My favorite beach in Michigan…read more I've been to: Douglas Beach (wonderful neighborhood beach nearby) West Side County Beach (a bit south of Oval and lots of rocks to collect) as well as North and South Beach in South Haven, and a few other neighborhood ones there. Oval wins for me for a lot of reasons. Great, abundant parking ($15 per car for the day, $75 for the season as of 2026). Good restrooms, snack bar, but most importantly, lots of space on the beach to spread out and enjoy. Vibes are immaculate here. We had several days on our trip where this was it. We set up a beach tent, packed sandwiches, and had a blast. The waves were big a few days which I thoroughly enjoyed. It's kind of a roll of the dice whether the water is fine or a bit too chilly, but it's fun nevertheless. So, to sum it all up. SUN. WAVES. EASY. BEAUTIFUL. I will dream of the time spent here, especially come mid-February when we'd give nearly anything for a nice weather day.

Oval Beach is STUNNING and I'd love to give it 5 stars, but two things keep me from doing that…read more Primarily this is because the beach is not totally accessible to all visitors. We came here with my mother and she has MS, which affects her legs. The only way down to the beach were fairly steep sand dune paths that were incredibly difficult for even able bodied individuals to navigate. We tried finding stairs but came up empty, so that's a big deterrent here. The other is a more petty one, but it's parking. There seems to be a great amount of parking available here, especially on weekdays BUT it comes at a cost of $15, which seems more than we paid at other beaches. The beach itself is crisp and clean, with beautiful sand and shoreline, and some of the cleanest water we saw while on our visit to the lake. As a family with kids, this would be a great beach to visit, but you do need to factor in the difficulties of getting down to it, especially with your groups ability level and your beach gear in tow.

Everyone pretty much has the same opinion about this: a beautiful, "neighborhood" beach that has…read moreextremely limited parking. Ideal if you're staying around it, I'm sure. We arrived on a day with intense wildfire smoke, the kind where the air quality was the worst in the entire world that day and you could feel it. We'd held the girls inside most of the day, but finally snapped in the evening and told them we wanted to catch the sunset here. Fortunately we were earlier enough to slide right into a spot (tried to come back two other times and had no such luck). After being cooped up in the AirBnB, we said screw it and all got in and swam around for a bit. It was glorious. The only unique thing is there are a lot of rocks to step on/bang into within the first 10 feet or so of the water. If you go out a little further, it shifts back to soft sand. It's such a cool visual both ways; the great lake, of course looking west, and then the towering stairs and cliffside neighborhood over to the east. Up top, there's a foot rinse for knocking off sand and a public restroom. I love this spot, and really the only knock is if you don't luck out on parking there's almost no alternative to getting here.

Nice spot. Limited parking. The stairs aren't as bad as they look. Small beach bc most is private…read morebeach.

Beautiful state park with a few different trails to take you to the beach. Parking is $12 for a day…read morefor non-Michigan residents. The kiosk is easy enough to navigate. On to the hike! We did the yellow trail. Difficulty level in my opinion was easy but on our way back, we took the adventurous route which was more of a medium difficulty because you had to be on an uphill climb for quite a bit. Overall, I would classify the hike as easy. It's way too cold so neither of us swam. Because it is a longer hike, we didn't take our dog with us but we saw several while on the trail. If your dog is older than ours (8 months, super slow due to being easily distracted) I highly recommend taking them on the trail. The beach is dog friendly as well. Just make sure to pick up after them. Beautiful view of the lake and overall. I would definitely come back again (and hopefully with Miss Birdie next time)!

This is a beautiful state park with tree covered trails to hike. If hiking sand dunes is not your…read morething there are other trails. If it is, it could be a training pre-curser to bigger dunes. In any regard, it is rustically beautiful. There are porta-potties and picnic tables near the parking lot.

20 of us from downtown chicago headed to Saugatuck for a picnic on a decent June morning without a…read moreproper destination. After quick searches on google and yelp we decided to go here bcos it fulfilled 5 things on our list 1. Accessible bathrooms 2.shaded picnic area with seatings 3.Beach and sand 4.Parking 5.bug/ticks free Happy to report that it was just perfect for us with all requirements met. our senior parents walked around, the kids ventured out to the beach and restrooms very clean for a picnic area.

It was very fun to look for rocks but when you went in the water there was a very big dip down and…read morelots more rocks as you go out a little farther from shore. and it hurt VERY bad on your feet. and dont get me started on the bathrooms, there was a urinal in the GIRLS bathroom and all the stalls were disgusting and had bugs and mold on the wall, but the beach was pretty nice!

Beautiful beach. But... you have to pay to park so being from out of state, I assumed the hefty…read moreparking price would translate to nice bathrooms/snack shack. That was not the case. They employ people to patrol the bathrooms and beach and they were very respectful and helpful. The beach itself requires a trip down and UP a long steep dune. It was near impossible to get up the hill carrying items. Stairs near the bath house/snack area would be very helpful. Even a rope to help pull yourself up would be good. Also there is NO alcohol allowed and if the patrol staff see you, they do confiscate your beverage.

Not too bad of a hike to the beach! It's not super big or anything but a nice hang out spot. Other…read moretrails were fun to hike too!

We've been on the hunt for some dog-friendly activities in West Michigan, and our time at Kirk Park…read morewas everything we hoped for! The dog beach is about a 5-minute walk from the parking lot, and the trail is very well marked. The weather was great, so there were lots of dogs there enjoying the water. There are changing facilities and restrooms available near the parking lot, but not on the beach, so keep that in mind. We're looking forward to enjoying the water with our golden retriever again soon!

Dog-friendly section of beach? Check Sand dune trails? Check…read moreWell-maintained bathroom facilities? Check Beautiful views of Lake Michigan both high and low? Check This is *the* beach spot for you and your canine.

Want a quiet, peaceful beach on Lake Michigan? One that has picnic tables, a ramped deck on top of…read morethe dune (thank you, city of South Haven, for providing handicap accessibility), and best of all in this town, a restroom with changing areas that stays open past dusk? Enter Packard Park - it's 2 parks north of North Beach, is free, and is the quietest beach in town. You'll head down a short dune and then find the big lake. People bring chairs or towels. The entrance to the water is sandy, and the bottom is firmer than that of South Beach, by the pier. You can see the pier in the distance, just south. Up by the parking lot, you'll see several picnic tables, a grill, and a restroom. The women's has two toilet stalls and two changing stalls - WITH DOORS! thank you. The park is open until 10. Often, when we swim at dusk, we get out of the water too late to change in the North or South Beach bathrooms. NO worries of that here. No lifeguard. Plenty of parking, and a grassy area for kids to run around on if you're cooking dinner before (or after) swimming.

The park itself does not offer much. It has little shade but it does offer sunset views and…read morebenches. There are plenty of other viewing spots at the neighboring beaches.

Best place to catch the Michigan sand dunes for the first time. This seems to be an uncommon vista…read moreto get some sand and sun--not too many other people were here. Good for a quick peak at Lake Michigan's sunset or to spend the day on the beach. Be prepared to hike some sandy stairs! I ended up slipping off my shoes and just walked up them barefoot.

Very small beach. The day we went many people made the trek and didn't get in the water because…read morethey thought it was to cold. Family after family came down and just sat there getting eaten by flies....did I mention the flies? Good lord if you weren't in the water be prepared to leave with welts. Good thing for me I like cold water and it felt great! If you are not in good physical shape probably don't come here. These pictures don't show the actual situation. It is very steep! The stairs are covered with sand and there are A LOT of them. What goes down, in this situation must go back up!

Nice little dog friendly beach for our pups first time at the beach! There were plenty of places to…read morepark but we got there pretty early. Short walk to the beach. It was a pretty small area and pretty packed but it was a holiday weekend when we went. Wasn't the most clean/pristine beach but we didn't expect that for a dog friendly beach. There were bathrooms up near the parking lot. Kind of a mixed sand rock beach but mostly sand. When we left, the parking lot was packed and people were lining the street, so I'd say go early if you want a parking spot.

One of the top highlights of our week stay in South Haven. This small secluded nature preserve has…read morea modest rocky beach perfect for small treasure hunting. At the beach we found geodes, lightening rocks, and sea glass. This area has a small 45ish car parking lot. It is dog friendly (dogs must be on leash and picked up after). There's a .33 mile trail that is not difficult. Park is free and a great way to spend some time in nature!