Loyola Beach

Follow Pratt Avenue to the lake and find a small pier and lighthouse marking the southern boundary of beautiful, sandy Loyola Beach. Unlike some of the small Rogers Park street-end beaches, it connects with adjoining Leone Beach to the north and Pratt/Prinz, North Shore, and Hartigan Beaches to the south, making a nearly continuous mile (1.6km) of beautiful sandy goodness. As with all the larger beaches in Chicago, it’s groomed every morning in the summer, has a few swim amenities like al fresco shower/foot baths, and is attended by lifeguards.
Which is to say, if you go to Loyola Beach (or any others in Chicago) in the summer, go in the morning before the lifeguards arrive (11AM weekdays/9AM weekends) if you want to have a meaningful open water swim. Their writ is to contain you in the shallows.
But, your early start will be rewarded. The water at Loyola beach can be stunningly clear, views of sandy lakebed beautiful, and swim routes north and south. Swim north around the shore protection, along the line of buoys for a tour of the shoreline of Rogers Park neighborhoods up to Juneway Beach at Chicago’s norther border, for a mile swim. Stops are available at several small neighborhood beaches available along the way, some marked by breakwaters. Going south, a mile swim takes you past the Loyola University campus buildings down to the Edgewater neighborhood, passing more neighborhood beaches, and arriving at enormous Kathy Osterman (Hollywood) Beach. Take one of the frequent busses along Sheridan Road back to your starting point if you want a one-way swim.

This entire route from Loyola Beach up to Juneway Terrace Beach is buffered from watercraft traffic, who generally observe the boundary, in the summer by a string of buoys offering a >100 yard/meter deep swim zone.

You won’t find many other open water swimmers there in the mornings, just dog walkers on the beaches, and maybe a few kayakers or paddleboarders in the water. So take appropriate precautions such as towing an open water swim buoy and swimming with a buddy.

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