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

40 lakes with water-quality readings within 4 hr of downtown

Driving from Cincinnati to a lake worth swimming in

Doe Run Lake is the closest lake with water-quality readings to Cincinnati, 22 min away. Marysville Upground Reservoir has clear, low-nutrient readings and takes 2 hr 26 min, 2 hr 4 min more in the car, each way, for cleaner water.

Every lake below is ranked by how long the drive is, and each links to its own water-quality readings. Closest is not the same as cleanest, and this page will not pretend otherwise.

Closest water

Doe Run Lake

22 min

10.6 road miles · Kenton County, KY

The shortest drive on this page.

Closest clear, low-nutrient water

Marysville Upground Reservoir

2 hr 26 min

112.3 road miles · Union County, OH

2 hr 4 min further than the closest lake.

Closest public access

Doe 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. 8 of them have clear, low-nutrient readings. Some of the best water is over a state line — this list crosses into Kentucky, Indiana. The furthest entry is Grayson Lake at 2 hr 56 min.

Drive	Lake	Road miles	County	Size	Access
22 min	Doe Run Lake	10.6	Kenton County, KY	51 ac	✓ Public
36 min	Campbell County Lake	19.8	Campbell County, KY	193 ac	✓ Public
41 min	Bullock Pen Lake	28.9	Boone County, KY	150 ac	✓ Public
49 min	Boltz Lake	36.7	Grant County, KY	92 ac	✓ Public
58 min	Williamstown Lake	40.6	Grant County, KY	300 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 2 min	Caesar Creek Lake	44.7	Warren County, OH	2,830 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 4 min	Corinth Lake	51.8	Grant County, KY	96 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 5 min	General Butler State Park Lake	54.7	Carroll County, KY	31 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 7 min	Kincaid Lake	36.9	Pendleton County, KY	179 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 12 min	Lake Elmer Davis	55.6	Owen County, KY	149 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 28 min	Benjy Kinman Lake	65.3	Henry County, KY	50 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 28 min	Lake Jericho	71.9	Henry County, KY	137 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 31 min	Brookville Lake	54.8	Union County, IN	4,364 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 49 min	Buck Creek Lake	85.2	Clark County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
1 hr 53 min	Lake Cannigo	75.1	Nicholas County, KY	114 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 53 min	Long Run Lake	91	Jefferson County, KY	27 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 54 min	Shelby Lake	89.7	Shelby County, KY	57 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 57 min	Sand Lick Creek Lake	83.2	Fleming County, KY	74 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 58 min	Winchester Reservoir	102	Clark County, KY	90 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 2 min	Guist Creek Lake	93.7	Shelby County, KY	333 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 5 min	Lake Reba	108.8	Madison County, KY	76 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 16 min	Taylor Fork Lake	114.5	Madison County, KY	169 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 17 min	Beech Fork Reservoir	118.7	Powell County, KY	61 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 22 min	Herrington Lake	111.4	Garrard County, KY	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 26 min	Marysville Upground Reservoir	112.3	Union County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 26 min	Greenbrier Creek Reservoir	120.7	Montgomery County, KY	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 26 min	Owsley Fork Reservoir	125.3	Madison County, KY	152 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 30 min	Grand Lake St Marys	119	Mercer County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 30 min	Lost Creek Reservoir	128.6	Allen County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 35 min	Cordry Lake	107.5	Brown County, IN	167 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 36 min	O'Shaughnessy Reservoir Lake	120.8	Delaware County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 38 min	Stanford Reservoir	127.6	Lincoln County, KY	40 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 42 min	Bresler Reservoir	126.8	Allen County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 43 min	Hoover Reservoir	130.6	Delaware County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 43 min	Cedar Creek Lake	133	Lincoln County, KY	784 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 43 min	Campton Lake	143.3	Wolfe County, KY	19 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 44 min	Starve Hollow Lake	107.3	Jackson County, IN	126 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 47 min	Alum Creek Lake	135.9	Delaware County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 49 min	Freeman Lake	142.9	Hardin County, KY	160 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 56 min	Grayson Lake	127.8	Carter County, KY	1,510 ac	✓ 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.

Each lake’s water-quality readings, phosphorus, nitrogen, chlorophyll-a and turbidity measured over years by state and federal agencies, are on its own page. They describe the lake’s record; they do not clear the water for a particular afternoon, and they say nothing about the beach, the boat ramp or the view. Lakes with no nutrient or algae reading on record are not listed here, because the water 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

Counties and measurement records statewide

Drive-time pages for other cities

The same tradeoff, measured from each metro

Nearby cities

From Louisville

Nearest clear water: 57 min

From Indianapolis

Nearest clear water: 2 hr 42 min

From Columbus

Nearest clear water: 51 min

From Detroit

Nearest clear water: 42 min

From Nashville

Nearest clear water: 1 hr 41 min

From Cleveland

Nearest clear water: 1 hr 55 min

Common questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Marysville Upground Reservoir in Union County, Ohio. Its nutrient and algae readings are among the most favourable within reach, and the drive is 2 hr 26 min, or 112.3 road miles. The closest lake of any kind with readings on record is Doe Run Lake at 22 min.

2 hr 4 min each way. Doe Run Lake is 22 min out; Marysville Upground Reservoir, with the more favourable readings, is 2 hr 26 min out.

30 of the 40 lakes here have a public access point on the record, and the closest is Doe Run Lake, 22 min away. 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 readings summarise years of phosphorus, nitrogen, algae and turbidity measurements; they describe the lake, not this afternoon. A beach closure, a bloom, or a heavy rain can change conditions overnight. Whether a lake is safe to swim in is a call for the state water agency and the county health department: 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 with the most favourable readings in range. 2 hr 26 min from downtown.

Top-rated places to stay near Marysville Upground Reservoir

Prices for Oct 16–18, 4 adults. Change dates on the map below.

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