Pere Marquette Park

This was my first time at Pere Marquette beach. It was absolutely lovely. I enjoyed the walks along the pier. The scenery was just beautiful! I came at a good time, as there was no paid parking after September 15th. The beach was clean the water was clear. I've been passed here on busy days and I don't think I would want to be here when it's busy but today there was very few people

The beach was great beautiful. Parking enforcement is terrible. You can see by the pictures I posted that there was one meter out (there was also a second one out, not pictured) that had two parking enforcement patrols park adjacent to the meter that was out of order, both actively writing tickets for cars parked near the meters that were not working. What a terrible way to represent the city.

Great beach. The water and sand was clean. They have bathrooms and changing areas. A small café with a small menu and ice cream. Outdoor shower to rinse the sand off. A large playground. A walking mat for easier walking to the beach, this is great if you have a wagon or in a wheelchair. At the end of the walking mat they have tables for family's that have someone in a wheelchair in their group. They even have an area with tools for bike repairs. The restaurant The Deck is also located on the beach. The Deck has great food, drinks and entertainment on certain nights. The only con is that they raised the parking fee to 10.00.

clean sand with rocks, pebbles, or shells unless you in the water even then it's clear. plenty of parking on both sides of the beach and way more usable beach then in prior years

We watched the sunset on the beach here and it was absolutely stunning. The sand is so soft and bright. It’s a decent walk from the parking area to the shoreline, but worth it. They have a huge park, a pier you can walk to a lighthouse and great public restrooms. There’s also a cool restaurant chill space that hosts concerts called The Deck. We will be back!

I love this park. I drove all the way from Ohio just to see this beautiful beach and to see lake michigan. Such a beautiful site to see that words just can't be put into. I visited it most recently and it was really crowded but that's to be expected in summer. My last visit before this summer was when I lived in muskegon and I visited in late fall/winter and that was also wonderful. But just very cold. 🤣

Great place to relax. I haven't been there in years, but I see that they now have an area for food, drinks, and live entertainment! Just visit! You won't be disappointed.

Nice place, you can go up into the light house for $5. When its open for tours. All volunteers and the money goes to restoration of the 2 harbor lights. Very knowledgeable guides on site

Pere Marquette offers exceptional access to beautiful Lake Michigan, one the world's natural treasures. There is ample paid parking. Weekend day rates are $15. There is a snack stand, offering ice cream, nachos, and other treats, as well as beach equipment rentals. The sand is soft and visitors will enjoy spreading out on the expansive beach. The water is clear and features a sandy bottom. Just north of the snack stand is The Deck, the preeminent dining establishment in this area of Muskegon. The establishment features al fresco dining and stunning views of Lake Michigan. There are swings and other fun view points. If you're in Mitten, Pere Marquette is worth the drive. You simply cannot beat Lake Michigan's splendor.

Beautiful beach, wasn't super busy when we went. A lot of families, great for hanging out in the water. We got there at 11am everyday and were able to get a spot right by the water. Also the deck is a walk away and has great food & drinks.

August came along and Nate and I still hadn't been to the lakeshore, so we hopped in the car and drove to Pere Marquette Park beach on a cloudy Sunday recently. The beach was completely empty when we arrived around 11 am and stayed pretty quiet the whole time. Parking at the beach is $20, which I thought was incredibly expensive, but it's good for the whole day. I'm used to parking for free at state parks since I have a recreation pass. It was a bit windy, but not chilly - although the water was freezing. I personally enjoy an overcast day at the beach, so we packed a picnic and some chairs and just sat and read for a bit. The beach is large, with lots of room to spread out. There's a nice smaller playground, a snack bar with ice cream and hot food, a little store for beach essentials like sunscreen, and super clean bathrooms. The restroom I used was a huge, single stall room with a bench- really nice for changing and probably great if you have little kids. I was impressed by how clean the bathroom was. We walked to the pier and checked out the lighthouse, which was a nice little walk. The Deck is right on the beach and is a great spot for live music, drinks, and food. I'd be curious to see this beach in the peak season - I'm sure it probably gets pretty busy.

Absolutely love this place. The views are something from a movie. You can sit there and day dream all day

This is a great park/beach. We chose to park away from the playground equipment. Even being the week of July 4th it was never extremely crowded. You can park the entire day for $7. The beach and water were clean. My family had a great time.

The heat and summer doldrums got me down at the end of last month so I took a three day vacation to Sleeping Bear Dunes and Traverse City. And instead of taking 75 north upstate I took 96 west and drove up the west coast of the Mitten State from there. One day I swam at three different beaches and Pere Marquette was easily the best. In fact, it was the only beach I swam at twice. After a late morning dip I made the long walk out to the red lighthouse out at the end of the pier, looked out at gorgeous Lake Michigan and snapped a bunch of pics and then walked back and went right back in the water for a good long while. This beach stretches on and on, stays nice and shallow for aways out into the second deepest Great Lake and isn't super rocky where you first wade in. The water was absolutely perfect on that late August Monday. They have foot baths by the bathrooms, too. That's something I'm looking to rank beaches on now as, like Anakin Skywalker, I'm not the biggest fan of sand. Cringe dialogue and bad acting aside, Darth Vader Elect had a point there if you ask me. I didn't eat at The Deck but I saw they have their own separate Yelp listing anyway. I also saw on here that there's a bike path that stretches along the beach and then back into the adjacent woods, too. Good to know, and although I didn't bring my bicycle along on this trip maybe that's something I'll hit up in the future. I figured there had to be something besides playground equipment to make this place get dubbed a park as opposed to beach.

Super clean large beach with best beach bar in the Midwest. "The deck" sifted sand , public bond fire areas

A nice little beach near the USS Silverside Museum. It offers a great view of Lake Michigan and was super clean. My guess is that it's less busy during the summer than other beaches, due to it being a little out of the way. Still a great beach to enjoy the Sun and the Lake. Overall 5 stars.

As a teen, this was one of my favorite beaches. Not commercialized like Grand Haven or South Haven, Saugatuck. So after a number of years I headed back to enjoy. Paid parking now! Oh boy, Muskegon's money-grab. I left, went to G.H. Parked for free.

Very cool place. The scenery was beautiful with a couple cool lighthouses that you could walk to (only one for real, I didn't know how to get to the other one). The walkway to the LH was a little odd but looked nice with all the large rocks along the sides (ones you could climb on). The restaurant was really nice! The food itself was fine -- nothing that stood out -- however the view was fantastic! Lastly, the weather was I'm from a very humid area so everything in Michigan felt like what I'd imagine CA feels like -- the road quality is a different story though.

J-Boards - rent paddle boards You will have a blast! Located between the pier heads. Awesome clean beach. The sand is well groomed and everything kept up by the city. You can spend an entire day & evening at this beach. Food, drink, sports & of course sun, water and sand!

Pretty self explanatory... great beach, clean, water was invigorating and titerating.. water was 53° for a hot July day which made it perfect

Beautiful park and beach, bike paths everywhere and a 1.63 bike loop around the beach and through the woods. Exceptionally clean beach with free parking.

A beautiful beach that I swear has to be one of the longest public beaches on Lake Michigan. It is always very clean. There is a group of hiking buddies that clean up the beach once a week. So thankful to live in Muskegon and by this beautiful beach!

Was relatively quiet on a Sunday evening and made for a lovely and romantic place to watch the sunset. Walking along the sea wall to the lighthouse was a nice stroll and walking to the other lighthouse was perfect too! A refreshing change from the busy and popular Grand Haven.

Went on July 5th so quiet. Very windy so we didn't stay long. But very nice beach. Clean, lighthouse nearby, has a bar/restaurant on the beach with yummy BBQ, outdoor patio and live music. Tons of volleyball courts but the nets weren't set up.

I've traveled to beaches all over the world and this is one of the nicest. Huge stretches of soft white sand and clean salt-free water. The restaurant there is amazing too.

A little tricky to get to if you don't know your way to the Beachwood-Bluffton part of Muskegon. A great city beach with some playground equipment (slides, tunnels, etc.) and a lot of volleyball courts - believe 40. A little bit of a walk from the parking lot to the water. A lot of people there.

Great beach, they have lots of space, bathrooms and playgrounds. Short walk to the light house, a different park with playground and also uss silverside. There is free parking all along the beach. A couple restaurants nearby and other parks and beaches that you can walk to. The water can be tricky if your not a native Northerner as its never really "warm". But it is nice. This beach can get very windy, take that as a + or -

Awesome place to enjoy a nice walk on the beach and grab a bite to eat at The Deck while watching the sunset. The beach is always clean. The public bathrooms are clean for the most part. In the summer you can rent kayaks and paddle boards from a mobile business by the breakwater parking.

Great beach, lots of space, bathrooms available. Playground also on the beach so nice for kids to have a change from just the beach. One concession stand available for snacks, not too expensive. Lots of free parking available