40 graded lakes within 4 hr of downtown
Driving from Orlando to a lake worth swimming in
Lake Lucerne West is the closest graded water to Orlando, 2 min away, and it grades B. That is unusual: the closest lake is also the cleanest one worth driving to, so there is no tradeoff to make here.
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 Orlando. Letters in range: 18 B, 8 C, 14 D. The furthest entry is Lake Lily at 13 min.
| Drive | Lake | Grade | Road miles | County | Size | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 min | Lake Lucerne West | B | 0.4 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 2 min | Lklucernw Lake | B | 0.4 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 2 min | Lake Lucerne East | B | 0.7 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 2 min | Orange-Copeland Lake | C | 0.8 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 3 min | Lake Cherokee | B | 0.8 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 3 min | Orange-Cherokee Lake | B | 0.8 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 3 min | Lake of the Woods | D | 0.9 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 3 min | Lake Olive | D | 0.9 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 3 min | Orange-Olive Lake | C | 0.9 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 3 min | Orange-Eola Lake | C | 1.1 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 3 min | Lake Eola | C | 1.1 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 3 min | Lake Beauty | B | 1.2 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 3 min | Lake Lurna | B | 1.2 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 4 min | Lkolivectr Lake | D | 1.2 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 4 min | Lake Lawsona | D | 1.3 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 4 min | Lake Davis | D | 1.5 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 4 min | Orange-Davis Lake | B | 1.5 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 4 min | Lkemerld Lake | D | 1.6 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 4 min | Lake Emerald | D | 1.6 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 4 min | Lake Dot | B | 1.8 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 4 min | Lake Como | D | 1.9 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 4 min | Lake Concord | B | 2 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 5 min | Lake Weldona | D | 1.7 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 5 min | Orange-Weldona Lake | D | 1.7 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 5 min | Lake Beardall | D | 1.9 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 5 min | Lake Lorna Doone | B | 2.1 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 6 min | Lake Lancaster East | B | 2.2 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 6 min | Lake Lancaster West | B | 2.2 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 6 min | Lake Adair | D | 2.4 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 6 min | Orange-Adair Lake | C | 2.4 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 6 min | Lakejne | D | 2.5 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 7 min | Orange-Lancaster Lake | B | 2.3 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 7 min | Lake Wade | D | 2.6 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 8 min | Lake Terrace | C | 3.3 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 8 min | Lkterrce Lake | C | 3.3 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 9 min | Orange-Fairviewsouth Lake | C | 4.5 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 11 min | Tyner Lake | B | 5.3 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 13 min | Lake Virginia | B | 5.9 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 13 min | Lake Baldwin | B | 6.1 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 13 min | Lake Lily | B | 8 | Orange County, FL | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
What the numbers are, and are not
Drive times and road miles are one-way road routing from downtown Orlando 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 Orlando
Nearby cities
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Lake Lucerne West in Orange County, Florida. It grades B and the drive is 2 min, or 0.4 road miles. It is also the closest graded lake of any kind.
Not longer at all. The closest lake to Orlando is also the closest one grading A or B, so the cleaner water costs no extra driving.
4 of the 40 lakes here have a public access point on the record, and the closest is Tyner Lake, 11 min away, grading B. 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 Orlando 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 Lucerne West in Orange County — the closest lake to Orlando that grades B. 2 min from downtown.
Top-rated places to stay near Lake Lucerne West
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