Lakefront area ideal for all summer sports as well as picnics and barbeques. Wilmette’s Dog Beach, located at the south end of Gillson Park, is a popular off leash destination for many four-footed friends and their owners. Dogs are also welcome to play off leash in the large open area adjacent to West Park located south of Lake Avenue and west of Laramie Avenue.
Categories
Animals:
Dog Park
Outdoor Kids Activities:
Beaches
Other Details
Parking:
The parking lot adjacent to the swimming and sailing beach is reserved for cars displaying a 2008 Lakefront Parking decal or Daily Parking Permit which is available Monday through Friday for $7 between the hours of 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Limited Daily Parking Permits are also available on weekends for $8 between 9 a.m. and noon. Cars without parking decals or permits are subject to ticketing by the Wilmette Police Department.
It is nice that this beach has both paying and non paying options for families that want to experience our great Chicago Lakefront. We always opt to pay as my kids always end up in the water and there are strict about it. The beach is always nice and clean and there is a great playground just outside of the beach. There is also always plenty of parking. A great place for kids to get a chance to play and swim on our beautiful shores. Word of caution...check the website and call first as it is often closed due to high bacteria levels.
We love going here to enjoy the beautiful lakefront that we all share in Chicago. You can pay to go into Wilmette beach where there are lifeguards and a concession stand. We like to go a little south of that where the beach is free. They just extended the paying part of the beach....not happy about that. You can not swim and it can get crowded. But my daughter loves playing in the sand and dipping her feet in the water. There also is a nice sand park that we like to visit as well.
This is a wonderful park/playground/beach area, and of course very family friendly. We have always gone to the southern beach area, which is free, but there is no swimming allowed on this area of the lakefront. My kids just enjoy going into the water and playing, but as Jean said, park district staff does walk up and down the beach and will call in those who are swimming or out to far. I haven't seen anyone actually get a ticket, but one time the staff called in some college age students at least 3 times. You can also eat on this strip of the beach, unlike the area further north where you have to pay to swim. But you can walk over to the swimming area and pay to swim, then come back to the southern area to chill and have snacks.
The playground area is a bit northwest of the free beach area and is a nice little playground.
This is a beautiful, clean beach with a playground area - perfect for families. I hate paying for beach entrances, but if you want to swim in the lake here, pay you must. This was our first trip to Gilson, and after parking (at least that was free), we walked across a field, through a playground, and through some sand to arrive on a beach. This was a free beach (adjacent to Gilson), also very beautiful and clean, but no swimming is allowed because there are no lifeguards. The park district staff regularly patrolled, calling in people who dared wander beyond knee-deep water. Late afternoon, a policeman was also there, threatening people with $50 tickets for swimming. So don't swim here, but it's a perfect place for kids who just want to play in the sand and splash in the shallows. You can bring a cooler (not allowed at Gilson), and there's tons of shade not far from the water. We walked over to Gilson and paid to swim, and the girls LOVED it. They had a riot playing in the sand and splashing around in the waves. By about 2:00 pm the shoreline was quite crowded but the rest of the beach area was pretty vacant. It was mostly families who wanted to be near the water, where the children played in the sand and swam. We will most certainly be back. Next time we will take our cooler, set it up in the shade just on the south side of the Gilson Beach fence, then go to the Gilson Beach house and pay for swimming. When we want to eat, we'll just head to our nice, shady spot with the cooler!
