The 59 Best Swimming Holes in New York

Taughannock Falls State Park is famous for its 215-foot waterfall, taller than Niagara, but the swimming happens down at the lake. The park's designated beach sits on Cayuga Lake at the mouth of Taughannock Creek, a supervised, sandy, official lake to swim in from late June through Labor Day.

Do not plan on swimming in the gorge or under the falls. It is explicitly prohibited because cliffs up to 400 feet shed rock with every freeze-thaw cycle, so the gorge is for hiking and viewing only. The lakeside swimming area shares the flat lower shoreline with a marina, boat launch, and campground.

Lake Welch Beach is the big one in Harriman State Park: a half-mile stretch of sand on a 216-acre lake, reportedly the largest beach in the Palisades Region, and it drew nearly half a million visitors in 2020. Think busy regional lake to swim in, not quiet swimming hole, and plan accordingly.

The lake itself has a story. It was created in 1942 when the Civilian Conservation Corps dammed Beaver Pond in Harriman's wooded hills, submerging the old settlement of Sandyfield in the process. Today swimming is allowed only during posted summer beach hours, roughly 9 or 10am to around 6 or 7pm, and the gradual sandy entry makes it an easy pick for families on a hot day.

Hamlin Beach State Park puts you right on Lake Ontario's southern shore, with a big sandy beach split into three designated swimming areas and lifeguards on duty through the summer. This is open-lake swimming at a developed 1,287-acre state park, more managed lakefront than rustic swimming hole, and it draws serious crowds on hot days.

The state's own description promises clear water and sandy beaches, and New York tests the water here weekly for bacteria as one of its 67 monitored state swimming beaches. Swimming is only allowed when guards are on, tentatively June 20 through Labor Day, 11am to 6:45pm, which makes this one of the safer bets for families along this stretch of lake.

Kershaw Park sits right at the north end of Canandaigua Lake, minutes from downtown Canandaigua, and it's about as managed as lake swimming gets. The city runs an official swim beach with lifeguards on duty daily from 11:00 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. during the posted summer season, plus a bathhouse, playground, and lakefront walkways with views down the length of the lake.

For the 2026 season, admission to the swimming beach is free for residents and guests, which makes this an easy call for families. It's a proper municipal beach rather than an informal swimming hole, and that's exactly the appeal.

Locals know this spot as Usher Park Beach, a small, free, lifeguard-supervised beach on the western shore of Lake George, a short distance north of the much busier Million Dollar Beach. The swim area is small and shallow, and New York's tourism site pitches it specifically at parents with young children who want something calmer and quieter than the village beaches.

You are still swimming in Lake George itself, a lake with a famous reputation for clarity: Thomas Jefferson called it 'water limpid as crystal,' and it carries the state's drinking-water-quality Class AA-Special rating. As a free, low-key place to swim on one of the country's cleanest lakes, it is a quiet win.

Cayuga Lake State Park sits at the flat northern end of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes, a 141-acre park established back in 1927. The lifeguard-staffed beach here makes the north end of Cayuga an easy lake to swim in, with a sun lawn right at lake level and the campground and cabins sloping gently uphill behind it.

This is a managed, family-oriented swim area rather than an open shoreline. Swimming is only allowed when lifeguards are on duty and water quality checks out, and the park is upfront that the beach can close on short notice for either reason, so it is worth calling ahead. The official swim season runs from the third Saturday in June through Labor Day, 10am to 6pm.

Westcott Beach State Park spreads across 318 acres on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario in the Thousand Islands region, near Watertown, and its sandy main beach is the draw. This is a staffed, official swim area with posted hours during the summer season, which makes it a dependable big-lake swimming hole rather than a gamble, and the gradual sandy entry is easy on kids.

The 2026 swim season runs June 19 through September 6, with swimming from 11am to 7pm. Being a Great Lake, the water can throw some wind chop and run cooler on certain days, but the park backs the beach with camping, cottages, and a marina if you want to make a weekend of it.

Green Lake is one of only two meromictic glacial lakes in Green Lakes State Park, meaning its layers never fully mix, and the payoff for swimmers is that famous turquoise-blue color. The tint comes from natural mineral whiting events, not algae, and it makes this an unforgettable lake to swim in. The sandy, lifeguarded beach sits at the north end of a lake that plunges to about 195 feet, though the swim zone itself stays roped off and monitored.

This is a well-established, officially sanctioned swimming hole rather than a hidden spot, and it works beautifully for families. No private boats are allowed on the lake to protect its unusual ecosystem, which keeps the water peaceful.

Peekamoose Blue Hole may be the most famous swimming hole in the Catskills, a deep, crystalline emerald blue pool carved into the bedrock of Rondout Creek by swirling water and sand. It runs about 10 feet deep at its deepest, the bottom is visible through the clear water, and rock ledges around the edge draw jumpers all summer.

The water stays very cold even in peak summer, visitors describe a genuine cold shock tingle on entry, which is exactly the appeal on a hot day. It also gets seriously crowded, up to about 700 people on busy days, which is why the DEC now requires a paid permit from May 15 through September 15. Book ahead and come early, the 60 space lot fills fast on weekends and roadside parking is a strictly enforced tow away zone.

Sandy Island Beach State Park gives you a 1,500-foot lifeguarded sand beach on Lake Ontario's eastern shore, set inside a rare 17-mile freshwater dune and wetland system with dunes rising up to 50 feet above the lake. It is one of the best places to swim in Oswego County, and visitors describe the water as clear freshwater stretching for miles.

This is open Great Lakes water rather than a sheltered cove, so the lifeguard coverage matters: the guarded season runs June 13 through September 7, daily 11am to 7pm. Multiple visitor reviews mention rocky sections of shoreline and recommend water shoes, a small price for a swimming hole set in one of the largest freshwater dune complexes in the northeastern U.S. Stick to the boardwalks so the fragile dune vegetation stays intact.

Lake Taghkanic State Park wraps around a 168 acre glacial lake in the wooded hills of Columbia County, right off the Taconic State Parkway. The lifeguard staffed West Beach is the place to swim, a dependable family lake beach that visitors say fills up fast on hot summer days.

If you want a swimming hole with structure, this is it: guarded swim hours, a walkway down to the water, playgrounds on both sides of the lake, and a bathhouse at the beach. Regulars advise showing up right at the 10am beach opening, because the parking lot fills in summer.

Onanda Park is a two-for-one on Canandaigua Lake's west shore: a lakeside day-use area with a lifeguard-guarded swimming beach, and a free upland section where Barnes Creek drops through a small gorge over three waterfalls. The swimming happens at the lake, not the falls, off a designated beach on the east side of the lakeside section.

Canandaigua Lake is known for serious clarity, with bottom visibility reported up to 30 to 50 feet, and it's clean enough to serve as the local drinking-water source. As lakefront swimming holes go, pairing a guarded beach with a waterfall hike in one stop is hard to beat.

Million Dollar Beach, officially Lake George Beach, is the big one: a state-run beach at the southern end of Lake George Village that is widely described as the most popular swimming hole on the lake. The sand stretches out in a huge designated swim area, the water is described as clear, and lifeguards watch the whole thing during posted hours.

This is family swimming, not backcountry swimming. You can only get in when lifeguards are on duty and only within the designated areas, which is exactly the setup most parents want. There is even a separate Dog Beach next door where pets can swim but people cannot.

Saratoga Lake's shoreline is almost entirely private, which makes Brown's Beach in Stillwater the one reliable public way to get in the water. The town runs this beach with a shallow, sandy designated swim area that is good for wading, with views toward the Adirondack foothills and a marina and restaurant next door.

The main thing to know about this swimming hole is the algae. The swim area has seen recurring harmful blue green algae closures in summer, so check current posted advisories before you commit to the drive. The season runs Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.

Schroon Lake Beach is the Town of Schroon's official swimming hole, a roped-off, lifeguard-watched swim area with a floating dock for lounging and diving, set in the Town Park just east of Main Street. Visitors describe a gradual, shallow entry that works well for kids, and the water comes up clear in review after review.

The setting is classic Adirondack resort town: mountain views across the lake, and downtown shops, restaurants, and a farmers market a short walk away. It runs from the last week of June through Labor Day, so this is a summer-only stop.

Bennett Beach is Erie County's Lake Erie swimming beach in the Town of Evans near Angola, and locals call it one of the most scenic beaches in the county. It earns that with open lake views, sunsets, and protected dunes behind the sand. This is big-water swimming rather than a creek swimming hole, with lifeguards on duty from noon to 7 pm during the summer season.

The county runs this place carefully, testing the water daily before swimming is allowed and posting a live open-or-closed swim status. Erie County describes a family atmosphere here, and the lifeguard coverage backs that up, though Lake Erie can serve up waves, so keep an eye on small kids at the shoreline. One quirk of the rules: floatation devices, kayaks, and even life jackets are not permitted on the swimming beach.

Red House Beach is the official swim spot on Red House Lake, dammed in 1924 as part of Allegany State Park's original build-out and later shaped by Civilian Conservation Corps crews. It is a sandy, lifeguard-staffed family beach near the park's Tudor-style Administration Building, with a playground and snack bar right there.

The swim area has a shallow sand entry for kids, plus a monitored diving platform in a separate roped-off section where the water runs about 12 feet deep. This is a managed swimming hole with the full state-park treatment, not a hike-in creek pool.

Lake Tiorati Beach is one of just two designated swimming beaches in all of Harriman State Park, a sand beach on the north shore of a 292-acre man-made lake sitting at about 1,030 feet in the forested Highlands. It gets heavy use in summer, so expect company on hot weekends.

The swimming happens off an official lifeguarded sand beach at the lake's north end, a proper managed swimming hole with showers and changing facilities in season. Campsites sit near the beach, and roughly 200 miles of trails, including a stretch of the Appalachian Trail, surround the water.

Fair Haven Beach State Park gives you 1,500 feet of sand on the southeastern shore of Lake Ontario, with a 600-foot lifeguarded swim area that makes the big lake an approachable place to swim. This is a developed, family-oriented state park beach, with a playground, ball field, and picnic areas backing the sand, and shoreline bluffs and wooded hills framing the whole thing.

The guarded swim season runs late May through early September, with the longest hours in July and August. One thing to keep in mind: this is open Lake Ontario shoreline rather than a sheltered cove, so waves and lake current are possible outside the guarded zone. Stick to the flagged area and it is a classic summer beach day.

Golden Beach Campground is built around one of the largest natural sand beaches in the Adirondacks, stretching roughly 800 feet behind the campsites plus another 400 feet of adjacent waterfront on Raquette Lake. The water is wide and shallow with a gentle slope, and a first-hand magazine account calls it good for wobbly waders and young children, with boulders scattered along the shore and waterfowl drifting past.

Raquette Lake itself is the largest natural lake in the Adirondacks at 5,935 acres, a classic Adirondack lake to swim in, bordered by wild forest on multiple sides. Day visitors can use the picnic and beach area right off NY-28 without camping.

Jacques Cartier State Park gives you one of the more dependable places to swim on the St. Lawrence River. The sandy beach sits inside a sheltered bay on the river's south bank near Morristown, in New York's Thousand Islands region, which keeps the swim area protected from open river current and boat traffic. Lifeguards staff the beach through the official season, so this is a family swimming hole rather than a backcountry gamble.

The 461 acre park wraps the beach in big open lawns, picnic areas, campsites, cabins, and boat docks, so it works as easily for a full day out as for a quick dip. The 2026 swim season runs June 27 through September 7, daily from 10am to 6pm.

Buttermilk Falls State Park, just southwest of Ithaca, is built around Buttermilk Creek's namesake cascade and a gorge holding ten waterfalls in all. Near the base of the falls, the park runs an official lifeguard-staffed natural swimming hole, a creek-fed pool set among sculpted Devonian shale and sandstone rather than a sandy beach.

The catch is the schedule. The swim area typically opens around July 3 and often closes by mid-August, running Fridays through Mondays plus select weekdays depending on lifeguard staffing, and the park is explicit that swimming is never guaranteed. Check current conditions before you drive out, since water quality closures do happen.

Berean Park sits at the base of Illinois Mountain in Highland, built around two ponds joined by a wooded causeway just off Route 9W north of the Mid-Hudson Bridge. The Town of Lloyd runs it as a proper seasonal swimming hole: a small sandy beach on the front pond with a swimming platform out in the water and lifeguards on duty through the summer program.

It's geared toward families and local kids rather than backcountry swimmers, and the town even runs children's swim lessons here. The surrounding oak, maple, birch, and pine woods hold informal trails that link into the Scenic Hudson network, though watch for poison ivy off the mowed areas.

Champlin Beach is Hammondsport's town swimming hole on Keuka Lake, about two blocks from the village square. It's a grassy, low-key lake beach with a roped-off swim area and lifeguards on duty during posted summer hours, which makes it one of the easier family swims in the Finger Lakes. The water helps too, with Keuka averaging around 80 degrees in July and August.

The lawn behind the beach fills with picnickers and sunbathers, and the same waterfront holds picnic pavilions, a town dock, and on-site kayak and paddleboard rentals. Keep an eye out for the sculpture of a plane in the water, a nod to aviation pioneer Glenn Hammond Curtiss, who was born in Hammondsport.

Tuscarora Beach is the Lake Ontario swim spot inside Wilson-Tuscarora State Park, a 400-plus acre spread of mature woods, meadows, and marshland where the branches of Twelvemile Creek meet the lake. This is more supervised beach than backwoods swimming hole, a narrow strip of smooth pebbles partially sheltered by a landform locals call The Island, with lifeguards watching the designated swim area in summer.

The pebble entry is gently sloped and suits families well while the guards are on duty, though stone underfoot is harder on little feet than sand. Remember this is open Lake Ontario, so wind can kick up waves and currents fast outside the guarded zone. The lifeguard schedule isn't published online, so call the park office to confirm before you go.

Quaker Lake Beach is one of just two official places to swim inside Allegany State Park, and it feels like a classic summer beach day: a small sandy shoreline on a 268-acre man-made lake with lifeguards on duty and a diving platform out in the deeper water. The water near that platform runs about 12 feet deep, so there's real swimming to be had here, not just wading.

This swimming hole is built for families and casual swimmers rather than distance types, since swimming is only allowed during posted lifeguard hours, 11am to 7pm in season. One thing worth knowing: the Quaker beach has a reputation for closing earlier in the season than the park's other beach at Red House Lake, so an August trip is worth double-checking before you drive out.

Lower Falls sits at the mouth of Enfield Glen in Robert H. Treman State Park near Ithaca, where Enfield Creek pours over a waterfall into a dammed pool. It is a true waterfall swimming hole, and a rare one, since New York State Parks runs it as an official lifeguarded swim area with roped-off depth zones and even a diving board.

The pool runs from about 2 feet at the built-in entry steps to roughly 20 feet near the falls, and the stream-fed water carries a green tint but stays clean and clear in normal conditions. Visitors report it staying under 65 degrees even in mid-July, which is bracing on the way in and exactly what you want on a hot afternoon.

Sylvan Lake Beach Park is a family-owned campground in Hopewell Junction that has been run by three generations of the same family for over 70 years, built around a private beach on spring-fed, roughly 100-acre Sylvan Lake. The catch is access: the beach is for registered overnight campers only, with no day use, so this is a lake to swim in as part of a camping trip, not a drive-up dip.

For campers, the swim season runs Memorial Day through Labor Day, and the lake bans gas-powered motors, which keeps things quiet. The 65-acre wooded property sits in the Hudson Valley about 20 minutes from Beacon and Poughkeepsie, with boating, kayaking, and catch-and-release fishing through the full May to September season.

Lake Clear Beach is a state-owned swimming hole on a 998-acre natural lake just west of Saranac Lake, reached by a short gravel road off Route 30 in the Saranac Lakes Wild Forest. The wide sandy beach is lined with pines, and the bottom slopes so gradually that you can reportedly wade out around a hundred yards before the water gets deep, which makes it a favorite for families and casual swimmers.

The water lives up to the name. State CSLAP monitoring rated the lake's clarity 'Crystal Clear' and its recreational quality 'Excellent,' with average visibility down more than 15 feet. Just know this is an unsupervised day-use area, no lifeguards and no facilities, and summer water temperatures average a brisk 66F or so.

Lake Minnewaska is one of the Shawangunk Ridge's famous glacial sky lakes, sitting high on the ridge inside Minnewaska State Park Preserve near Gardiner, ringed by the white cliffs the Gunks are known for. Two grand 19th-century resort hotels once overlooked this water before the state took over in 1987, and the park brought swimming back the following year.

The swim setup is a designated, roped-off area near the beach and visitor center, staffed by lifeguards during the season, which runs roughly late June through Labor Day. Visitors describe the swim area as small but easy to reach, with room to sit and relax on shore, and there is even a 200-yard buoyed cable along the shoreline added for distance swimmers. As sanctioned swimming holes go, the setting here is hard to beat, but come early, because the lots fill and close on good-weather days.

Long Lake Town Beach sits on a 14-mile glacial widening of the Raquette River in the central Adirondacks, with views across the water toward the Seward Mountain Range. It is a free town-run swimming hole with Red Cross-certified lifeguards on duty every day the beach is open, and even the swim lessons cost nothing.

The swim area runs from a 1-foot shallow zone up to 15 feet of water at the swim dock, which comes loaded with a mini-trampoline, slide, and rope swings. Getting out to the dock requires passing a 50-yard swim test with an approved stroke, and no, doggy paddle does not count, which keeps the deep water naturally reserved for confident swimmers.

Meacham Lake Campground is a New York State DEC campground on 1,203-acre Meacham Lake in the northern Adirondacks near Malone, with an official sand swimming beach and bathhouse alongside its 223 campsites. The lake sits in the Adirondack Wild Forest, ringed by northern mountains and big tracts of state land, and the DEC notes early mornings and evenings are prime time to hear loons calling across the water.

The beach gives a gentle, sandy entry that works well for families looking for a lake swim rather than a remote wilderness swimming hole. There is no lifeguard, swimming is only allowed within the marked beach zone, and the rules keep everyone out of the water from 30 minutes before sunset until 30 minutes after sunrise, so plan your dips for daylight.

Donnelly Beach is the Town of Minerva's swimming hole on Minerva Lake, a small Adirondack lake created in the early 1930s when the town dammed Jones Brook. The result is a lifeguarded, family-first setup: a medium to large swim area with two diving platforms, three small islands out on the water to explore by paddle, and two playgrounds back on shore.

It runs as a staffed seasonal beach, lifeguard on duty 10am to 6pm from roughly late June through Labor Day. The diving platforms mean you will want to keep an eye on younger kids near the deeper water, but the whole place is built for family days.

Blue Mountain Lake's town beach is small, one visitor account calls it teeny tiny, but the setting is hard to argue with: a 1,334-acre Adirondack lake dotted with 10 islands, sitting at about 1,790 feet, which makes this one of the highest-elevation swimming beaches in the Adirondacks. The swim area has a dock and a partial sand-and-grass shoreline, and a Red Cross-certified lifeguard is on duty daily in summer, a rarity among Adirondack swimming holes.

The beach sits right on Route 28 in the hamlet, across from the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts and near the Adirondack Experience museum, so it pairs naturally with a day of exploring the area. Because the swim area is genuinely small, it can feel crowded on hot afternoons, and outside the posted 11am to 5pm lifeguard hours you are on your own.

Glimmerglass State Park Beach sits on the north shore of Otsego Lake, the lake James Fenimore Cooper called the Glimmerglass, about 8 miles from Cooperstown. The National Park Service describes the water here as crystal-clear and mountain-fed, so expect a clean, cold swim with mountain views from the sand.

This is the sanctioned swimming hole for the Cooperstown area, a maintained sandy beach with a designated swim area and lifeguards during the posted season. Swimming is included in the standard vehicle day-use fee, which keeps things simple for families.

The Emma Treadwell Thacher Nature Center sits right on the shore of Thompson's Lake, high on the Helderberg Escarpment above the Capital Region. The nature center itself is an educational building, but the swimming happens steps away at Thompson's Lake Beach, a lifeguard-supervised sandy beach run seasonally by New York State Parks within the Thompson's Lake campground.

It is a small-lake swimming hole suited to families and campers, surrounded by hardwood and conifer forest, limestone outcroppings, and open fields. DEC data notes aquatic vegetation stays limited to the shoreline, a good sign for a cleaner swim, and a playground, volleyball court, and horseshoe pits round out the day.

Old Forge Public Beach might be the most convenient swimming hole in the Fulton Chain: a small, free municipal beach on First Lake, right in the center of the village behind the visitor information center. The roped swim area is smartly split, with a shallow section for young kids and a deeper section out by the swim raft and diving board for stronger swimmers.

The water gets consistently praised for being clear and cool, with one visitor saying it looks very clean compared to Lake Champlain. Add the sandy shoreline, mountain views, and the pirate-ship playground next door, and it is an easy in-town win for families.

Canopus Lake Beach is the swimming hole for a big stretch of the Hudson Valley, a state-run, lifeguarded sandy beach on a 100-acre wooded lake inside Clarence Fahnestock Memorial State Park. Lake swimming options are genuinely scarce in this part of Putnam County, which is why visitors say the lot fills fast on summer weekends.

The beach itself is wide, flat, and sandy, and the bottom near shore stays mostly sandy rather than mucky, with visitors describing the water as pretty clear and comfortably cool in summer. Swimming is limited to the lifeguard-supervised zone during posted hours, and you can rent a rowboat to poke around the rest of the lake.

Port Henry Beach is the village's home swimming hole, a sandy stretch of Lake Champlain shore with lifeguards on duty through the summer season. It is a small-town spot built for families and casual swimming rather than a wilderness destination, and that is exactly its charm.

The beach adjoins a village-run campground with a playground and boat launch, and a riverside nature trail runs nearby with views across the Champlain Valley toward Vermont. Park on Beach Road and you are on the sand in under a minute.

East Sidney Dam Recreation Area is a US Army Corps of Engineers flood-control reservoir on Ouleout Creek, about 4 miles downstream of Franklin in Delaware County. The swimming hole here is an official sandy beach on roughly 200-acre East Sidney Lake, calm flat water framed by the forested rolling hills of the Catskills foothills.

With a volleyball court by the sand, a playground nearby, and a campground and boat launch on the property, it works well as a full family day on a lake to swim in. One camping-focused account praises the clean, clear water, though lifeguard presence could not be confirmed, so keep an eye on your swimmers.

Vine Valley Beach is the kind of low-key community swimming hole that's easy to love: free, lifeguarded from Memorial Day through Labor Day, with fine sand and shallow near-shore water on the southeast end of Canandaigua Lake. Visitors describe the water as clean, and the shallow entry makes it a natural fit for families with young children.

It sits at the lake edge of the tiny hamlet of Vine Valley, near the community center and general store, with a gazebo and bathhouse behind the sand. There's no charge for the beach or the boat launch.

Belleayre Lake, also called Pine Hill Lake, sits in a valley at the foot of Belleayre Mountain in the Catskills, run as Belleayre Beach alongside the state-owned ski center. This is less a backwoods swimming hole than a supervised Catskills lake to swim in, with a sandy, lifeguard-watched beach on small, calm water surrounded by wooded mountain terrain inside Catskill Park.

One visitor account called the beach area small but noted the lake itself is a good size for both boating and swimming, and Ulster County Tourism describes it as accessible and child and group friendly. There is a snack bar, picnic pavilions, and an on-site rental concession for pedal boats, rowboats, kayaks, and paddleboards, so you can make a full day of it without hauling much gear.

Oakdale Beach is a sand beach on a 4-acre spring-fed lake tucked inside 14-acre Oakdale Park in downtown Hudson. As in-town swimming holes go, it is refreshingly simple: free, walkable for residents, and run by the city's Youth Department, which allows swimming only when a lifeguard is on duty.

The city calls Oakdale Lake one of the cleanest lakes in Columbia County, but it is also classified as eutrophic, meaning nutrient-rich and prone to algae, and it saw a harmful algae bloom in 2024. Check the seasonal swim schedule and any advisories before you count on getting in the water.

This is the public swimming beach on the south shore of Rushford Lake, a 585-acre reservoir in the hills of Allegany County, created when Rochester Gas and Electric built the dam in the late 1920s and run by a local recreational district since 1981. A lifeguard staffs the small sand beach during posted hours in season.

Expect a family-oriented roadside lake beach, a grass lawn fronting a medium-to-small swim area, rather than a scenic backcountry swimming hole. The lake itself is serious water, about 115 feet deep with 5.3 miles of shoreline and a winter drawdown of around 40 feet.

Skinner's Falls is officially a hand-launch boat access on the Upper Delaware River, but everybody who knows this stretch treats it as a swimming hole. Natural pools form among the rocks near the Class I-II rapids, and on summer days you'll find people swimming, sunning on the shore rocks, and launching tubes and rafts for the float downstream. One visitor reported comfortably swimmable water around 68 degrees in July, with a current that was noticeably strong.

That current is the thing to respect here. It can be powerful without looking like much from the surface, and the corridor has submerged rocks and sudden drop-offs, so this suits confident swimmers and closely watched families more than anyone wanting a calm, still pool. Go Memorial Day through Labor Day, when the seasonal restroom is in service and the river scene is in full swing.

Dedrick Park is the Town of North Greenbush's official public beach on Snyders Lake, the largest lake in town, in the hamlet area near Wynantskill. It is a developed, lifeguard-supervised town swimming hole rather than a wild one, and the town's rules make the arrangement clear: no swimming when the lifeguards are off duty.

The beach runs a short season, June 20 through August 22 in 2026, with the park open daily 10am to 7:30pm. Pricing favors locals, with season passes for town residents only and day admission tiers for county residents, so bring proof of residency if you have it.

Dedrick Recreational Facility is the Town of North Greenbush's official bathing beach on Snyders Lake, a 108-acre glacial lake near Wynantskill. This is more organized beach than backwoods swimming hole, with a sandy, lifeguard-supervised swim area, a grassy lawn, and a defined, monitored section of shoreline rather than open water.

The lake itself runs deep, averaging about 18 feet with a maximum near 40 feet at the center, and it stays busy with boaters, water skiers, and anglers chasing bass, walleye, and perch. Access is restricted to North Greenbush and Rensselaer County residents with a beach pass, so if you qualify, it is a dependable local lake to swim in all season.

Lake Awosting is one of the Shawangunk Ridge's rare glacial sky lakes, tucked deep inside Minnewaska State Park Preserve and reachable only by a roughly 3-mile carriage road walk or bike ride. The payoff for the effort is a hike-in swimming hole that stays comparatively quiet, since far fewer visitors make the trek out here than crowd the park's famous Awosting Falls.

The water is clear and cool even in midsummer, and the beach is not sand but large flat white rock slabs that slope gently into the lake, so getting in is easy. Swimming happens in a roped-off, lifeguard-supervised area during the summer season, mid-June through Labor Day. Visitors who go in June rave about the mountain laurel blooming along the approach.

East Caroga Lake Swimming Beach is the designated swimming hole at the DEC's Caroga Lake Campground in the Adirondack foothills of Fulton County. It is a drive-up sandy beach with a bathhouse inside a developed state campground, an easy lake to swim in for campers and day visitors alike, with the Ferris Lake and Shaker Mountain wild forests just beyond for hiking.

One thing to know going in: the DEC is explicit that the swim area is unsupervised, with no lifeguards at any time, and motorboats share the lake. Swimming is daytime only, prohibited from a half hour before sunset to a half hour after sunrise.

If you are hunting for a lake to swim in near Saratoga, Moreau Lake Beach is the official answer: a sandy swim beach inside a 6,250-acre state park of hardwood forest, pine stands, and rocky ridges, just off I-87 between Saratoga Springs and Lake George. The beach adjoins the park's Nature Center, and a nature trail loops the whole lake past the swim area, so a swim slots easily into a bigger day outdoors.

This is a natural lake, not a pool, and the park is upfront about what that means: it publishes a swimmer's itch advisory specific to Moreau Lake, so rinse and towel off after swimming, especially with kids. The swimming hole runs on a summer schedule, daily 10am to 6pm from late May through early September, with a per-vehicle fee at the gate.

Green Lake in Tully is a small glacial lake ringed almost entirely by private homes, and the town beach on the south shore is the one public way in. The Town of Tully runs it as a lifeguarded summer swimming hole, complete with a diving board, a deep water lap lane, and a shallower swim area for everyone else.

One big catch: the beach is limited to Town of Tully residents, with a seasonal fee option for Tully School District residents. If that is you, it is a sweet deal, with two sessions of swim lessons each summer and reasonably clear water. Locals note the green look comes from geology, not algae.

South Lake sits high on a Catskill escarpment at about 2,250 feet, inside the DEC-run North-South Lake Campground, and it's one of the most-visited developed places to swim in the whole Catskill Park. This is calm, accessible lake swimming off a maintained sand beach with a designated swim zone, the kind of spot that suits families and campers rather than adventure seekers.

There's no lifeguard here, so you're expected to stay within the marked beach area and keep an eye on your own crew. The setting makes up for the rules: this stretch of the Catskills was famously painted by Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School, and once held the grand Catskill Mountain House resort.

Wayside Beach is one of two public swimming beaches the Town of Lake Luzerne maintains on Lake Luzerne itself, a small lake in the southern Adirondack foothills that is part of a local chain of four lakes. It is a designated, town-maintained place to swim with a marked entry area, paired with a boat launch that residents and visitors use for lake access.

This is a simple, no-frills town beach rather than a destination swimming hole, and the details are sparse: the town posts hours but not much else. It runs on a short summer season, so time your visit accordingly.

Long Pond Beach is the designated swim area at Grafton Lakes State Park, a 2,545-acre park on a forested plateau between the Taconic Mountains and the Hudson Valley near Troy. The big sandy beach on Long Pond is a guarded beach during the swim season, which makes it one of the more dependable swimming holes in the Capital Region.

Swimming runs daily from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, 10am to 6pm, and the beach sits directly off the main parking lot, so there is no scramble or trail walk to reach the water. Long Pond is one of six ponds in the park, but this is the one set up for a swim day.

Here's the important thing to know about Taylor Park Beach right now: the swimming is closed. The state health department shut the swim area for the 2025 and 2026 seasons after finding a steep, uneven underwater slope, made worse by large trees and debris left in the water by 2024 flooding and Hurricane Debby, and there's no confirmed reopening date.

In better times this was Canton's classic river swimming hole, a sandy, lifeguard-supervised beach on the Grasse River run by the village recreation department, with shade trees along the bank and swim hours from roughly noon to 7pm each summer. For now the site works only as a car-top and adaptive kayak and canoe launch, so plan to paddle here, not swim.

Lake Arrowhead is the freshwater swimming hole inside Baiting Hollow Scout Camp, a Suffolk County Council property on Long Island's North Shore that has been running since 1926. The lake has a designated, supervised waterfront swimming area that anchors the camp's week-long Aquatics Camp, where Scouts layer swim instruction with canoeing, kayaking, sailing, snorkeling, lifesaving, and even water skiing.

The important catch: this is not a public beach. Access is limited to registered Scouting America program participants and their families during camp sessions, so it belongs on your radar as a camp destination rather than a drop-in swim. The camp also has a separate saltwater beach on Long Island Sound at the property's northern edge.

Morry Stein Park & Beach is Warrensburg's town beach on Echo Lake, a small lakefront parcel in the southern Adirondack foothills less than a mile from the hamlet center. It is a designated, lifeguard-supervised place to swim rather than an informal swimming hole, with swimming confined to the posted beach area during staffed hours.

That controlled setup makes it a solid pick for families and casual local swims. The season is short, though, running from mid-June through the end of August, so it is strictly a summer stop.

Lake Lincolndale Beach is a true neighborhood swimming hole, a private sand beach on a 20-acre lake in the Lincolndale section of Somers, in northern Westchester County. The lake itself is an impoundment created by a dam built in the early 1930s, and the community around it grew from a seasonal retreat into a year-round neighborhood.

Swimming happens in a roped-off bathing area with a floating swim dock and a certified lifeguard on duty during the summer season, which is rarer than you'd think for a lake this size. The catch is access: the beach belongs to the Lake Lincolndale Property Owners' Association, so it's for residents and their guests only.

Verona Beach State Park gives you a lifeguard-supervised sandy beach roughly three quarters of a mile long on the eastern shore of Oneida Lake, a big, shallow lake that warms up nicely in summer. If you want a proper family swimming hole with a bathhouse, a concession stand, and a splash pad next to the sand, this is exactly that kind of place.

The supervised beach runs late May through early September, weekends only at first and then daily from mid-June, with lifeguards on from 11am to 7pm. The rest of the 1,735-acre park stays open year-round dawn to dusk, so you can pair a swim with the hiking and biking trails through the surrounding woods.