Best Beaches In Chicago Near Me

4worldlovers:
To ensure a safe water experience for everyone, please follow these measures when visiting a beach:

Respect the Flag, stay out of the water if the flag is red.

Don’t swim in non-swimming areas. Look for stencils that indicate “no swimming” and “no diving.”

Keep your children safe. Use a buddy system and stay near your kids when they’re in the water.

If you see someone in trouble, call for help (lifeguards or 911).

Only Coast Guard approved personal flotation devices (PFDs) are permitted. Children wearing PFDs should have an adult with them in the water.

Grill in designated areas only and dispose of coals in red barrels.

Keep accessible beach walks clear. No bicycling, skateboarding or rollerblading is permitted in these areas.

Swim status is communicated through a flag system at each beach and here on this website.

A green flag means that there are no swimming restrictions, swimming is permitted.

A yellow flag means that a swim advisory is in place: swimming is allowed but caution is advised.

A red flag means that a swim ban is in place, swimming is not allowed. Conditions do not meet safe swimming standards.

Swim bans and advisories may be implemented based on weather conditions such as lightning or high winds, surf conditions such as high waves, or water quality conditions. Please be aware of the current swim status when you go to the beach, and follow all instructions from lifeguards. Swim status may change throughout the day as water and weather condItions change.

The Chicago Park District samples the beaches seven days a week starting the Friday of Memorial Day weekend until Labor Day. Chicago Park District Lab Sample Collectors sample between sunrise and 8:30 am.

The Chicago Park District and the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health have partnered to expand the water quality testing program to utilize a new Rapid Testing method developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The Rapid Testing method measures levels of bacterial DNA in beach water. The traditional Culture Based method provides results after 18-24 hours, but the Rapid Test provides results within 3-4 hours. The Chicago Park District uses results of the Rapid Test to notify the public when the risk is elevated for developing water-borne illness.

The Chicago Park District tests the water for Enterococci bacteria. Enterococci is not harmful itself and is naturally occurring in the environment. However, this bacteria is an indicator of the presence of other pathogens that could make you sick. US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) beach policy recommends notifying the public when Enterococci bacteria levels are above the federal water quality Beach Action Value (BAV), which is 1000 CCE. This standard is used at beaches throughout the Great Lakes region.

If a water sample exceeds 1000 CCE of Enterococci bacteria, the Chicago Park District will issue a swim advisory which will be indicated with a yellow flag.

Beach water quality information is posted on www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/beaches by 1:30 pm each day throughout the swimming season. Current and historical records can be downloaded by searching “Beach Lab Data’ on https://data.cityofchicago.org.

All visitors to our beaches want to enjoy an experience free from garbage, waste and other environmental nuisances. Keeping our beaches clean also helps to prevent water quality swim advisories.

Here are the things you can do to help keep Chicago's beaches clean:

Garbage — especially leftover food — attracts birds and other wildlife to the beaches, resulting in water contamination.

Put small children in waterproof diapers and change diapers frequently. Dispose of diapers in trash containers.

Grill only in designated areas, and place your charcoal waste in the marked red metal containers.

Keep dogs in designated areas. Pick up after your pets and place pet waste in trash cans.

4worldlovers:
The beach is open from 6 am to 11 pm, but swimming is only permitted during the beach season when lifeguards are on duty from 11 am to 7 pm, in designated swim areas. The beach season runs from the Friday before Memorial Day, through Labor Day.


George A. Lane Beach offers beach-goers a chance to enjoy the shorelines of Lake Michigan while soaking in some rays or getting active during the summer. This Edgewater neighborhood park includes an ADA accessible, soft-surface playground for children to enjoy.

Known for years as Thorndale Avenue Beach and Park, the park was renamed in May 1975 for George A. Lane (1903-1974), a community resident active in church/civic affairs, philanthropy and politics for more than 30 years.

Lane, a Chicago lawyer for 50 years, served as chief counsel to the Metropolitan Sanitary District and Democratic committeeman for the 49th Ward during the 1950s and 1960s. Lane also joined the faculty of Loyola University.

Lane Beach Park is one of 18 street-end beaches acquired by the Chicago Park District from the City of Chicago in 1959. By that time, the city's Bureau of Parks and Recreation had been operating such small municipal beaches since at least 1921. In contrast to the city's larger municipal beaches, the street-end beaches, though staffed by lifeguards, had no changing rooms or other facilities

Although the Lincoln Park Board had at one time contemplated expanding Lincoln Park north to Devon Avenue, the planned expansion never took place, and north Edgewater was left without easy access to Lincoln Park's spacious beaches. (Lincoln Park reached its present northern boundary of Ardmore Avenue in 1956.) Residents of the north Edgewater neighborhood welcomed the recreational outlet provided by Lane Beach and other small beaches.