Late afternoon sun over Slim Lake, scattering a bright path across wind-textured water

40 graded lakes within 4 hr of downtown

Driving from Cincinnati to a lake worth swimming in

Doe Run Lake is the closest graded water to Cincinnati, 22 min away, and it grades C. Marysville Upground Reservoir grades A and takes 2 hr 26 min — 2 hr 4 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.

Slim Lake, Washburn County, Wisconsin. Photo: Tim Adair — Original photograph

Closest water

CDoe Run Lake

22 min

10.6 road miles · Kenton County, KY

The shortest drive on this page. Its letter is C.

Closest A

AMarysville Upground Reservoir

2 hr 26 min

112.3 road miles · Union County, OH

2 hr 4 min further than the closest lake.

Closest B

BOwsley Fork Reservoir

2 hr 26 min

125.3 road miles · Madison County, KY

Closest public access

CDoe Run Lake

22 min

10.6 road miles · Kenton County, KY

A boat landing or launch point is on the record for this lake.

Closer, or cleaner — the whole ladder

40 lakes, sorted by drive time from downtown Cincinnati. Letters in range: 1 A, 7 B, 13 C, 14 D, 5 F. Some of the best water is over a state line — this list crosses into Kentucky. The furthest entry is Lake Logan at 3 hr 3 min.

Drive	Lake	Grade	Road miles	County	Size	Access
22 min	Doe Run Lake	C	10.6	Kenton County, KY	51 ac	✓ Public
36 min	Campbell County Lake	C	19.8	Campbell County, KY	193 ac	✓ Public
41 min	Bullock Pen Lake	D	28.9	Boone County, KY	150 ac	✓ Public
49 min	Boltz Lake	D	36.7	Grant County, KY	92 ac	✓ Public
58 min	Williamstown Lake	C	40.6	Grant County, KY	300 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 2 min	Caesar Creek Lake	D	44.7	Warren County, OH	2,830 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 4 min	Corinth Lake	C	51.8	Grant County, KY	96 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 5 min	General Butler State Park Lake	D	54.7	Carroll County, KY	31 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 7 min	Kincaid Lake	C	36.9	Pendleton County, KY	179 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 12 min	Lake Elmer Davis	D	55.6	Owen County, KY	149 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 28 min	Benjy Kinman Lake	D	65.3	Henry County, KY	50 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 28 min	Lake Jericho	D	71.9	Henry County, KY	137 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 49 min	Buck Creek Lake	F	85.2	Clark County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
1 hr 53 min	Lake Cannigo	C	75.1	Nicholas County, KY	114 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 53 min	Long Run Lake	C	91	Jefferson County, KY	27 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 54 min	Shelby Lake	D	89.7	Shelby County, KY	57 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 57 min	Sand Lick Creek Lake	C	83.2	Fleming County, KY	74 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 58 min	Winchester Reservoir	D	102	Clark County, KY	90 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 2 min	Guist Creek Lake	D	93.7	Shelby County, KY	333 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 5 min	Lake Reba	D	108.8	Madison County, KY	76 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 16 min	Taylor Fork Lake	D	114.5	Madison County, KY	169 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 17 min	Beech Fork Reservoir	C	118.7	Powell County, KY	61 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 22 min	Herrington Lake	D	111.4	Garrard County, KY	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 26 min	Marysville Upground Reservoir	A	112.3	Union County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 26 min	Greenbrier Creek Reservoir	C	120.7	Montgomery County, KY	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 26 min	Owsley Fork Reservoir	B	125.3	Madison County, KY	152 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 30 min	Lost Creek Reservoir	B	128.6	Allen County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 31 min	Mill Creek Lake	C	134.8	Wolfe County, KY	41 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 36 min	O'Shaughnessy Reservoir Lake	F	120.8	Delaware County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 38 min	Stanford Reservoir	B	127.6	Lincoln County, KY	40 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 42 min	Williams Reservoir	C	126.8	Allen County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 42 min	Bresler Reservoir	F	126.8	Allen County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 43 min	Hoover Reservoir	F	130.6	Delaware County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 43 min	Cedar Creek Lake	B	133	Lincoln County, KY	784 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 43 min	Campton Lake	B	143.3	Wolfe County, KY	19 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 47 min	Alum Creek Lake	F	135.9	Delaware County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 49 min	Freeman Lake	B	142.9	Hardin County, KY	160 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 56 min	Grayson Lake	B	127.8	Carter County, KY	1,510 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 58 min	Smoky Valley Lake	C	116.2	Carter County, KY	35 ac	✓ Public
3 hr 3 min	Lake Logan	D	151.1	Hocking County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public

What the numbers are, and are not

Drive times and road miles are one-way road routing from downtown Cincinnati 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 Cincinnati

All Ohio lakes

Grades, counties and measurement records statewide

Drive-time pages for other cities

The same tradeoff, measured from each metro

Nearby cities

From Louisville

Nearest B: 57 min

From Indianapolis

Nearest B: 2 hr 58 min

From Columbus

Nearest A: 51 min

From Detroit

Nearest B: 42 min

From Nashville

Nearest B: 1 hr 41 min

From Cleveland

Nearest B: 1 hr 55 min

Common questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Marysville Upground Reservoir in Union County, Ohio. It grades A and the drive is 2 hr 26 min, or 112.3 road miles. The closest graded lake of any kind is Doe Run Lake at 22 min, and it grades C.

2 hr 4 min each way. Doe Run Lake is 22 min out and grades C; Marysville Upground Reservoir is 2 hr 26 min out and grades A.

31 of the 40 lakes here have a public access point on the record, and the closest is Doe Run Lake, 22 min away, grading C. 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 Cincinnati 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 Marysville Upground Reservoir in Union County — the closest lake to Cincinnati that grades A. 2 hr 26 min from downtown.

Top-rated places to stay near Marysville Upground Reservoir

Availability and prices from Stay22 partners (Booking.com, Vrbo, Expedia). We may earn a commission from bookings, at no extra cost to you.

Planning a trip to Marysville Upground Reservoir?

Get lake water-quality report cards plus the best cabin & lodging deals near Marysville Upground Reservoir — straight to your inbox. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.