Indiana Dunes National Park West Beach Bath House — Restaurant in Portage

I have been to this beach a handful of times and have always had a great experience. This time included, it was decent despite a busy Sunday. The only issue I have had with this place is the bathroom. The staff is more concerned about constantly saying “friendly reminders” over the intercom about not chasing seagulls and not touching the buoys than having someone take care of the awful bathrooms. According to my boyfriend the men’s bathroom was decent however with my experience in the women’s restroom was much different, I was left appalled. This bathroom has plumbing however it was no better than an outhouse. The entire place smelled like urine and there was toilet paper coating the floor. Aside from how disgusting it was, I went to wash my hands where there was no soap and I couldn’t even figure out how to use the water in my panic to get out of there to get a fresh breath of air. I ended up just going to my car and dowsing myself with hand sanitizer. It would take me a lot of convincing to ever come back here despite my previous good experiences. This place should have someone who is in charge of keeping the bathrooms relatively clean throughout the day since this place is use to being as busy as it was. It wasn’t a surprise to have so many people using that bathroom and they should have taken...

Dunes is our go to vacation spot regardless of season and we definitely plan a visit if the temperatures are between 60-90. Theres a variety of options for everyone from hikes to laying by the beach or playing in the water or even just bird watching! Indiana is known for its variety of birds and as a bird lover you would never be disappointed. There’s an entrance fee for an Indiana resident or non Indiana and you can spend an entire day with that payment. Do note that public holidays is a mad mess in terms of crowds and traffic. It takes anywhere between 1-2 hours to just enter the park in peak hours. The campgrounds are definitely another addition to the spot but also on the flip side has very less spots which sell out in a matter of minutes when the slots open. All in all, requires ample planning and complete preparation. Definitely on...

The staff was very nice and helpful. The beach was beautiful. The only issue I would bring up is that it's not the most accessible beach. There is a small building with bathrooms and not much else at the parking lot, where there aren't many handicapped spaces. It's a small hike to the larger beach facility, which has showers (they were closed as we were there in the off-season). It's a short distance from there to the beach, but there are a lot of stairs and not much of a ramp down. Long story short: disabled or elderly visitors might need a fair amount of assistance. But otherwise, it's great, and I wish they'd fund these...