Located along the shores of Lake Michigan,this State Park has over 1500 acres of pristine beaches…read moreand sand dunes making it one of Michigans most popular State Parks. There is an admission free to enter. Plenty of parking available. We went in the Fall midweek so it was not crowded at all.

Beautiful beach and park!…read more We came for the day to play on the beach and see the sand dunes. You have to pay for the use. There is a large parking area by the beach. As soon as we pulled in we noticed the beach on one side of the parking lot and the sand dunes on the other. We decided to climb the dunes first. There is one big hill that everyone was going up. It is challenging but fun. Great views from the top. And super easy to come down. Then we went to the beach. Sand was really nice and clean. A storm started to roll in so we had to leave the beach a little early. They do a great job of communicating and changing the flags when the beach conditions change. There are bathrooms and some food vendors. Only wish is they had actual showers to clean off all the sand. They have the outside ones but they weren't very efficient.

Headed out her for some early morning time on the beach. I was here when was was little, and this…read morewas my wives first time. We both loved it. Great calm eater on the day we were there. $25 per car. Tins of parking since we got there early. Amazing to see dunes and how big some are. Beach was nice. Fine sand. Paved walkway to the beach pavilion with stairs down to beach. Great skipping stones. Highly recommend. We only had a couple of hours and got to see a bunch but still plenty of stuff we had yet to do. Will be back.

The beach was littered with trash when we first got on it, trash cans closest to the beach were…read moreoverflowing, there were gnats and flies eating us alive. The people there were uh weird.

Still my favorite beach in the area!…read more The ramp about halfway out to the beach is so nice for my mom who uses a walker. Bathrooms were clean. I have never been during a time when the concession stand was open but that is a nice feature as well.

The lake (Michigan) is so vast like the ocean. It amazes me how it looks like the sea. It's like a…read morebeach with lots of sand and don't forget to wear actual protective shoes and that's a Lyft loss because there are rocks coming out of the sand everywhere so be careful. If you have older persons with wheelchairs and walkers, this is not an easy place to go to, but they could stay near the parking lot and look at the ocean, however. So nice. A lightHouse sits here and it's very romantic esp w the sun going down or up. Lots of places to walk and sit.

This is a very nice national park. The sand dunes are amazing, and Lake Michigan is beautiful…read more There are plenty of short trails, and you are able to experience all the different types of landscapes. There are the beaches, or sand dunes, marsh areas, and a prairie trail. There are even historical buildings. Some of the slopes are steep, so be careful. It was very beautiful and wasn't too busy at all. There is a $25 fee, and you can totally do the park in a day or two.

When my wife and I discovered that Indiana Dunes had become a new National Park, we were very…read moreexcited to come visit. We immediate made plans to drive up from Central Indiana the next time we came to see family. This past week was the first chance we got, and we jumped at the opportunity. A welcome surprise was finding out that the National Park was FREE. Wow! Free is a pretty rare thing these days. (The nearby state park has a fee, if you decide to go there, but not the National Park). We enjoyed the Houses of Tomorrow, explored the beachfront, and even dipped our feet in the cold water. My only regret is that I wish we could have stayed longer. Next visit, we will probably spend more time at the sand dunes themselves.

The beach area has been slightly updated! They cleaned up the front so it's a flatter walk onto the…read moresand and out to the water now- used to be a slight incline to get past. More signage and a lifebuoy have been installed as well at the front of the beach

Nice beach that's located along gigantic Lake Michigan and that's technically part of the Indiana…read moreDunes National Lakeshore―but without the admission price. We learned about this beach thru one of the docents at the Indiana Dunes Visitors Center, when we explained to her that we just wanted to check out the lake for a few minutes. There are two free parking lots along Wabash Ave, which I imagine fill-up fast on the weekends, but we got lucky and scored a spot. The beach area appeared to be clean and a popular spot, despite it being a random weekday. However, it was the summer so there's that to factor in. Most of the shoreline seems accessible, but there are some sections that are labeled "private" but that's complete horseshit in my opinion. We were only able to visit for a short while, as a random summer storm was brewing in the distance and *somebody* evidently thinks lightning and thunder are a bad thing to be in near the water.

Great paved walking path. It is not very forgiving on a hot summer day. There is little to no…read moreshade on this path. The trees along the path are immature and not tall enough to provide shade but, there is plenty of nature to observe and reset yourself.

Nice trail. Wildlife, plants, many trees. A pond with lots of different kinds of birds.read more

This is my favorite beach to go to on Lake Michigan in Indiana. I find it to be an especially…read more*cozy* spot to go to if you want a beach date, as the beach is on the south edge of a small baylike projection of Lake Michigan into the surrounding land. So you can see land to the left and right while on the beach, and there are dunes on all of that land. There are also dunes to the rear when you are on the beach; it is a 40 foot decent from the parking area to the beach. All of these dunes make the area feel like it is surrounded like cliffs, giving this place a unique feel. There is also the riverwalk to go on that is alongside the Little Calumet River as it drains into Lake Michigan, a path through through the dunes going south from the visitor center, a small boardwalk jutting out into the lake that you can walk on, and a visitor's center with a concession stand, so it's still good to go to if you can't swim! Unfortunately, beach access has been off for most of 2019 due to a collapsed portion of the walkway down the dunes to the beach, but the rest of the park is open. HOPEFULLY they will have this repaired by next season. By the way, it is a little tricky to get to this beach. Make sure you get off on EXIT 19 when coming here from I-80! Head north on State Road 249 at this point. Travel about 5/6 of a mile north at this point, and get off on U.S. Steel Road which branches to the north, MAKING SURE TO STAY IN THE LEFT LANE so you can CROSS OVER U.S. 12 and make your way to the beach. Once you cross the overpass, it will at first look like you are entering an industrial area. The path to the beach winds northward through this area and will require crossing over the Little Calumet River on a small bridge.

I was here for the lighthouse and enjoyed much of the walk. I would have gone the whole way but the…read morewind was too strong for my comfort. And also, I hadn't purchased a park pass and didn't want to stay long enough that they might notice. The park and the riverwalk are lovely. The view of the lake is amazing. Well worth the visit. If you're planning on buying an annual park pass, it's even better. [Review 20619 overall - 150 in Indiana - 1600 of 2023.]

I wheeled the Prairie-Duneland Trail during my 25th Anniversary Tenderness Tour event that started…read morein the Lake County area of Indiana. This is a 10.3 mile asphalt trail that goes through both Lake and Porter counties. It is for the most part a wheelchair friendly trail and you can see walkers, runners, and bicyclists on the trail quite frequently as it tends to go through multiple populated areas. The trail is a few miles south of the Michigan Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes National Park. You can probably guess from the name that you will see lots of both prairies and dunes on the trail. You see lots of ponds and woods, though there's lots of a more urban trail vibe as you go through Chesterton and Hobart. I actually started my journey in Hobart. If you want to detour about a mile off trail in Chesterton, there's an old train depot where you can still watch trains pass by. It's pretty darn cool. The trail connects to other trails including the Dunes Kankakee Trail and the Iron Horse Heritage Trail (which I also wheeled). Parking for the western trailhead is available in Countryside Park. Parking for the eastern trailhead is available on Jackson Boulevard in Chesterton. I really enjoyed my time on this trail. It's a mostly level trail and offers a nice mixture of urban and rural trail experiences. I like seeing nature, but for safety I also do like the occasional human encounter. This trail offers both. If you're the type who likes to also visit towns, this is also a great trail for doing so. Both Hobart and Chesterton are nice cities to visit with both tourist options places to grab a meal.

As good as it gets for community trails! The rails to trails program and IndianaTrails.org put…read moretogether this great 10.4 mile path through Lake and Porter counties in NW Indiana. The trail connects to several other trails (Iron Horse Heritage/Calumet) in the area and takes you through some terrific scenery. Some parts of the trail are shaded with beautiful tree lines and others are sunny and open through a field. The best part of this trail, WATER! Take this to the Calumet trail and end up at the Dunes. Fantastic day planned for you, I'll be here all week.