The 74 Best Swimming Holes in Wisconsin

Devil's Lake State Park is a natural swimming hole on a grand scale: a 360-acre glacial lake sitting in a rocky gorge between quartzite bluffs that rise about 500 feet straight from the water. It's Wisconsin's most-visited state park, and it has two official swim beaches, one on the North Shore and one on the South Shore, both developed, family-style beaches set inside picnic areas.

The bottom is glacially deposited sand, and the North Shore beach adds an accessible beach mat and beach wheelchair. The real challenge here is the crowds. From May through October, weekend and holiday lots routinely fill before 9am, so go early or go midweek. There are no lifeguards at either beach.

Riviera Beach is Lake Geneva's official public beach, sitting right in the heart of downtown on Wrigley Drive next to the historic Riviera Ballroom, the public pier, and the Geneva Lake Shore Path. It is the obvious downtown swimming hole here: a lifeguarded, roped-off swim area on a sandy beach with docks just offshore and Main Street's shops and restaurants a short walk away.

Geneva Lake is glacially formed and known for exceptional clarity, dropping to about 135 feet in the main body, though the roped swim area stays much shallower. The Geneva Lake Environmental Agency tests the water weekly, and lifeguards run 9:30am to 6pm at peak season. It gets very crowded on summer weekend afternoons and parking fills fast, so go early.

Harrington Beach State Park gives you more than a mile of natural sand and pebble beach on Lake Michigan, which is a lot of shoreline to spread out on. The 715-acre park near Belgium is a developed, drive-up state park with camping, trails, and even an observatory, so this is big-lake swimming with full infrastructure behind it, not a hidden swimming hole.

There's a second body of water worth seeing too: a scenic 26-acre lake filling a limestone quarry that operated from the 1890s until 1925. The Lake Michigan beach is where the swimming and sunbathing happen, though.

Big Foot Beach State Park puts a public swimming beach on Geneva Lake, a body of water so famously clean that its Potawatomi name, Kishwauketoe, translates to Clear Water. The DNR itself calls out the beach's clear, clean water, and it sits just over a mile south of downtown Lake Geneva, so you can be in the lake minutes after leaving town.

This is an easy lake to swim in rather than a hidden swimming hole, and that is the appeal. The 272-acre park wraps the beach with 40 acres of picnic grounds, about 150 tables, a family campground, and hiking trails. There are no lifeguards on duty, so keep an eye on weaker swimmers.

Point Beach State Forest gives you roughly 6 miles of sandy Lake Michigan shoreline north of Two Rivers, so finding your own stretch of water is rarely a problem. This is open Great Lakes swimming off the sand rather than a tucked-away swimming hole, and reviewers describe the beach areas, including a pet-friendly one, as clean and well used for both swimming and walking.

Because it's open shoreline, conditions shift with the lake's weather, so expect waves and cold water on some days. The wooded dunes, the Point Beach Ridges, and the Rawley Point Lighthouse make it easy to turn a swim into a full day.

Schoolhouse Beach Park on Washington Island is one of only a handful of beaches on Earth covered entirely in smooth, white limestone pebbles instead of sand, and it happens to be the island's most popular swimming hole. The water is famously clear, clear enough to watch fish and see the lake bottom, which is why people snorkel here as well as swim.

There's a marked swim area with a bright orange diving raft offshore, and swimming generally runs from June through mid-September. The lake stays cold even in summer, and those polished stones are smooth but tough on bare feet, so pack water shoes.

McKinley Beach is Milwaukee's oldest public beach, dating back to the 1890s, an urban swimming hole tucked into a small bay between two rocky breakwaters on Lake Michigan, just south of Bradford Beach and next to McKinley Marina. The bay was designed as a shallow wading area, roughly 2 to 2.5 feet deep, and it is one of just three city beaches monitored under the state and EPA Great Lakes water quality program.

The honest caveat: this spot has a serious history with currents. Sand erosion deepened parts of the bay to around 6 feet, creating rip currents tied to multiple drownings, and the beach was closed from 2020 to 2024 until a sand-restoration project brought back the shallow depth. It reopened with lifeguards and safety signage, but it was closed again for dangerous currents as recently as July 2026, so check the current DNR beach advisory before you swim.

Eichelman Park is Kenosha's easy in-town place to swim, a small sandy Lake Michigan beach just south of downtown and the Southport Marina. A short stone jetty shelters the sand, so the water stays calmer than the open lake while still giving you that genuine Great Lakes swim.

There are no lifeguards, so this swimming hole suits confident swimmers and families keeping an eye on their own kids. Kenosha County tests the water regularly through the summer, and the lakefront trail connects you to a whole string of neighboring parks.

School House Beach fronts a sheltered cove of Washington Harbor on Washington Island, and it's one of just five beaches in the world made of smooth, rounded limestone pebbles rather than sand. As swimming holes go, this one is genuinely unusual: bright, clear, turquoise-tinted water over polished white stones, with a roped-off swim area and a diving raft just offshore.

Visitors describe the water as clear and clean, and the marked area has been characterized as excellent swimming for advanced swimmers. It stays cold even in mid-summer and there's no lifeguard, so the buddy system is the standard advice here.

Fontana Beach sits on Geneva Lake's quieter western shore in the little lakefront village of Fontana-on-Geneva-Lake, a sandy village-run beach backed by grass and flanked by the village's boutique shops and dining. It is a staffed, fee-based swim beach rather than an informal swimming hole, and for families that is a feature, not a bug.

Lifeguards are on duty daily 9:30am to 6pm from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, and the beach house sells passes and food and has changing rooms, open 9am to 9pm. Outside guard hours swimming is at your own risk, but during the season this is one of the easiest supervised places to swim on the lake.

Idle Isle Park holds one of Muskego's officially designated public swimming beaches, a roped-off swim area on the north end of Little Muskego Lake southwest of Milwaukee. One recent visitor summed it up as a very nice quiet small beach, and that tracks: calm, flat lake water on a sandy shore, built for families rather than thrill-seekers.

It's not a wild swimming hole, and that's the appeal. Boats and rafts are banned inside the marked swim zone, so the water you're in stays clear of traffic, and lifeguards staff the beach on weekends and holidays through the summer season. On weekdays you're on your own, so plan supervision accordingly.

Torpy Park puts a sand swimming beach right in downtown Minocqua, directly on Minocqua Lake along Highway 51. If you are staying in town, this is the easiest lake to swim in for miles, a 4 acre waterfront park that doubles as the town's main in town beach and recreation complex.

It is an official public beach rather than a hidden swimming hole, with a playground and volleyball court nearby for the between swim hours. The town is upfront that there are no lifeguards on duty, so you swim at your own risk and kids need close supervision.

Evergreen Campsites & Resort is a big family camping resort in rural central Wisconsin built right on the shore of Kusel Lake, and its beach, Chippy's Sports Beach, is the swimming hole guests actually use. The resort calls it a clean, clear, sandy beach, and it comes rigged with a Wibit floating inflatable obstacle course, a rental hut, and a bathhouse.

This is calm, developed resort swimming geared toward kids, not a wild spot, and if the lake does not appeal there are heated pools, a splash pad, and a water slide on the grounds. Beach and lake access come with staying at the resort, whether at a campsite, cabin, or lakefront cottage, and the beach is open sun-up to sun-down.

Sunset Park & Beach in Sturgeon Bay puts a roughly 500-foot sandy swimming beach on calm, protected bay water, with views of passing ships and the Sturgeon Bay Ship Yards across the way. The sheltered bay setting keeps the water noticeably warmer than the exposed Lake Michigan beaches nearby, which makes it one of the more comfortable places to swim in the area.

As a swimming hole it's fully developed rather than wild: monitored for water quality through the state's beach health program and backed by a 41-acre city park with playgrounds. There's no lifeguard on duty, and the water can still run cold on windy or overcast days, so the buddy system is the standard advice.

Sandy Beach is Lake Mills' bigger, busier official place to swim on Rock Lake, an 11.5-acre city park that pairs a sandy swimming beach with a boat launch, kayak rentals, volleyball courts, and picnic shelters. As swimming holes go it's fully outfitted, which is exactly the point.

Rock Lake itself is substantial, 1,365 acres and up to 60 feet deep, and the boat launch shares the park, so boat traffic is a real presence near the swim area. The city dropped the old gate fee in 2026 and replaced it with a $12 daily parking charge, with free permits for residents, so how much you pay depends mostly on where you live.

Bartel's Beach is more town swimming hole than wild one, a city sand beach on the east shore of Rock Lake just a short hop from downtown Lake Mills. The draw is the water: Rock Lake is spring-fed, and visitors consistently describe it as clear enough to see your toes, some of the cleanest lake water they've encountered.

The swim area is a buoyed rectangle, roughly 100 feet out and 400 feet wide by visitor estimates, which keeps you separated from the boats and jet skis running the rest of the lake. The bottom is sandy and deepens gradually, an easy entry for kids and casual swimmers. There's no lifeguard, though, so it's swim at your own risk.

Muskego Park has been Waukesha County's go-to since 1958, when it became the county's first regional park, and the swimming here is refreshingly simple: a sand beach with a roped-in shallow swim area on a quiet pond. There are no lifeguards, so you swim at your own risk, but the county tests the water every week for E. coli and blue-green algae and closes the beach if anything looks off.

It is the kind of swimming hole that works well for a low-key family day. Sixty acres of old-growth hardwood forest sit right behind the beach, with trails for hiking, biking, and horseback riding, so you can dry off and wander afterward. Swim season runs from the second Friday in May through the last Sunday in September.

South Beach Park is the flatter, easier of Port Washington's two Lake Michigan beaches, sitting on the south side of the harbor near the marina and downtown. The city's tourism site calls it peaceful, clean, and quiet, and that's the vibe: a low-key beach day on open Great Lakes water rather than a high-amenity resort scene.

It's also one of only two officially monitored swim beaches in town, with water quality checked under the Wisconsin DNR's Great Lakes BEACH Act program starting Memorial Day. As open big water rather than a sheltered swimming hole, conditions can turn, so use the city's real-time rip current watch tool before you swim. A 1,500-foot lakefront promenade connects the beach to Coal Dock Park.

Fireman's Park is Elkhart Lake's only public swimming beach, a fee-based village park owned by the local fire department and the one public swimming hole on a lake people genuinely rave about. Visitors consistently describe the water as clear to crystal clear near shore, shallow, with a sandy, rock-free bottom, which is about as good as lake swimming gets for young kids and casual swimmers.

The park runs seasonally from Memorial Day through Labor Day, 10am to 8pm, with a sand beach, concession stand, and grassy picnic grounds a short walk from the village center. It also hosts the community's traditional annual firemen's picnic, so it has real small-town Wisconsin charm baked in.

Silver Lake Beach is Portage's in-town place to swim, a city-run sandy beach on Silver Lake about a mile from downtown. You get a roped-off swim area, a water slide right in the water, and lifeguards on duty from Memorial Day through Labor Day, so it's built for families and casual swimmers rather than anyone chasing a hidden swimming hole.

The beach sits inside little Silver Lake Park, and the beach house covers the practical stuff with restrooms, changing rooms, and concessions. It's the kind of easy, supervised lake swimming that works well with kids in tow.

Wakanda Park is Menomonie's big north-side city park, and its designated beach on Lake Menomin is the closest thing to a hometown swimming hole here. The lake is an impounded stretch of the Red Cedar River, and the beach sits in a fully developed park alongside a boat launch, ballfields, disc golf, a nature trail, and even the county historical museum.

Be honest with yourself about the water, though. The Wisconsin DNR classifies Lake Menomin as impaired with a Poor recreation rating because of frequent summer blue-green algal blooms, and city crews have had to physically clear algae off this beach in the past. Check for posted bloom advisories before anyone gets in, especially in late summer.

North Beach sits at the bottom of a bluff below Upper Lake Park, an expanse of Lake Michigan sand reached by a straight run of 83 steps down the bluff face. From the beach you get views of Port Washington's 1935 Art Deco breakwater lighthouse, and people genuinely do swim here, at this beach and at South Beach nearby.

This is open Great Lake water, not a sheltered swimming hole, and the city takes that seriously. After a rip current drowning here in 2012, Port Washington worked with UW-Madison researchers to install a BLINK warning kiosk that shows red, yellow, or green based on real-time current sensors and weather data. Check it before anyone gets wet, even knee-high water here can pull a strong swimmer out.

Fireman's Park Beach in Verona is a former limestone quarry turned town swimming hole, known locally as Quarry Lake. The city rebuilt it with a big accessibility renovation in 2019, adding graded terraces, a sunbathing deck along the shoreline, and an ADA ramp up to the rest of the park.

Swimming stays inside a roped-off, lifeguarded zone, and the county health department actually monitors the water, logging acceptable results and a near-shore temperature of 83 degrees on a July check. Between the certified lifeguards and the free splash pad next door, this one is genuinely built for families.

Lake Lenwood is a 20-acre spring-fed glacial lake in rural Washington County near West Bend, ringed by a privately owned campground that opens its beach to the public from Memorial Day through Labor Day for a daily admission fee. As a swimming hole it is small and old-fashioned in the best way, with a floating raft to swim out to and a pier with a diving board.

The lake is spring-fed, which is typical of the cooler, clearer kettle lakes left behind by glaciers in this part of Wisconsin, though nobody publishes official clarity or depth figures for it. Reviews describe a quiet, family-oriented campground. No lifeguard is mentioned anywhere, and the raft and diving board imply deeper water nearby, so supervise kids closely.

Crystal Lake Park is Beaver Dam's compact hometown swimming hole: a small spring-fed lake, about 8 acres and 9 feet at its deepest, created by a dam and ringed by 43 acres of city parkland. A natural spring pushes roughly 60,000 gallons of water per hour right into the beach area, which keeps the swimming cool through the summer.

The city runs a free, lifeguarded sandy beach here, with guards on duty 1pm to 5pm daily from June 1 through August 16. With a playground next to the sand and a rule that kids 12 and under need an adult along, it's clearly set up as a family swim spot.

Silver Lake Beach is the swimming beach inside Silver Lake Park, a 260-acre Kenosha County park in southeastern Wisconsin. It is a lifeguard-supervised, sandy freshwater swimming hole on a natural inland lake, with a bathhouse and concession stand right at the beach, which makes Silver Lake one of the easier lakes to swim in around Kenosha County.

Lifeguards are on duty 10 am to 6 pm through the season, and the whole setup leans family: designated swim area, playground nearby, and a park around it with disc golf, ball fields, and more than 10 miles of trails. One quirk worth knowing, lifeguards are sometimes pulled during poor air quality days, and the beach stays open for swim-at-your-own-risk use when that happens.

Sheboygan turned a flooded limestone quarry into one of the most distinctive places to swim in the region. The spring-fed quarry pond inside Jaycee Quarry Park runs as a paid summer attraction, with a sandy beach, a floating inflatable obstacle course, and water that visitors describe as noticeably warmer and clearer than Lake Michigan just down the road.

This man-made swimming hole splits neatly into two zones: a shallow, sandy beach area for families and casual swimmers, and a deeper section for the aqua park, where you need to be a proficient swimmer and wear the provided Coast Guard-approved life jacket. Bring water shoes, the inflatables get slippery and there can be sharp rocks underfoot.

Fremont Public Beach is a low-key village-run swimming hole on Partridge Lake, a wide backwater of the Wolf River about a mile west of downtown Fremont. The draw is the sand: roughly a quarter mile of white sand beach suited to sunbathing, wading, and casual family swimming rather than anything deep or dramatic.

There's no lifeguard, so you're on your own for supervision, and the beach took a beating in a recent record flood before the village repaired and reopened it. It's a simple, free summer spot, which is exactly what a lot of families want.

Pike Lake is a 522-acre spring-fed kettle lake carved out by glaciers, sitting inside the Pike Lake Unit of Kettle Moraine State Forest near Hartford. The DNR runs a designated beach here, which makes this spring-fed swimming hole a fully sanctioned lake to swim in, with camping, hiking, and fishing all in the same forest.

The beach is unguarded, so you are on your own for supervision, but the park office rents a beach wheelchair, a good sign of a gradual, accessible entry. The forest is open 6am to 11pm year-round, so early swims are on the table.

Leonard J. Yahr County Park sits on Erler Lake just outside West Bend, on land the Yahr family farmed for decades before donating it to Washington County. It holds one of only three designated swimming beaches in the entire county park system, which makes it a bit of a local prize.

The beach itself is a small, calm, family-oriented spot rather than a deep-water swimming hole, no waterfalls, no cliffs, no current, just a sandy shoreline shared with a fishing pier and a carry-in boat launch. The park map is blunt about the one catch: swim at your own risk, no lifeguard on duty.

Lake Superior has a reputation for being brutally cold, and it mostly earns it, but Little Sand Bay is the exception that makes the drive worth it. The National Park Service names this beach as one of its three favorite places to swim in all of Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, and the reason is simple: the bay is shallow and protected, so on hot summer days the water can actually warm into the 70s. That makes it one of the most swimmable spots on the mainland.

The swimming hole itself is an easy sand beach with parking lots sitting right next to the water, so there is no trek involved. Just know that there are no lifeguards anywhere in the lakeshore, and swimming is prohibited within 100 feet of the harbor, docks, and moored boats. Time your visit for a genuinely hot stretch of summer and you get the rare treat of a comfortable swim in Lake Superior.

South Park Beach is Waupaca's city-run beach on Shadow Lake, part of the Chain O'Lakes, and it is unusually well equipped for a small town swimming hole. Lifeguards staff the sand beach from Memorial Day weekend through late August, there is a diving dock with slides out in the deeper water, and a separate kiddie dock keeps the little ones in their own zone.

Access to the deep water and diving dock is earned: swimmers have to pass a front-crawl proficiency test, and flotation devices are banned in the deep section. Outside staffed hours you can still swim within park hours at your own risk. The park around it, wedged between Mirror Lake and Shadow Lake, adds shelters, playgrounds, and trails to make a day of it.

City Beach Park is Oconomowoc's main public beach, sitting right in downtown on the shore of Lac La Belle. This is a fully managed swimming hole: lifeguards supervise a designated swim area during posted hours, and the rules run tight, no running, splashing, pushing, or dunking, with adults required to stay within arm's reach of kids 5 and under.

That structure is the point. There's a designated shallow section for little ones, watercraft rentals right at the beach, and a boat launch next door, making it an easy in-town lake to swim in from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. Entry works on a beach band system rather than a parking fee.

Black River Beach is North La Crosse's neighborhood swimming hole, a city-owned river beach on the Black River right where it meets the Mississippi backwaters. It sits a few steps from the Black River Beach Neighborhood Center on Rose Street, so it's about as easy to reach as river swimming gets.

Just know what you're getting: this is informal, unguarded river swimming, not a groomed swim area. The city's own safety guidance warns about currents, unclear water, underwater vegetation and rocks, passing watercraft including river barges, and depths that change without warning. Treat it like the natural river it is.

SARA Park is Tomahawk's main swimming hole, a roughly 130 acre city recreation complex just west of downtown where the Wisconsin River widens into the Lake Mohawksin impoundment. The city maintains an official family friendly swim beach here, backed up by changing rooms, showers, and restrooms next to the picnic area.

The swimming is on flat reservoir water rather than moving river current, which favors families. Fair warning on what you will see, or rather will not: the Wisconsin DNR rates Lake Mohawksin's water clarity as low, so you cannot judge depth or drop offs by eye, and no source confirms lifeguards, so keep kids close.

Selner Park is Kewaunee's city beach, a big stretch of sand on Lake Michigan just south of downtown with the Pierhead Lighthouse in view across the water. It's a classic family Great Lakes beach rather than a hidden swimming hole: casual wading and swimming, sandcastles, and beach volleyball, with a shaded picnic area and boardwalk behind the sand.

The water quality is tested weekly from late May through September 30, which is effectively the swim season here. Advisories do happen, the beach failed the E. coli standard on at least one recent test date, so it's worth checking the current status before you go.

Mauthe Lake Beach is one of three designated swimming beaches in the Northern Unit of Kettle Moraine State Forest, set on a 70-acre glacial lake surrounded by the kettles, kames, and eskers the retreating glaciers left behind. Swimming stays inside a roped, buoy-marked area, and the DNR tests the water regularly from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

It's a family-oriented lake beach rather than a backcountry swimming hole, with a playground for young kids at the south beach area. One thing worth knowing before you wade out: the lakebed is roughly two-thirds muck and one-third sand, so expect softer footing than a classic sand-bottom beach, and note there are no lifeguards.

Fox Brook Park turned a former gravel pit into an easy suburban swimming hole, a man-made lake with a designated county-run beach on Brookfield's side of the Milwaukee metro. It is a lounge-and-swim kind of lake day, with self-serve kayak and paddleboard rentals and even scuba diving in the deeper water.

And there is deeper water. A firsthand account puts the lake at about 30 feet at its deepest point, so keep kids near the shoreline. A paved one-mile loop trail circles the water through 178 acres of protected wetland if you want a stroll between swims.

Hayward City Beach is the town of Hayward's official swimming hole, a small municipal beach on Lake Hayward, the in-town widening of the Namekagon River behind the dam. It is a park setting with a playground and picnic area, and the swim area is marked off by barrels right off the sand, which keeps things simple: casual family swimming close to shore.

The setup is intentionally low-key. There is no lifeguard, so you swim at your own risk, flotation devices are not allowed inside the marked area, and posted rules require kids under 12 to be accompanied by an adult. Come between Memorial Day and Labor Day, when the beach runs daily from 10 in the morning to 8 at night.

Highland Ridge Campground sits inside the Corps of Engineers' Eau Galle Recreation Area, where the 150-acre Eau Galle Reservoir doubles as the local swimming hole. The sandy designated beach is at the Main Day Use Area, a short drive from the campground itself, tucked into a heavily wooded, hilly landscape of steep bluffs about 4 miles south of I-94.

Because the lake is closed to gasoline-powered boats, the water stays calm and wake-free, and visitors call it a great beach for kids, one reviewer has been bringing kids and now grandkids for over 30 years. The DNR does note the lake's water clarity is low, so expect a swim that feels better than it looks.

Ray's Beach is a public sandy swimming beach on the south shore of Lake Wissota, the big Chippewa River reservoir just outside Chippewa Falls. It is a developed day-use swimming hole rather than a hidden one, sitting right off County Highway X in the Town of Lafayette, recently redeveloped with accessible pathways and with a couple of supper clubs across the road when you are done swimming.

Local tourism sources describe the calm setting as ideal for families, and the swimming is classic casual lake stuff, a maintained sandy beach for wading, swimming, and sunbathing. There are no lifeguards on duty and no roped-off shallow area is documented, so keep an eye on the kids. There is no admission fee either, though the town accepts donations to fund beach upkeep.

Wazee Lake is what became of a taconite mine east of Black River Falls after the pit closed in 1983 and groundwater slowly filled it. The result is Wisconsin's deepest inland lake, about 355 feet at its deepest, and by most accounts its clearest, with summer visibility averaging 30 to 40 feet. Scuba divers treat it as a top Midwest destination, but Jackson County also maintains a designated beach, making this flooded quarry one of the more distinctive swimming holes in the state.

The beach gives you a shallower, developed spot to swim that is kept separate from the dive zones. Respect the boundary, though. Beyond the marked swim area the old mine walls drop off steeply and submerged mining infrastructure remains underwater, and no lifeguard presence is confirmed, so keep kids inside the beach area.

Prescott Beach, officially the City of Prescott's City Beach, is a maintained municipal sand beach on the St. Croix River just north of the Highway 10 bridge, close to where the St. Croix meets the Mississippi. This is a proper swimming hole with a bathhouse and restrooms rather than an informal river pull-off, and the city promotes it as a family summer destination at Prescott's meet-at-the-river confluence point.

The sand gives you direct access to the wide, pooled Lake St. Croix section of the river, a slow-moving stretch that is part of the National Park Service's St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. The classic day here is swimming and wading, building sandcastles, and watching boats pass at the confluence, and that boat traffic is worth remembering, since the beach sits right on an active river channel and no lifeguard information is published.

Grant Park's beach is a classic Milwaukee County swimming hole on Lake Michigan, a sandy stretch below the park's wooded bluffs that gets mechanically combed every week. The water runs cold even in summer, which regulars will tell you is just part of swimming in the big lake.

Visitors consistently mention a rocky bottom for the first 15 to 20 feet from shore before it turns to sand, so pack water shoes. With a beach house, a seasonal grill, and a volleyball crowd, this is a developed family beach day rather than a hidden cove, and the Seven Bridges Trail is right there when you are done swimming.

Two Lakes Campground sits on a strip of land between Lake Owen and Bass Lake in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest near Drummond, and it comes with a swimming hole on each side. The campground maintains two designated sandy beaches, one per lake, so campers can swim right from camp and fish off the shared pier in between.

The two lakes have distinctly different personalities. Lake Owen is the big one, open to motorboats and water skiing near its swim beach, while Bass Lake bans motors entirely and gets described by campers as serene and gorgeous. Camper reviews call this a great family campsite, and summer weekends fill fast, so spring and fall are the quiet windows.

Carol Beach, also called Prairie Shores Beach, is the largest of five small village-managed Lake Michigan beaches strung along Lakeshore Drive in Pleasant Prairie, just south of Kenosha. Locals describe it as a quiet, family- and pet-friendly stretch of sand, the kind of low-key swimming hole you go to when you want the big lake without the big-beach crowds.

Swimming here is open-water Lake Michigan off a sandy shore in a residential neighborhood, with the village running water quality monitoring from May through September. There are no amenities on-site, the nearest gas station is about 2.5 miles away, so pack everything in. Check the weather before you go and stay alert to changing lake conditions.

Friendly Valley Beach is one of the Bayfield Peninsula's better-kept places to swim: a long, sandy public beach on Lake Superior between Washburn and Bayfield, monitored for water quality by Bayfield County and quieter than the beaches closer to Bayfield itself. The views run out toward Madeline Island and Long Island, and the shoreline stays relatively undeveloped.

The reason families come here specifically is the water. Multiple sources describe it staying shallow for a considerable distance from shore, which means long stretches of wading, and running warmer and calmer than the neighboring beaches. This is still Lake Superior, though, and it can turn cold and choppy quickly, and there is no lifeguard, so keep young kids under active supervision.

Lions Beach is Janesville's free city-run swimming hole, a sandy roped-off swim area on 15-acre Kiwanis Pond in the Palmer Park and Lions Park area on the east side of town. It is built for casual, low-key family swimming, with picnic areas, a pavilion, and a non-motorized boat launch rounding out the park.

There is no lifeguard, and everyone has to stay inside the marked swim zone. One quirk visitors mention consistently: the resident geese treat the beach as their own, so expect company on the sand.

Arrowhead Beach is one of the swim spots on Lake Arrowhead, a 300-acre private lake at the heart of the Lake Arrowhead golf and residential community just south of Nekoosa. Fair warning up front, this is a private lake to swim in, managed by the Lake Arrowhead Association for property owners, members, and guests rather than the general public.

If you have access, it's a well-set-up swimming hole. The Association runs four lakeside 'Lake Centers' with designated swim areas, each paired with a covered pavilion, showers, and restrooms, and the lake also supports boating, waterskiing, and fishing for bluegill, perch, bass, northern pike, and walleye.

Lake Delton Public Beach is the free, no-frills counterpoint to the waterparks that surround it in the Wisconsin Dells area. The Village of Lake Delton runs it as an official swim beach on the man-made lake, which was dammed back in 1926-1927 purely for recreation, so swimming has always been the point here.

Just know what you're getting: this is a casual, family-oriented lake beach with no lifeguard on duty, and the village's own signs say swim at your own risk. It's a convenient place to swim from mid-May through mid-September without paying resort prices.

North Trout Lake Campground puts you on the northeast shore of Trout Lake, a roughly 3,800-acre northwoods lake in the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest, about 3.5 miles south of Boulder Junction. The small sandy beach at the south end of the campground is a casual, campground-adjacent place to swim, and both the DNR and Travel Wisconsin flat-out call the lake good swimming.

The water lives up to the name of the region: a 2024 trail guide describes crystal-clear water over a bottom of sand, gravel, and rock with a little muck mixed in. The 48-site rustic campground sits among tall red and white pines, so this is a swim-where-you-camp spot more than a destination swimming hole.

Eau Galle Reservoir, also called Lake Eau Galle, is a Corps of Engineers flood-control lake in the wooded hills just south of Spring Valley, Wisconsin, about 50 miles east of the Twin Cities. The Main Day Use Area holds the swimming hole: a large designated sandy beach with a marked swim perimeter, where fishing is banned inside the swim zone for safety.

The reservoir is shallow, about 18 feet at its deepest, and the Wisconsin DNR rates its water clarity as low, so expect murky water where you cannot see the bottom even in the shallows. The upside is quiet water. Only non-gasoline boats are allowed and the whole lake is a no-wake zone, so the swim area never deals with motorboat traffic. One visitor puts the lake at its best through early July.

Ellison Bay Community Park & Beach is the small-town swimming hole at the quiet northern end of Door County, run by the Town of Liberty Grove on an arm of Green Bay. The beach is shallow and sandy with about 1,000 feet of shoreline, so getting in is easy, and it's monitored as a public swimming beach with routine water-quality testing.

The water stays cold even in midsummer, which multiple sources are quick to point out, and there's no lifeguard on duty. Still, the calm bay water and easy entry make it a genuinely good spot for families with young kids, as long as someone's watching closely.

Frost Woods Beach is a small neighborhood swimming hole on Lake Monona's southeastern shore, a narrow strip of shoreline park along Winnequah Road in Monona. Its biggest asset is oversight: it is one of roughly two dozen Madison-area beaches actively tested for E. coli and blue-green algae by Public Health Madison & Dane County, and it was listed as Open in the department's current beach report.

Keep expectations modest, though. There is no lifeguard, no restrooms, and swimming is at your own risk, so this reads as a quick local dip rather than a destination beach day. Check the county's beach status before you go, since algae conditions can change quickly with waves and wind.

Plamann Park Lake is a small man-made swimming pond inside Outagamie County's 257-acre park on the edge of Appleton, and it is one of the more kid-friendly places to swim in the area. Lifeguards are on duty during all open hours, the sand beach offers shallow wading, and there are diving boards plus a floating Wibit inflatable obstacle course with a flip pillow, trampoline, and 7-foot climbing wall in its own roped-off section.

It leans more managed swim facility than wild swimming hole, but the water itself is a natural freshwater pond, not a chlorinated pool. Swimmers have to pass a lifeguard-administered front-crawl test before using the deep water and diving boards, and only Coast Guard-approved flotation devices are allowed, so bring a proper vest for non-swimmers. The season runs early June through late August.

Maple Lake Public Beach is the kind of small, in town swimming hole you walk to after lunch. It sits at the north end of Cy Williams Park within walking distance of downtown Three Lakes, on a small, sheltered lake where the water runs calm and a little warmer than the region's big lakes, according to a first hand travel write up.

A paddling guide confirms the lake stays flat with no significant current, so this is low key, easy swimming rather than a big water outing. There are no lifeguards on duty per one listing, so keep kids in sight, but the calm, sheltered conditions here are about as gentle as the Northwoods offers. June through August is the recommended window.

Brandy Lake Park is co owned by the towns of Woodruff and Arbor Vitae, giving both communities a convenient lake to swim in near Woodruff and Minocqua. Its swimming hole credentials are official: a designated beach with a swimming pier, a changing house, and restrooms right at the water, connected by a paved walkway to a big inland recreation complex of ballfields, courts, and disc golf.

The developed setup is clearly geared toward families and casual swimmers, and general park and beach use is free. No source confirmed a lifeguard or a roped shallow zone, though, so plan on watching your own swimmers.

Amery Swimming Beach is the City of Amery's official public beach, sitting in South Twin Park on South Twin Lake within walking distance of downtown. Amery calls itself the City of Lakes, and this free municipal swimming hole is the easiest way to get in the water close to town.

This is open-water lake swimming off a designated beach, with a shelter, playground, and pier in the surrounding park. The Polk County Health Department tests the water weekly through Labor Day, and occasional bacteria advisories get posted and then lifted once samples come back clean, which tells you this is a routinely monitored, actively used spot rather than an obscure one. There is no lifeguard, so the city is upfront that swimming is at your own risk.

Red Sands Beach is one of two designated swim beaches on Lake Wazeecha, the 148-acre lake at the center of Wood County's 332-acre South Wood County Park near Wisconsin Rapids. It's a developed, sand-bottomed county beach, a dependable swimming hole for general family lake swimming, with the park's campground loops, picnic areas, and a paved trail ringing the lake around it.

This is an active lake, not a quiet one. Water skiing, tubing, and paddling all happen here, and the beach is notable enough that the county closes it for about a week each July to host the Wisconsin State Water Ski Show Tournament.

Sandy Beach Lake earns its name honestly. The lakebed is roughly 98 percent sand and 2 percent gravel, with no rock or muck anywhere, and the water at the designated swim beach is described as clear with a sandy bottom. At about 110 acres and a maximum depth around 13 feet, it is a shallow, warm natured lake to swim in, which is exactly why families favor it.

The beach and picnic area sit next to a rustic 33 site Wisconsin DNR campground in the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest, and importantly, the swim area is separate from the boat landing, so swimmers stay clear of launching watercraft. There is no lifeguard mentioned in any source, so supervision is on you, but this is a ready made swimming hole for anyone camping here.

North Beach is the North Shore swim beach at Devil's Lake State Park, one of two official beaches on this 360-acre glacial lake ringed by 500-foot quartzite bluffs. As swimming holes go it's a dramatic one, formed roughly 12,000 years ago when glacial moraines plugged both ends of an ancient river gorge.

The swimming itself is easy: a maintained sand beach with gradual entry, an accessible beach mat, and even a loaner beach wheelchair available from the North Shore Chateau. There are no lifeguards at either Devil's Lake beach though, so you're on your own in the water, and the North Shore lot fills first on summer weekends.

Cox Hollow Lake Beach is one of two places to swim inside Governor Dodge State Park, a sandy DNR-maintained beach on a small man-made lake with very clear water, according to a first-hand paddling account. The setting is a big part of the draw: wooded shoreline dotted with boulders, the Pine Cliff bluff rising across the water, and herons, eagles, and painted turtles working the lake.

The catch is that everybody knows about it. The lot sits back from the shoreline, so you carry your gear a few minutes down to the sand, and the beach gets very crowded in season. No lifeguard here, so families supervise themselves.

Lake Andrea is a 110-acre spring-fed lake built at the center of Prairie Springs Park in Pleasant Prairie, and its beach is one of the most dependable swimming holes in the area. Swimming happens in a roped-off area with lifeguards on duty during posted hours, which is rarer than you would think for a lake beach.

There is plenty to do beyond the swim zone, with kayaks and paddleboards for rent right on the beach at Froggy's Landing and a Wibit floating obstacle course open daily in season. A 2.3-mile paved trail loops the lake if you want to dry off with a walk.

Little Star Beach is a small town run swimming hole on Little Star Lake, part of the Manitowish Waters chain of ten interconnected lakes in Wisconsin's Northwoods. The Town of Manitowish Waters maintains it under an agreement with the Wisconsin DNR, and the setup is simple and pleasant: a sand beach with a roped and buoyed swim area, plus basic picnic facilities.

The calm, undeveloped lake setting suits families and casual swimmers more than crowds, and the marked swim area helps keep younger swimmers contained. One listing reports no lifeguard on duty, so plan to do the watching yourself.

Buck Lake Beach anchors Almon County Park about 5 miles south of Rhinelander, and the county calls this sandy swimming hole one of the area's most popular places to swim. The lake is small, roughly 59 to 60 acres, and locals describe the water as clean. One regular put it plainly: the water is quite clean and not too yucky, which is about the highest praise a Wisconsin lake gets.

The beach has a gentle, shallow entry that suits all ages, and stronger swimmers can head out to a sandbar reachable from shore. Just know there is a rock pile in the lake within swimming distance and no confirmed lifeguard, so keep an eye on kids once they get past the shallows. The old growth forest, bog boardwalk, and lakeshore trail make it easy to fill a whole day.

White Lake Beach sits inside White Lake Park, a free community park on the shore of White Lake in Langlade County. The lake itself is a solid one, 153 acres and up to 42 feet deep, and the park gives you a proper swimming hole setup with a designated sand beach and a swim raft marking the swimming area.

This is casual, family-style lake swimming rather than anything adventurous. The park doubles as the village's all-purpose lakefront, so you'll share it with people launching boats and fishing, but the swim zone itself is a straightforward sandy spot to cool off.

Eagle River City Beach sits on Silver Lake just outside downtown Eagle River, and it is about as easy as Northwoods lake swimming gets. The sandy swim area deepens gradually and is enclosed by piers, which is exactly the setup you want with young kids, and lifeguards are on duty at scheduled times through the summer.

This is a proper city run beach rather than a hidden swimming hole. The state monitors the water quality seasonally, and the city runs its summer swim lessons here for both children and adults. The sand strip itself is fairly narrow, roughly 10 feet wide, so it stays cozy rather than sprawling.

Airport Beach is a small sandy swimming hole tucked into the Mississippi River backwaters near La Crosse Municipal Airport on French Island. It's low-key, but it's legitimate, one of just eight beaches La Crosse County officially monitors for swimming water quality every summer.

Reviewers describe shallow, sandy-bottomed water that works well for families, kids, and dogs, with calm backwater channels instead of open-river current. You can drive right down to the shoreline, and parking stays easy even in summer.

Twin Valley Lake Beach is one of two developed swim beaches inside Governor Dodge State Park, set on a dammed lake amid the oak-hickory forest and sandstone bluffs of Wisconsin's Driftless Area. This is a managed DNR beach rather than a wild swimming hole, which means a proper designated swim area with a bathhouse right at the sand, plus an ADA-accessible kayak launch.

The beach is open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. but unguarded, so it suits confident swimmers and families willing to keep an eye on their own kids. You will need a Wisconsin state park vehicle sticker to get in, and peak season lines up with the Memorial Day through Labor Day window when the park's boat and canoe rentals run daily.

Lower Spring Lake Beach is Palmyra's easygoing local swimming hole, a compact one-acre village park with a sand beach on Spring Lake, about 0.4 miles from the town center. It comes with a playground and a grill, and the whole thing feels like the neighborhood lake spot it is, tucked among residential streets on Anemone Street.

The village posts lifeguards on weekends from 10am to 4pm, June through Labor Day, with weekday staffed hours posted by Parks and Recreation; outside those windows it is explicitly swim at your own risk. Entry is free when no guard is on duty. One thing to check before wading in: the village warns about blue-green algae blooms, so skip it if the water looks opaque or pea-soup colored or has dark floating mats.

Lake O' the Dalles is a 23-acre lake tucked inside Interstate State Park, Wisconsin's oldest state park, right alongside the dramatic Dalles gorge of the St. Croix River. The DNR designates a swimming beach with a beach house on the lake, and that matters here, because swimming in the adjacent river is restricted and cliff jumping is banned entirely, so the lake is the sanctioned swimming hole.

The setting is hard to beat, with a one-mile trail looping the lake and connecting the beach to a picnic area and an accessible fishing pier, all in the shadow of ancient volcanic rock. One thing worth knowing before you wade in: the DNR warns that water depth can change abruptly, and there are no lifeguards, so cautious wading beats charging in.

Summit Lake Public Beach is a straightforward county-park swimming hole about 20 miles north of Antigo, set on Summit Lake, a 279-acre drainage lake reaching 29 feet deep in far northern Langlade County. The park gives you a sandy beach with a roped-off swim area, and fishing is banned inside the ropes, so the swim zone stays separated from the anglers and boat traffic elsewhere on the shore.

It's a classic northern Wisconsin lake to swim in, with picnic tables, a playground, and a boat launch rounding out the park. No lifeguard here, so swimming is at your own risk.

Lake Kegonsa State Park Beach gives you a wide, sandy stretch of shoreline on a roughly 3,200-acre lake near Stoughton, with a bathhouse, concessions, picnic shelters, and even a separate dog swimming beach with its own shallow area and wooden jetty. As a well-equipped lake to swim in, it is hard to beat in the Madison area.

The honest caveat is water quality. Clarity swings year to year, and the lake has a documented history of blue-green algae blooms and E. coli spikes that close the beach, 11 times in 2019 alone. On a good day it is a great swim; just check the current beach status before you load up the car.

Pemble's Access is a small carry-in access run by the Town of Troy on the wide, lake-like stretch of the St. Croix River a few miles from River Falls, Wisconsin. One visitor called it one of the nicest little hidden beaches on the Saint Croix, with the honest caveat that it is very small.

You reach it down a dead-end gated road off Glenmont Road that drops down a hill to a sandy beach. This unguarded swimming hole suits casual wading, sunbathing, and swimming rather than distance swims, and since there is no lifeguard, you are on your own for judging current and depth. Depth can drop off quickly away from shore and boats pass nearby in season, so watch kids closely.