40 graded lakes within 4 hr of downtown
Driving from Chicago to a lake worth swimming in
Flatfoot Lake is the closest graded water to Chicago, 29 min away, and it grades D. Lake Opeka grades A and takes 32 min — 3 min more in the car, each way, for water that clears the bar.
Every lake below is ranked by how long the drive is, and labelled with the water-quality letter it earned. Closest is not the same as cleanest, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
Closer, or cleaner — the whole ladder
40 lakes, sorted by drive time from downtown Chicago. Letters in range: 7 A, 8 B, 5 C, 7 D, 13 F. Some of the best water is over a state line — this list crosses into Indiana, Wisconsin. The furthest entry is Lake Shangrila -Benet at 1 hr 19 min.
| Drive | Lake | Grade | Road miles | County | Size | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 min | Flatfoot Lake | D | 18.4 | Cook County, IL | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 31 min | Skokie Lagoons Lake | F | 21.3 | Cook County, IL | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 32 min | Lake Opeka | A | 19.7 | Cook County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 33 min | Powderhorn Lake | A | 20.6 | Cook County, IL | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 34 min | Lake Calumet | A | 17.6 | Cook County, IL | 0 ac | Not recorded |
| 36 min | Axehead Lake | B | 20.2 | Cook County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 36 min | Saganashkee Slough Lake | F | 23.3 | Cook County, IL | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 36 min | Midlothian Lake | F | 23.6 | Cook County, IL | 30 ac | Not recorded |
| 37 min | Sag Quarry West Lake | D | 24.5 | Cook County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 38 min | Sag Quarry East Lake | F | 24.8 | Cook County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 39 min | Arrowhead Lake | F | 22.6 | Cook County, IL | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 39 min | Bullfrog Lake | F | 22.8 | Cook County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 39 min | Horsetail Lake | F | 24.7 | Cook County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 40 min | Turtlehead Lake | D | 22.6 | Cook County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 43 min | Wampum Lake | B | 26.5 | Cook County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 43 min | Tampier Lake | D | 27 | Cook County, IL | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 46 min | Poss Lake | D | 34.6 | DuPage County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 55 min | Middle Lagoon Lake | B | 34.7 | Lake County, IN | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 57 min | Zurich Lake | B | 36.5 | Lake County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 57 min | Diamond Lake | F | 39.4 | Lake County, IL | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 58 min | Grand Calumet Lagoon Lake | C | 36 | Lake County, IN | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 59 min | Louise Lake | F | 36.1 | Lake County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr | Monee Lake | D | 38.7 | Will County, IL | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 1 min | Valley Lake | F | 45.8 | Lake County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 5 min | Tower Lake | C | 41.2 | Lake County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 5 min | Grays Lake | A | 46.5 | Lake County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 9 min | Slocum Lake | F | 44.2 | Lake County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 9 min | Round Lake | B | 49 | Lake County, IL | 242 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 10 min | Island Lake | F | 44.8 | McHenry County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 11 min | Woods Creek Lake | C | 49.6 | McHenry County, IL | 9 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 11 min | Cedar Lake | A | 52.9 | Lake County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 12 min | Big Rock Lake | B | 50.6 | Kane County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 13 min | Deep Lake | A | 53 | Lake County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 14 min | Long Lake | F | 51.5 | Lake County, IL | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 15 min | Silver Lake | A | 46.5 | McHenry County, IL | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 15 min | West Loon Lake | B | 55 | Lake County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 15 min | East Loon Lake | C | 56.7 | Lake County, IL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 17 min | Cross Lake | B | 59 | Kenosha County, WI | 89 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 19 min | Lily Lake | D | 49.7 | McHenry County, IL | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 19 min | Lake Shangrila -Benet | C | 59.1 | Kenosha County, WI | 110 ac | ✓ Public |
What the numbers are, and are not
Drive times and road miles are one-way road routing from downtown Chicago to the nearest public road at each lake, over the OpenStreetMap network via OSRM (router.project-osrm.org) over OpenStreetMap, driving profile, free-flow. Free-flow means no traffic model and no time of day, so a weekend morning will beat these numbers and a Friday afternoon will not.
The letter is the lake’s A–F water-quality grade: clarity, total phosphorus and chlorophyll-a measured over years, not a rating of the beach, the boat ramp or the view. An A describes the lake’s record; it does not clear the water for a particular afternoon. Lakes with no letter are not listed here, because the letter is the only axis this page ranks on.
Size and access come from the lake record where the agency published them. “Not recorded” means nobody documented it — it is a gap in the paperwork, not a statement about the lake.
More lakes near Chicago
Nearby cities
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Lake Opeka in Cook County, Illinois. It grades A and the drive is 32 min, or 19.7 road miles. The closest graded lake of any kind is Flatfoot Lake at 29 min, and it grades D.
3 min each way. Flatfoot Lake is 29 min out and grades D; Lake Opeka is 32 min out and grades A.
14 of the 40 lakes here have a public access point on the record, and the closest is Flatfoot Lake, 29 min away, grading D. The rest of the table shows "Not recorded" where no access point was documented, which is not the same as no access — check with the managing agency before you trailer a boat.
By road, from downtown Chicago to the nearest public road at each lake, over the OpenStreetMap road network. They are free-flow times: no traffic, no time of day, no stops. Treat them as the floor, and add for rush hour and for the last stretch to the water.
No. The letter summarises years of phosphorus, nitrogen, algae and turbidity measurements — it describes the lake, not this afternoon. A beach closure, a bloom, or a heavy rain can change conditions on an A lake overnight. Check the lake's own page for its measurement record, and check the managing agency for current advisories before you get in.
Stay by the water, not by the highway
Cabins, hotels and rentals around Lake Opeka in Cook County — the closest lake to Chicago that grades A. 32 min from downtown.
Top-rated places to stay near Lake Opeka
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