Million Dollar Beach — Attraction in Town of Lake George

Million Dollar Beach sounds like a bad Vegas bet but it’s just Lake George dressed up with a fence and some whistles. They built it back in the 50s for a million bucks, which was real money then, and now you can wander in free. You only pay to park, ten bucks for the car, five if you’re on a bike, more if you’ve got the whole circus in a bus.

Seventeen hundred feet of sand with the Adirondacks staring down at you like they’ve seen it all before. Lifeguards blowing whistles if you so much as breathe outside the roped-off zone. Bathrooms that don’t smell half as bad as they should, showers that sometimes work, picnic tables waiting for ribs and spilled soda, a volleyball court where you’ll either pull a hamstring or meet the love of your afternoon.

The beach once got slapped shut by E. coli, mystery source, ducks or sewers or some curse from the lake gods. They fixed it, put in porous asphalt so the rain doesn’t dump garbage into the water. Now it’s one of the cleanest in the state, even got a nod from Fodor’s as a top lake beach.

Locals know it’s not just about sand and suntan lotion. This place has history, scars, and a little grit under the polish. Sit long enough and you’ll hear the kids screaming, the waves slapping, the Adirondacks laughing at your sunburn. Million Dollar Beach is no paradise, but it’s as close as upstate New York is going to get, and that’s...

If you’re looking to get good views and good photos of Lake George, this is a good beach to get them at. It’s $10 to park, but realistically if you walk a bit you can park on the main road for $2 per hour. So if you’re just wanting some quick pics, this is easily 5 starts.

My reasoning for 3 starts is honestly the lifeguards and the restricted swimming here.

As for swimming, the reviews don’t lie about the lifeguards. They’re very strict about where people can swim. The bouies barely go above your waist (I’m 5’4”) so there’s really no “swimming” if you’re an adult. For kids it’s great! But adults? No.

They also close off areas of the beach if there’s no lifeguard. We went on a rather warmer day and only one section was closed despite them having more lifeguards on duty. The other lifeguards not at a station were sitting in the office on their phones (I counted 3 of them).

If it weren’t for the strict restrictions for swimming this would have gotten 5 stars. You can literally walk 5 minutes towards Canada street and there’s another beach with no bouies where you can swim wherever.

I had an infant, so it would have been nice if the further end of the beach were open so we didn’t feel so crowded. If you open the beach for the day, and it’s a hot day… you should probably have the...

I came to Lake George to have a nice fun filled day. My boyfriend and I were very excited because it was our first beach trip of the season. We pulled into the parking lot and payed the $10 to park. When we went into the locker rooms, we were very disappointed in the state of the toilets. The majority of them were clogged and dirty. Once we were out on the beach and set up we tried to go in the water, but as soon as we walked down, they closed the swimming area. Once it was reopened we attempted to go swimming again, but they again closed the swimming area. This happened another two times! This was all in the span of 3 hours. We did not end up having any time to even swim. That's not even the worst of it. Our parking ticket allowed us to stayed parked in the parking lot until 9:00pm. We returned to our vehicle at 8:30pm to find every single exit gated and locked, leaving us trapped inside the parking lot. There was not a single employee there either. Completely unacceptable. I had to drive up a side walk and over a curb in order to get out of the parking lot, almost damaging my car. If the parking lot is open until 9:00pm, then it needs to be open until 9:00pm, unless it is completely empty. I am extremely angry and disappointed. I can assure you, I will never visit this...