Ohio's Best Lakes and Waterfronts

Ohio has 312 miles of Lake Erie shoreline, major river corridors, and hundreds of inland lakes and reservoirs — a surprisingly rich waterfront landscape for a landlocked state.

Lake Erie (Sandusky Bay and Islands)
The western basin of Lake Erie is the warmest and shallowest part of the lake — summer water temperatures of 70°F+ make it excellent for swimming and fishing. Sandusky Bay is the warmest bay on the Great Lakes. The Erie Islands (South Bass, Kelleys, Middle Bass, North Bass) are Ohio's summer resort culture — accessible by ferry from Catawba and Port Clinton. Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island has a European resort town character unlike anything else in the Midwest.

Cleveland Lakefront
The eastern Lake Erie shore at Cleveland — Edgewater Park (beach and marina), Euclid Beach (revitalized former amusement park site), Villa Angela Beach, and the Headlands Beach State Park (the longest natural beach in Ohio at 1 mile) give Cleveland a surprisingly active lakefront. The Cleveland Harbor's working harbor channel flanks the lakefront parks.

Cuyahoga Valley (Cuyahoga National Park)
The Cuyahoga River corridor — not a lake but a forested river park with the Cuyahoga River providing the linear structure. The Beaver Marsh (a wetland reclaimed from an industrial waste site) is a wildlife viewing highlight. The towpath trail along the Ohio & Erie Canal follows the river for 87 miles from Cleveland to Zoar.

Alum Creek Lake (Columbus)
The closest significant reservoir to Columbus — 3,387 acres of water with Ohio's only inland beach (Alum Creek State Park Beach). The lake is the most heavily used water recreation area in central Ohio.

Lake Hope State Park (McArthur)
A deep, forested reservoir in the Zaleski State Forest in southeastern Ohio — the most scenic inland lake setting in Ohio. The lake sits in a former iron furnace hollow; the ruins of the Hope Furnace (1854) are on the shore.