The 14 Best Swimming Holes in Utah

Gunlock State Park centers on a 266-acre reservoir on the Santa Clara River, about 13 to 15 miles northwest of St. George in Utah's red-rock desert. The park itself promotes swimming in the reservoir's tranquil waters, and with warm summer water, a sandy beach, and cottonwood shade, it is a legitimate lake to swim in on the way out of town.

In big snowpack years, spring runoff sends the spillway over red sandstone as Gunlock Falls, and pools form at the base, but this is not a designated swim spot. The park warns of slick rock, swift water, and hidden hazards there, and a firsthand account reports a drowning and a serious fall in 2023, so save the swimming for the beach.

Mystic Hot Springs is less a swimming hole than a soaking destination, and that is exactly the point. Naturally heated mineral water comes out of the ground at 168 degrees and cascades down a rust-colored travertine mound into cast-iron bathtubs and rock-lined pools that settle in around 100 to 111 degrees. You pick a tub, sink in, and stay a while, and staff can even turn up the heat on individual tubs if you ask.

The whole property has a rustic, bohemian feel, with grassy camping areas, converted vintage buses you can sleep in, and a history as a live-music venue. Soaking is reservation-only in two-hour slots, so book ahead rather than counting on a walk-in.

Fred Hayes State Park sits on Starvation Reservoir, a 3,495-acre lake in Utah's high desert Uinta Basin, fed by the Strawberry River. The park's swimming hole is a developed sand beach beside a grassy day-use area, and visitors describe the water as clear with a beach well suited for kids, with the reservoir warming into the 70s in summer.

Just know it is an open-water lake swim, not a roped-off pool. Motorboats and anglers share the reservoir, and the Beach campground area gets crowded and loud on summer weekends, so weekdays are the calmer play.

Hyrum State Park wraps around a 450 acre reservoir on the Little Bear River in Utah's Cache Valley, and the park itself calls its summer beach excellent. Mid summer water temperatures run roughly 70 to 75 degrees per the park's conditions report, which is comfortable territory for reservoir swimming, and the state's current conditions page rates the water clarity as clear.

This is beach swimming off a designated shore rather than a creek style swimming hole, and a buoyed no motorized boat zone near shore keeps swimmers separated from the waterski and jet ski traffic out on the open water. There are no lifeguards, so keep an eye on the kids, especially since the beach slopes off rather than holding a true shallow shelf.

Saratoga Hot Springs, also called Inlet Park Hot Springs, is a free geothermal soaking spot on the northwestern shore of Utah Lake, a short flat walk from Inlet Park in Saratoga Springs. The pools run about 100 to 109 degrees where the spring water comes up, mixing with cooler lake water to create pockets of different temperatures. This is a soak, not a swim: the water is only a foot or two deep, murky over soft silty mud, with a mild sulfur smell.

It is a genuinely low-key natural swimming hole with real history, sitting where an 1884 resort once operated, and it draws everyone from families to local students. The mud is the thing to respect: near the hot source the silt gets soft enough that visitors compare it to quicksand, and the hot water there can scald. Evenings and weekends get crowded and rowdy, so regulars point to quiet weekday mornings as the best time, especially with kids.

Red Hill Hot Springs is more of a soaking spot than a swimming hole, and that's exactly the appeal. About 1.3 miles east of Monroe, Utah, 168 degree mineral water surfaces at the top of a striking deep-red travertine mound and cascades down through three to four small pools, each one cooler than the last. The middle pools settle around 100 to 110 degrees, which is where most people end up.

It's free, undeveloped, and open year-round, sitting on an open, shadeless mound in the high desert of the Sevier Valley. The pools are small, holding only a handful of people each, so it feels intimate when it's quiet and cramped when it's not. Respect the top pool: the source water comes out near boiling.

Fifth Water Hot Springs, also called Diamond Fork Hot Springs, is part hot spring, part warm swimming hole, and one of the most popular soaking hikes in Utah. Roughly seven to a dozen rock-lined pools sit beside a waterfall where geothermal water around 110F mixes with cold creek water, so you can literally dial in your temperature by adjusting how much cold water flows into your pool. The water runs clear with a turquoise tint that shifts from milky in winter to electric blue in warmer months.

The catch is that everyone knows about it. Summer weekends can see more than a hundred people at the pools at once, and the small trailhead lot commonly fills by 8am, with strict parking enforcement along the road. Go early on a weekday if you can, and check water quality advisories before you head up, since unsafe bacteria levels have been detected in the past.

Payson Lakes sits about 12 miles up Payson Canyon along the Nebo Loop Scenic Byway, where three small interconnected lakes, McClelland, Box, and Big East, pool at roughly 8,000 feet among aspen, fir, and pine. Big East Lake has an official small swim beach, which makes this a genuine high mountain lake to swim in rather than just a pretty campground pond.

The vibe is calm and family-oriented by design. Powerboats are banned, dogs are kept off the beach and out of the water, and a flat paved path circles the lake right past the swim area. Just remember the elevation: at 8,000 feet the water stays cold even in the middle of summer, so ease the kids in slowly.

Wahweap Swim Beach is the flagship swimming hole of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, one of only five vehicle accessible places to swim on Lake Powell and the only one where motorized boats are barred beyond the marked buoys. Visitors describe the water as remarkably clear and turquoise, more tropical getaway than desert reservoir, and it stays shallow close to shore, which makes it approachable for families.

Summer surface temperatures can top 80 degrees, and the red rock scenery around the Wahweap area is hard to beat. There are no lifeguards anywhere on Lake Powell, and the underwater terrain hides drop offs, rocky sections, and vegetation, so stay inside the marked swim area and put life jackets on the kids. One recent visitor recommends late spring or early fall for comfortable water with smaller crowds than the July and August peak.

Millsite State Park sits where Ferron Canyon opens onto Millsite Reservoir at about 6,100 feet in Emery County, with sandstone canyon walls to the northwest that carry Native American rock art and pioneer graffiti. Utah State Parks officially lists swimming among the reservoir's uses, right alongside boating, waterskiing, and fishing.

It is a reservoir rather than a natural swimming hole, and there is no roped-off swim beach or lifeguard, so you share open water with boat traffic. If you want a quiet mountain-desert lake to swim in near Ferron, this is the sanctioned option, just keep your distance from the launch lane and keep an eye on conditions when water levels run low.

Baker Hot Springs is less a swimming hole than a desert soaking spot, and a wonderfully strange one at that. Out on Fumarole Butte in Utah's remote Sevier Desert, three primitive concrete tubs, leftovers from a long-gone resort, sit at the end of a dirt road with nothing around for roughly 60 miles.

The mineral water comes out of the ground scalding hot, somewhere between 141 and 180F, with a strong sulfur smell, so soakers use a diversion channel to let in cold spring water until the tubs hit a comfortable temperature. The pools are shallow, unmaintained, and often algae covered. This is a hot soak with a view of a volcanic field, not a swim, and that is exactly the appeal.

Sunny Cove is one of only two officially designated swim beaches on Flaming Gorge Reservoir, tucked into a cove just north of Dutch John in Ashley National Forest. It is the closest thing this stretch of Utah has to a classic swimming hole: cool emerald water set against the red orange sandstone cliffs the reservoir is famous for, with grassy and sandy patches around the cove for setting up for the day.

Visitors come for relief from summer heat, and paddlers use the same access point to launch kayaks and paddleboards toward the nearby Dutch John Draw canyon. Watch the weather, though. Afternoon winds on the reservoir can build fast, and one kayaking party reported gusts strong enough to cut their outing short.

Quail Creek Reservoir holds some of the warmest water in Utah, which makes this 600-acre reservoir near Hurricane the rare swimming hole you can use well beyond peak summer. Set at about 3,300 feet in red-rock desert country inside Quail Creek State Park, it pairs sandy beaches with a mild winter climate that keeps the season long.

Swimming happens off the designated sandy beaches, and in summer the park opens a water playground for splashing around. Boats share the reservoir, and the water reaches up to 120 feet deep away from shore, so keep swimmers near the beach and check the park's harmful algal bloom updates before you go.

Joes Valley Reservoir spreads across roughly two square miles of the Wasatch Plateau at about 7,000 feet, ringed by juniper, pinyon pine, and aspen inside the Manti-La Sal National Forest. Both Forest Service campgrounds on the shore officially list swimming among their activities, which makes this a sanctioned lake to swim in, not just a place people sneak into.

That said, there is no developed beach or buoyed swim area here. Swimming is informal, right off the shoreline or from boats, and the reservoir sees real motorboat and waterski traffic from the eastern shore ramp, so pick your spot away from the boat lanes and keep close watch on kids.