The largest freshwater system in the world by area, the Great Lakes border eight American states and one Canadian province. Like inland seas, Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario and Superior are subject to wind-whipped waves and strong currents and are so big that rarely can you see across them.
In summer, beach lovers flock to their shores in cities from Milwaukee to Toronto, at parks like Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan, and along more obscure strands.
Swimming in the lakes is usually bracing, best appreciated during the dog days of summer. While these freshwater shores come rocky, cliff-walled, dune-lined and wetland-filled, the following six destinations offer some of the best sandy stretches for families. (Hotel rates reflect August stays and are subject to change.)
Lake Erie
Presque Isle, Erie, Pa.
Pennsylvania doesn’t claim much Great Lakes coastline but what it has at Presque Isle State Park (free), in Erie, is distinctive: a peninsula with seven miles of beach that curves out into the lake to create the city’s harbor (Presque is French for “almost”; the park’s name means “almost an isle”). The peninsula is also a National Natural Landmark, a National Park Service program that recognizes unique biological and geologic features.
Numbered 1 through 11, Presque Isle’s swimming beaches come in a variety of personalities. Beach 7, also known as Waterworks Beach, has a ramp into the water and beach wheelchairs to lend. On the bay side, Beach 11, Kohler Beach, is popular with families for its calm, shallow water. Beach 6, Lyons Beach, attracts sand volleyball players. Beaches 9 (Pine Tree) and 10 (Budny) are quieter.
“Some people just like to come out here for a drive,” said Christine Temple, a spokeswoman for the city tourism office VisitErie, of the 13-mile road that loops around the park. “You don’t feel like you’re in the city.”
Where to stay: The Courtyard Erie Bayfront offers lake views, pools and waterfront dining (rooms from $184).
Lake Huron
Saugeen Beach, Bruce Peninsula, Ontario
On Lake Huron’s eastern coast, less than three hours northwest of Toronto, Saugeen Beach has nearly seven miles of sandy shores on the southern end of the Bruce Peninsula separating Lake Huron from the lake’s island-filled Georgian Bay. Originally named Sauble by French explorers for the sandy river that empties into the lake at nearby Sauble Falls, the beach attracts kiteboarders, surfers, paddle boarders and sand sculptors (the Sandfest festival is held each August).
April Brown, a co-owner of the June Motel, notes that there’s “a special sunset culture, where everyone staying here or who has a cottage wanders down for sunset.”
Family-friendly diversions include arcades, mini-golf and an aerial adventure park with a ropes course and climbing wall.
Where to stay: The June Motel is a midcentury-modern hotel updated by Ms. Brown and her business partner, Sarah Sklash, whose 2020 renovation was the subject of the Netflix series “Motel Makeover.” Amenities include a poolside restaurant (rooms from 495 Canadian dollars, or about $358).
Lake Michigan
Nicolet Beach, Door County, Wisconsin
The arm of eastern Wisconsin that juts into Lake Michigan is largely occupied by Door County, with 300 miles of shoreline and 55 beaches. The coast offers stretches with wave-smoothed rocks, trails that follow limestone ledges, and sandy plots in waterfront towns.
On the Green Bay side of Door County, in Peninsula State Park (admission from $13), Nicolet Beach is a sandy stretch on Nicolet Bay with paddle board, canoe and kayak rentals (from $22 an hour). Rental bikes (from $16) connect visitors to Sunset Trail, which follows the shore and reaches a nature center and 19th-century lighthouse, among other attractions.
Quieter Whitefish Dunes State Park, on the opposite side of the peninsula, has a mile and a half of white-sand beach, and hiking trails through woods (admission, from $13).
Where to stay: Loma Cottages occupies 10 acres on a former farmstead in Egg Harbor, with two saunas, pickleball courts and six four-to-10-guest cottages (from $350).
Oval Beach, Saugatuck, Mich.
On the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, about two hours northeast of Chicago, the vacation town of Saugatuck lies behind dunes that form some of the region’s most popular beaches. Among six beaches along 12 miles of shore, Oval Beach is the most family-friendly, with bathrooms, a concession stand, and beach and floating wheelchairs. Visitors can drive and park at the beach ($15 in summer) or take the Interurban bus from downtown ($1), but the most gleeful way to get there is on foot, climbing the 302-step staircase up Mount Baldhead and running down the backside through the dunes.
The Kalamazoo River flows to Lake Michigan through downtown Saugatuck, offering more water-play options, including kayaking (hourly rentals start at $25 at Third Coast Paddling) and touring in a vintage motorboat (from $139 at Retro Boat Rentals).
Where to stay: Closest to Oval Beach, BeachWay Resort & Hotel features a pool and suites with kitchenettes (rooms from $225). The renovated midcentury motel Starlite Resort offers a pool, fire pits and yard games (from $159).
Lake Ontario
Sandbanks Provincial Park, Prince Edward County, Ontario
At Sandbanks Provincial Park in Prince Edward County, two and a half hours from Toronto, more than 12,000 years of wind and waves have created a sandbar that sealed off two former Lake Ontario bays, creating dual lakes with the world’s largest freshwater barrier dune system of its kind.
Outlet Beach, popular with families for its shallow water and gradual incline, is the neck between Lake Ontario and East Lake, while the longer Lakeshore Beach lies between Ontario and West Lake. Steeper Dunes Beach offers access to West Lake. Six trails invite parkgoers to explore the woods.
Sandbanks requires day-use reservations, available five days in advance (21 dollars a vehicle).
The park is a key attraction in Prince Edward County, known for its wineries, farm-to-table culinary scene, arty small towns and family-focused attractions, including a 1954 drive-in movie theater and an alpaca farm.
Where to stay: Airbnbs and cottage rentals abound. The waterfront cottages at the Birch on West Lake are walking distance to the town of Wellington (from 275 dollars).
Lake Superior
Bayfield Peninsula and the Apostle Islands, Wisconsin
The Bayfield Peninsula of northern Wisconsin, roughly 70 miles east of Duluth, Minn., offers some of the most inviting beaches on Lake Superior, the deepest, coldest and most forbidding of the Great Lakes. Most travelers come to kayak and island-hop among the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, a chain of 21 isles and 12 miles of mainland shore.
Summer visitors may be tempted to dip a toe in Superior, starting at Bayview Beach just south of the town of Bayfield. A nearly four-mile walk along the beach with inviting shallows reaches Friendly Valley Beach. Seven miles north of Bayfield, the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa manages the first Native American national park, Frog Bay Tribal National Park, featuring a quarter-mile hike to the sandy shore with views of five Apostles.
Twenty-five-minute ferry rides from Bayfield reach the most accessible of the Apostles, Madeline Island ($21 an adult, cars from $38 round-trip). There, Big Bay State Park and nearby Big Bay Town Park offer access to a 1.5-mile sand spit and Big Bay Lagoon.
Where to stay: Woodside Cottages of Bayfield offers cozy cabins paneled in knotty pine with fireplaces and kitchens (from $175).
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