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 Nashville to a lake worth swimming in

West Fork Drakes Reservoir is the closest lake with water-quality readings to Nashville, 54 min away. Lake Malone has clear, low-nutrient readings and takes 1 hr 41 min, 47 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

West Fork Drakes Reservoir

54 min

45.2 road miles · Simpson County, KY

The shortest drive on this page.

Closest clear, low-nutrient water

Lake Malone

1 hr 41 min

74.2 road miles · Logan County, KY

47 min further than the closest lake.

Closest public access

West Fork Drakes Reservoir

54 min

45.2 road miles · Simpson 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 Nashville. 14 of them have clear, low-nutrient readings. Some of the best water is over a state line — this list crosses into Kentucky, Illinois. The furthest entry is Laurel Creek Reservoir at 3 hr 40 min.

Drive	Lake	Road miles	County	Size	Access
54 min	West Fork Drakes Reservoir	45.2	Simpson County, KY	Not recorded	✓ Public
1 hr 14 min	Briggs Lake	57.7	Logan County, KY	18 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 29 min	Lake Blythe	76.6	Christian County, KY	89 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 33 min	Spa Lake	71.7	Logan County, KY	244 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 35 min	Lake Morris	77.4	Christian County, KY	170 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 41 min	Lake Malone	74.2	Logan County, KY	826 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 43 min	Goose Lake	85.1	Muhlenberg County, KY	Not recorded	✓ Public
1 hr 46 min	Boiling Fork Creek Lake	87.6	Franklin County, TN	Not recorded	Not recorded
1 hr 49 min	Shanty Hollow Lake	80.4	Warren County, KY	135 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 56 min	Luzerne Lake	91.2	Muhlenberg County, KY	59 ac	Not recorded
1 hr 59 min	Loch Mary Reservoir	102.9	Hopkins County, KY	148 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 59 min	Grapevine Lake	103.9	Hopkins County, KY	49 ac	Not recorded
2 hr	Pennyrile Lake	95.5	Christian County, KY	47 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 6 min	Lake Beshear	99.1	Christian County, KY	794 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 7 min	Lake Peewee	109.1	Hopkins County, KY	360 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 9 min	Island Lake	95.9	Ohio County, KY	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 9 min	Lake Washburn	111.9	Ohio County, KY	26 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 11 min	Energy Lake	99.8	Trigg County, KY	370 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 15 min	South Lake	97.3	Ohio County, KY	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 16 min	Mill Creek Lake	91.5	Monroe County, KY	109 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 21 min	Caneyville Reservoir	109.1	Grayson County, KY	77 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 24 min	Nolin Lake	106.8	Edmonson County, KY	5,790 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 32 min	Honker Lake	105.1	Lyon County, KY	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 34 min	Providence City Lake New	125.9	Webster County, KY	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 35 min	Rough River Lake	121.7	Breckinridge County, KY	5,100 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 36 min	Caney Creek Lake	140.4	Roane County, TN	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 38 min	Kentucky Lake	116.1	Calloway County, KY	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 39 min	Kingfisher Lakes	138.6	Daviess County, KY	32 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 39 min	Carpenters Lake	138.8	Daviess County, KY	62 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 45 min	Campbellsville City Reservoir	145.8	Taylor County, KY	63 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 50 min	Metropolis Lake	147.7	McCracken County, KY	Not recorded	Not recorded
3 hr 8 min	Mermet Lake	159.5	Massac County, IL	1 ac	✓ Public
3 hr 9 min	Glendale Lake	163.3	Pope County, IL	84 ac	Not recorded
3 hr 16 min	Vienna Correctional Center Lake	171.6	Johnson County, IL	74 ac	Not recorded
3 hr 27 min	Hiwassee River Lake	172.7	Bradley County, TN	2 ac	✓ Public
3 hr 30 min	Dutchman Lake	174.2	Johnson County, IL	Not recorded	✓ Public
3 hr 31 min	Fish Lake	172.6	Carlisle County, KY	Not recorded	✓ Public
3 hr 33 min	Forked Lake	171.6	Carlisle County, KY	Not recorded	✓ Public
3 hr 37 min	Pounds Hollow Lake	175.2	Gallatin County, IL	28 ac	Not recorded
3 hr 40 min	Laurel Creek Reservoir	174.6	McCreary County, KY	54 ac	✓ Public

What the numbers are, and are not

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

All Tennessee lakes

Counties and measurement records statewide

Drive-time pages for other cities

The same tradeoff, measured from each metro

Nearby cities

From Birmingham

Nearest clear water: 2 hr 10 min

From Louisville

Nearest clear water: 57 min

From Indianapolis

Nearest clear water: 2 hr 42 min

From Memphis

Nearest clear water: 1 hr 13 min

From Atlanta

Nearest clear water: 3 hr

From Cincinnati

Nearest clear water: 2 hr 26 min

Common questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Lake Malone in Logan County, Kentucky. Its nutrient and algae readings are among the most favourable within reach, and the drive is 1 hr 41 min, or 74.2 road miles. The closest lake of any kind with readings on record is West Fork Drakes Reservoir at 54 min.

47 min each way. West Fork Drakes Reservoir is 54 min out; Lake Malone, with the more favourable readings, is 1 hr 41 min out.

30 of the 40 lakes here have a public access point on the record, and the closest is West Fork Drakes Reservoir, 54 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 Nashville 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 Lake Malone in Logan County, the closest lake to Nashville with the most favourable readings in range. 1 hr 41 min from downtown.

Top-rated places to stay near Lake Malone

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

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