Park Point Beach: Duluth, Minnesota

Park Point Beach is located in Duluth Minnesota, just a short drive from the touristy Canal Park area, and its claim-to-fame is that this is the world’s largest freshwater sandbar. Whether or not there’s any truth to that claim, I’m good with just taking their word for it. My sister and I visited the beach, as we haven’t been to this area of Duluth before and wanted to check it out; we weren’t here for sunbathing or swimming; on a typical Duluth Minnesota day, it’s just too chilly for either activity, even in the summer. So, let’s check out Park Point Beach!

Park Point Beach in Duluth – Location and Details

To get here, you’ll have to drive across the Aerial Lift Bridge in Canal Park. Once over the bridge, you’ll be on a barrier island. Continue following the main road (Minnesota Avenue) all the way to the end. Along the way, you’ll pass some cute little neighborhoods.

Cost: Park Point Beach is free

Best time to visit: Summer or early fall

The road ends at a parking lot near the Sky Harbor Airport, a general aviation airport. Once parked, use the path to walk over the sand dunes to get to the beach. It’s a short walk, but keep an eye out for seaplanes landing – it’s kind of a cool sight if you’ve never seen one up close before.

In the short time we were here, we saw about 5-6 seaplanes land at the airport. Not sure if this kind of traffic is typical of this airport or if it was just because of the holiday weekend.

Visiting Park Point Beach

Once over the sand dunes, we were at Park Point Beach. The beach was very clean and we saw large pieces of driftwood that had washed ashore. We went for a little stroll to check it out and snapped some pics.

We didn’t stay here that long — maybe 30 minutes? There’s a long walking trail that you can take to the end of the point, but my sister’s not much for long walks on the beach (she hates sand), so we didn’t do that. The trail takes you through an old growth pine forest and once you reach the end, you can see a lighthouse. This is an old, decommissioned lighthouse that’s crumbling and abandoned – frankly, from the pictures I’ve seen, it’s ugly. But I’m also somewhat obsessed with lighthouses, so the next time I make it out here, I’m going to make a point to hike to the Minnesota Point Lighthouse.

This is a really nice, quiet beach and would be great for a picnic, but there really isn’t a whole lot to see or do here. I mean, it’s just a beach. It’s not all that scenic (but you do get a great view of Duluth). And it’s not a swimming beach. I suppose you could swim here, but Lake Superior is very cold (water temps in the 40s in the summer) so if you wanted to do some serious swimming, you’d really need a wetsuit. Plus, there are warning signs all over the place cautioning beach-goers of riptides. We visited on an 80 degree day and no one was swimming.

Because this beach is located in a harbor city, you might get lucky and catch a barge coming into (or out of) port. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any at Park Point Beach, but we did catch one later that day in Canal Park.

Park Point Beach – Final Thoughts

Park Point Beach in Duluth is definitely a hidden gem – most Duluth tourists stick to Canal Park and never venture out here. I’m guilty of that too – I’ve been going to Duluth since I was a child and it took me over 30 years to visit Park Point Beach.

That said, it’s, well, a beach. Swimming really isn’t a thing here and there just isn’t much to see. It’s a great spot for a nature walk, and for lighthouse lovers, there’s a little-known lighthouse at the end of the point that might be worth hiking to (if I ever make it out there myself, I’ll update).

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