Lake Michigan is a common choice for water sports in Milwaukee, but the surrounding area has plenty of alternatives.
Smaller lakes around the city offer a lot of activities for their size. Many have swimming beaches that fill up in summer. Some have excellent parks with campgrounds and hiking trails.
Summer activities include fishing, kayaking, and water skiing. And in winter, most options offer ice fishing, ice sailing, cross-country skiing, and snowmobiling.
Check out what Milwaukee has to offer!
Lakes near Milwaukee:
- Big Muskego Lake
- Little Muskego Lake
- Pewaukee Lake
- Nagawicka Lake
- Ottawa Lake
- Little Cedar Lake
- Okauchee Lake
- Lac La Belle
- Pike Lake
- Geneva Lake
- Lake Michigan
1. Big Muskego Lake
- Website: Big Muskego Lake
- Distance from Milwaukee: 20 miles (25 min)
- Activities: Fishing, Swimming, Boating, Kayaking, Canoeing, Paddleboarding, Hiking, Picnics
Located approximately 20 miles southwest of downtown Milwaukee, Big Muskego Lake is a relatively large and shallow body of water in Waukesha County.
Although a small embayment of the lake known as Bass Bay has a depth of over 20 feet, most of this 2,194-acre lake is less than five feet deep.
Environmental authorities rehabilitated the lake in the mid-1990s, creating the Big Muskego Lake Wildlife Area to protect the water and surrounding land in 1999.
The marshlands in this wildlife area sustain a variety of birds, including terns, ospreys, and great blue herons. In addition to birding, popular recreation activities include kayaking, canoeing, fishing, and snowmobiling and cross-country skiing in winter.
Launch sites along Boxhorn Drive on the lake’s east side and Durham Drive in the northwest lake corner offer lake access.
Game fishing has improved in recent years after attempts to reduce the carp population. Common fish in this lake include largemouth bass, northern pike, and panfish.
2. Little Muskego Lake
- Website: Little Muskego Lake
- Distance from Milwaukee: 20 miles (25 min)
- Activities: Fishing, Swimming, Boating, Kayaking, Canoeing, Paddleboarding, Sailing, Picnics, Water Skiing, Wakeboarding, Tubing
Less than four miles northwest of its larger sibling, Little Muskego Lake receives water from Jewel Creek at its northern end.
This 506-acre lake was first impounded when laborers built a simple outlet dam in 1838. The damming of the lake has doubled its surface area and raised the lake level by nearly eight feet.
A trolley line first connected the Muskego Lake area to Milwaukee in 1904. Recreation near this lake remained popular long after the trolley service ended in 1939, including an amusement park that began as a lake house in 1861 and operated until 1977.
The Little Muskego Lake Association is an advocacy group for the body of water’s long-term preservation. A governmental body that advocates for the watershed’s protection and restoration is the Little Muskego Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District.
Today, popular activities include fishing, sailing, boating, ice fishing, and skiing. Although residential developments surround much of the lakefront, four public boat landings and Idle Isle Park with a beach offer direct lake access.
Known for its panfish and largemouth bass populations, Little Muskego also sustains walleye, catfish, and northern pike.
3. Pewaukee Lake
- Website: Pewaukee Lake
- Distance from Milwaukee: 22 miles (25 min)
- Activities: Fishing, Swimming, Boating, Kayaking, Canoeing, Paddleboarding, Sailing, Picnics, Water Skiing, Wakeboarding, Tubing
Pewaukee Lake occupies 2,437 acres approximately 20 miles west of downtown Milwaukee. The lake sits in a valley deepened by a glacier during the last Ice Age.
Known as Snail Lake in the early 1800s, an impoundment that occurred during the Wisconsin Territorial period expanded the lake and raised the water level by approximately six feet during the mid-1800s.
Three landings and other smaller lake access points allow public access to Pewaukee Lake. These include the City of Pewaukee’s public beach and Laimon Family Lakeside Park on the lake’s northeastern corner, as well as the Naga-Waukee Park launch near Maple Avenue on the lake’s southwestern corner.
Although these launch sites may limit access during colder months, Pewaukee Lake is open for fishing throughout the year. Commonly caught fish include northern pike, muskellunge, panfish, and bass.
4. Nagawicka Lake
- Website: Nagawicka Lake
- Distance from Milwaukee: 26 miles (30 min)
- Activities: Fishing, Swimming, Boating, Kayaking, Canoeing, Paddleboarding, Sailing, Hiking, Biking, Camping, Picnics, Water Skiing, Wakeboarding, Tubing
Nagawicka Lake is 25 miles west of downtown and a little more than a mile west of Pewaukee Lake. The best location to access this 981-acre lake is Naga-Waukee Park, located along the southeastern shore of the lake.
While Naga-Waukee Park offers a small launch site on a separate tract of land at Pewaukee Lake, the bulk of the park sits alongside Nagawicka Lake.
Naga-Waukee Park provides a place to enjoy year-round lake access. Boardwalks, trails, and a beach allow access to the shoreline, as well as escapes into oak-hickory forests.
Visitors will enjoy seeing wildlife, including migratory birds and the occasional great-horned owl. The campground offers a place for overnight stays between April and October. During colder months, snow and ice create a new landscape for winter recreation.
Those who fish in Nagawicka Lake will see panfish and largemouth bass, along with the smallmouth bass, walleye, and northern pike that regularly swim in these waters.
The state record for a live-release rock bass caught in Wisconsin occurred here in 2019.
5. Ottawa Lake
- Website: Ottawa Lake
- Distance from Milwaukee: 39 miles (45 min)
- Activities: Fishing, Swimming, Kayaking, Canoeing, Paddleboarding, Hiking, Biking, Camping, Picnics
A little more than 38 miles west-southwest of downtown, Ottawa Lake has a reputation for its clear water enhanced by the presence of bubbling and seepage streams in a smaller lake section approximately 200 feet to the north.
This 17-acre body of water is a remnant lake found in a glacial basin from the previous Ice Age. Marshlands in this lake sustain a variety of wildlife and offer a location where smaller animals, wading birds, and waterfowl can congregate.
The Ottawa Lake Recreation Area is a unit within the state’s Kettle Moraine State Forest – Southern Unit. The fens around the lake have been a Wisconsin State Natural Area since 1976.
The campground at Ottawa Lake is the only one in the Southern Unit that remains open throughout the year.
Ottawa Lake has an ADA-accessible pier for fishing. Common catches include panfish, walleye, northern pike, and largemouth bass.
6. Little Cedar Lake
- Website: Little Cedar Lake
- Distance from Milwaukee: 37 miles (40 min)
- Activities: Fishing, Swimming, Boating, Kayaking, Canoeing, Paddleboarding, Sailing, Hiking, Picnics, Water Skiing, Wakeboarding, Tubing
A drive of approximately 35 miles northwest of downtown, Little Cedar Lake is a popular destination throughout the year.
The park is located in an area of Wisconsin that experienced the creation of kettle lakes during the last Ice Age. The weight of glaciers and remnants of ice under the gravel provided sufficient weight to create depressions such as Little Cedar Lake, which became freshwater reservoirs as the Ice Age ended.
Located on the southeastern lakeshore, Ackerman’s Grove County Park provides direct access to this 260-acre lake. This 68-acre Washington County Park has a trailer boat launch, grass recreation fields, a trail through a forested zone, a seasonal beach, and picnic areas.
Winter freeze leads to ice up to almost three feet in depth. During this time, snowmobiling and ice fishing are popular.
Anglers will find abundant populations of largemouth and smallmouth bass, in addition to walleye, in deeper portions of the lake. Other fish in this lake include northern pike, rock bass, carp, bluegills, bulleads, carp, and northern pike.
7. Okauchee Lake
- Website: Okauchee Lake
- Distance from Milwaukee: 31 miles (35 min)
- Activities: Fishing, Swimming, Boating, Kayaking, Canoeing, Paddleboarding, Sailing, Water Skiing, Wakeboarding, Tubing
A little more than 30 miles west-northwest of downtown Milwaukee, Okauchee Lake sits in the center of a region with many kettle lakes that trace their origin to the last Ice Age.
Other nearby lakes include Pine Lake to the east, North Lake to the northeast, Oconomowoc Lake to the southwest, and Lac La Belle to the west. This 1,210-acre lake reaches a maximum depth of nearly 90 feet.
Formed in 1975, the Okauchee Lake Management District is a body that seeks to protect, maintain, and improve this lake’s quality, as well as the lake’s watershed, which includes both residential and commercial areas.
Whether from a boat launched into the lake or along the shoreline, those who cast a line into Okauchee Lake will find abundant supplies of fish most of the year.
Top species include muskellunge, northern pike, largemouth and smallmouth bass, walleye, and panfish.
8. Lac La Belle
- Website: Lac La Belle
- Distance from Milwaukee: 35 miles (40 min)
- Activities: Fishing, Swimming, Boating, Kayaking, Canoeing, Paddleboarding, Sailing, Picnics, Water Skiing, Wakeboarding, Tubing
A little more than two miles west of Okauchee Lake, the 1,154-acre Lac La Belle lives up to the translation of its name from French, “Lake, the Beautiful” or “the Beautiful Lake.”
Site of an early trading post in the late 1820s, Lac La Belle and the 97-acre Fowler Lake immediately to its east became a late-19th-century vacation destination for wealthy landowners who built seasonal homes.
Part of the Oconomowoc River watershed, Lac La Belle has more than eleven miles of shoreline shared by the Village of Lac La Belle, the Town of Oconomowoc, and the City of Oconomowoc.
The Lac La Belle Management District has worked to advocate for the improved quality of the lake since it was established in 1982. A popular access point for the lake is Bender Beach.
Fishing throughout the year at Lac La Belle remains a popular pastime for residents and tourists alike. Species commonly found here include largemouth and smallmouth bass, panfish, walleye, and northern pike.
9. Pike Lake
- Website: Pike Lake
- Distance from Milwaukee: 37 miles (40 min)
- Activities: Fishing, Swimming, Boating, Kayaking, Canoeing, Paddleboarding, Sailing, Hiking, Biking, Camping, Picnics, Water Skiing, Wakeboarding, Tubing
Over thirty miles northwest of the heart of Milwaukee, Pike Lake is a popular destination with recreational facilities. Those wishing to visit this lake should travel to the Pike Lake Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest on the lake’s eastern shore.
Open since June 1961, this 446-acre recreation retreat has a seasonal beach and campground, biking and hiking trails, an observation tower, and lake access.
Similar to a few other notable lakes in this region, Pike Lake has a non-profit group named the Friends of Pike Lake that seeks to promote lake access and support environmental initiatives in the Kettle Moraine State Forest-Pike Lake Unit.
Fish found in this lake include walleye, bass, northern pike, and panfish.
10. Geneva Lake
- Website: Geneva Lake
- Distance from Milwaukee: 58 miles (1 hr)
- Activities: Fishing, Swimming, Boating, Kayaking, Canoeing, Paddleboarding, Sailing, Hiking, Biking, Camping, Picnics, Water Skiing, Wakeboarding, Tubing
Geneva Lake, 55 miles southwest of downtown Milwaukee, is a picturesque body of water that has gained a reputation as the world’s only current location for the practice of “mail jumping.”
This method of delivering mail happens as a postal worker jumps on and off the boat onto docks to dispense and retrieve mail to mailboxes in a way that has occurred for more than a century.
Public beaches and boat landings offer access to this 5,401-acre lake. Sailboats and unique, antique vessels often fill the lake during the summer months, a popular time to walk along the 26-mile shore path that circles Lake Geneva.
Anglers will enjoy fishing for smallmouth and largemouth bass, panfish, trout, walleye, and northern pike. The state record for an inland brown trout caught by hook and line happened here in 1984, when a fish weighing 18 lbs. 6 oz. took the bait.
11. Lake Michigan
- Website: Lake Michigan
- Distance from Milwaukee: 0 miles (0 min)
- Activities: Fishing, Swimming, Boating, Kayaking, Canoeing, Paddleboarding, Sailing, Hiking, Biking, Camping, Picnics, Water Skiing, Wakeboarding, Tubing
Lake Michigan shaped the history and development of Milwaukee. It is an integral part of the city, and without it, this list just won’t be complete.
A variety of parks and beaches sit just minutes from downtown and offer breathtaking views of the lake, as well as a chance to cool off in summer or get on the water.
Veterans Park is one of the nearest, and Lake Park is rich in history and has fun winding paths. The latter was designed by Frederick Olmsted, the architect who created Central Park in New York. A popular Bradford Beach is two miles from downtown.
Cold-water fish like salmon and trout thrive in this lake and grow to record sizes. As of 2022, Lake Michigan holds thirteen state fish records in Wisconsin and five state records in Michigan.
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