Montrose Beach

Older crowd and less chaotic than North Ave Beach (yes!!). Have a drink or lunch at The Dock. Tons of free parking plus a huge paid lot.

Weekdays are best for some sun and solitude. Not to mention, the Dock restaurant has some bomb fish tacos !!

Kayak Chicago and other watersports vendors are here, and you can frolic with Fido in the designated dog-friendly area of the beach . Read more

Nice day on the Lakefront , seems pretty clean and well maintained for a large city like Chicago lots of people out for recreation & soccer game Softball & enjoying the outdoors

Great place to have a family picnic of function, nice scenery of the nice buildings and a cool lakefront breeze.

"Catch 10 2013 America's Best DJ nominees here on 7/5/13! Vote in person to enter to win a trip for 2 to VEGAS. Like/follow ABDJ on Facebook/Twitter to enter to WIN prizes from Pioneer DJ !"

Nice, huge beach , very scenic but not sure about the dog friendly side. My dog was sick within a few days of visiting...

Loved the different view of the Chicago skyline. A good place to walk around... Only bummer is that the park closes by 11pm

You will not find parking on a good beach day. Either take the train or pay the $2.00 to park in the lot. A very popular beach indeed.

Great beach ! Is a great place to set if you want to look at the city or just listen to the waves

Only part of the beach (Wilson north) is a dog beach . South of Wilson to Montrose is a regular beach . Feel free to bring food or eat at any of the couple restaurants or food carts.

Big public beach , for swimming , volleyball , fishing and jet-ski action

Probably the nicest and best located beach in Chicago

Fun place. Nice picnic and beach area . Will be there again but with a padded blanket and more time!

Quaint beach . Easy to get lost in the paths which can be fun.

Nice beach . Usually a spot to sit and some tree coverage does provide shade. Bathrooms are a disaster

Great beach , very big. Love yoga on the beach

There is also a resturant on the beach with sit down service and a full bar .

Wow. This place goes on forever and ever. So much space for putting your feet up and soaking in the sun.

Like this if you came here to check out Wavefront or some other music festival

8/26/11 the beach is kind of stinky and super littered. Yucky green algae stuff along water near consessions. Ewww! It's better if you walk north.

Bring sunscreen and an awesome attitude!

Great beach for little kids. The water is really calm compared to the downtown beaches .

Nice lively place ...

Little (and big) anglers can drop a fishing line here; the pier and a bait shop are both within walking distance.Powered by ParentsConnect.com Read more

Be sure to sit upwind of the kids throwing sand

Live Reggae band on Wednesday nights

Offer the guys playing spike ball a beer then sit back and watch the athleticism

Jet ski rental is $85/half hour with an additional $10 for another rider

Another great parks for events in Chicago.

Ran a race along the beach . It's very clean

Nice beach to meet friends

I stay away from the dog beach ...just one too many bad dog owners. The path and beach are peaceful with little to no skaters and Lance Armstrong pretenders.

Bring sunglasses so you can judge and not get caught!

The dog beach here is amazing and they even have poopie bags stocked in case you forget!

Best Free Activities according to radicalpossibility.com

great beach !

Can't beat the view !

It's a hassle to find parking so for $2 pay to park in the lot for 2 hours. Better than going around in circles wasting gas and time.

Go to the top of the little hill to fly your kite

Enjoying some reggae and a cold beer

Great lake side location to go running or just walk your dog.

Where dogs can socialize :)

Parking is cheap here b/c they don't enforce it...but watch out, people steal

Sun and relaxation

Fenced in dog beach

Great place after sundown for some peace and quiet .

Karate training on the beach at sunrise is amazing. Read more

Great spot to watch the sunrise! Read more

Great place to play volleyball . Remember--no reason to lose if they keep score.