprofit Endurance United. It is one of only two well-known community ice holes in the Minneapolis park system, the other being on Lake Harriet, and local polar dippers use it for regular short cold-water plunges all winter.

Dips run from about 10 seconds to a few minutes depending on tolerance, usually in neoprene booties or wool socks with warm layers staged for before and after. There is no fee, but you need to complete a seasonal waiver through Endurance United and be able to show it to Minneapolis Park Police. Never dip alone, check DNR ice-safety guidance first, and leave the kids at home; this one is strictly an adult cold-exposure ritual.

East Seelye Bay is a small, rustic Forest Service campground with just 13 sites on Lake Winnibigoshish, about 20 miles north of Deer River in the Chippewa National Forest. It comes with an official designated swimming beach right alongside the boat ramp and picnic area, which makes it a proper swimming hole for anyone looking for a lake to swim in on Winnibigoshish, Minnesota's fourth-largest lake.

The beach is unstaffed and sits directly beside the boat ramp on open reservoir water, so this is a bring-your-own-supervision kind of spot. Keep kids close around the launch traffic, and store your food properly, black bears are present and active here.

Chester Woods is an Olmsted County park in southeastern Minnesota's bluff country, built around Chester Lake, a flood-control reservoir on Bear Creek surrounded by woodlands and restored prairie. The swimming happens at a designated, roped-off beach with a proper beach house, showers included, which makes it a developed family beach rather than a backcountry swimming hole.

There's no lifeguard on duty, so you swim at your own risk inside the marked zone, but the tradeoff is that watercraft are kept out of the roped area entirely. The beach runs Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.

Lake Ann Beach is Chanhassen's designated swimming hole, a sandy, roped-off swim area on 119-acre Lake Ann inside a 102-acre city park. The lake is restricted to non-motorized watercraft, so you will not be dodging boat wakes, and the beach sits right next to the concession and rental building, playground, fishing pier, and picnic shelters. It suits families and casual swimmers far better than anyone chasing open-water distance.

One thing to know going in: there have been no lifeguards here since 2024, when the contracted provider ended its agreement, and a July 2026 submersion incident that triggered a dive-team search underscores that you are responsible for your own group. The lot can also fill quickly on peak summer weekends, so earlier is better.

The swimming beach at Gull Lake Recreation Area is the designated swimming hole of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers campground near Brainerd and Baxter, sitting at the outlet dam of Gull Lake, the largest lake in the Gull Chain. The beach lies just across the dam from the campground entrance, near the Ranger Office and boat ramp, inside a developed park with wooded campsites, playgrounds, and interpretive trails.

The Corps describes the chain of lakes as crystal clear water, and this beach gives campers a big lake to swim in without leaving the park. Because the beach sits near the dam at the lake's outlet, the facility's own page tells visitors to ask Park Rangers about river safety given current flow, and to check out a life jacket before heading into the water.

Lydiard Beach is one of Lake Minnetonka's quieter public access points, a narrow strip of city-owned lakeshore on Carman's Bay run by the City of Orono. Officially the site is just 66 by 566 feet, with a beach swim area and picnic tables, which makes it a simple, no-frills place to swim rather than a full-service park.

Hennepin County Public Health monitors the water quality here seasonally from Memorial Day through Labor Day, which is reassuring for a small neighborhood swimming hole. Details like lifeguard presence and water depth are not published, so treat it as a swim-at-your-own-judgment spot and keep an eye on your group.

Mound Creek Park's swim beach sits on a 70-acre reservoir in southwestern Brown County, impounded by the Wellner-Hageman Dam, a flood-control project dedicated in 1993. The county maintains an official sand swimming beach here, making it the local swimming hole for this stretch of rolling farmland and creek valley near Sanborn.

Expect casual, family-style lake swimming rather than a scenic wilderness dip. The park rounds things out with picnic areas, a small waterfall at the dam spillway, camping, and disc golf, and the reservoir supports fishing and canoeing alongside the beach.

Mill Pond Swimming Beach in Jordan is a free, city-run swimming hole on an old millpond of Sand Creek, tucked inside 30-plus acre Lagoon Park. Visitors describe the designated swim area as a small, sandy, shallow beach that is clean and genuinely family-friendly, with a splash pad, fishing pier, and picnic areas just steps away.

The pond itself reaches about 18 feet deep out in its main body, but the beach stays shallow near shore, which is exactly what you want with little kids. There is no lifeguard posted, so keep young swimmers close. Below the pond, small Sand Creek waterfalls add a bit of creek-side scenery to an otherwise easy, developed park day.

In a corner of Minnesota with almost no natural lakes, the WPA solved the problem in 1938 by damming Split Rock Creek with locally quarried Sioux Quartzite, purpose-built to give the prairie some water recreation. The result is Split Rock Lake, the largest body of water in Pipestone County, and the swim beach inside Split Rock Creek State Park is the swimming hole this part of the state gets.

First-hand accounts describe the roped-off swim section as shallow enough for just about everyone and weed-free, with a sand beach, changing area, and showers right at the water. No lifeguards are mentioned, so supervision is on you, but the setup reads as classic drive-up state park family swimming. The trail along the beach crosses the red quartzite dam with its stair-step spillway if you want a walk between dips.

Casco Beach is one of Lake Minnetonka's smallest sanctioned places to swim, a city-owned strip of shoreline just 60 by 235 feet, wedged between private homes on Casco Point Road in Orono. Both the City of Orono and the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District list it as a designated public swimming beach, and it comes with a dock on Spring Park Bay, but this is a quiet neighborhood swimming hole, not a park with amenities.

Treat it like a street-end secret. There is no lifeguard mentioned on the city's facility page, no restrooms confirmed on site, and the listed amenities amount to a designated swim area, picnic tables, and bike parking. If you want a low-key dip away from Minnetonka's bigger beaches, this is the kind of spot that delivers, open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.