Things to do in Clear Lake
Where to eat, what to rent, which beach — and how to find the crash site on the first try.
The beaches
Three to choose from, and none of them have lifeguards.
- City Beach, South Lakeview Drive — right downtown, walkable from Main Avenue, with restrooms, an outdoor shower, free parking and a splash pad running daily 10am–8pm from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
- Clear Lake State Park, south shore — a 900-foot sandy beach with a concrete accessible path along it.
- McIntosh Woods State Park, north shore at Ventura — sandy beach and a sandbar.
A useful local habit: the DNR posts water testing results on Fridays. Worth a look before you build a whole day around the beach, the same way you'd check a forecast.
The parks
Clear Lake State Park has 155 campsites, a boat ramp, picnic grounds and a 1938 day-use lodge with a fireplace you can rent. Camping is 100% reservable and a reservation is required — don't turn up hoping.
McIntosh Woods has the biggest boat ramp on the lake, a marsh boardwalk out to a wildlife viewing blind, and the only two yurts in the Iowa state park system. ⚠️ Its campground is closed for the whole of 2026 for a rebuild, reopening 2027 — day use, the ramp, the beach, the trails and the yurts all stay open.
In town there are sixteen city parks. City Park downtown has been there since 1856 and holds the sail-shaped 1955 bandshell, a vintage domed merry-go-round, a ship-themed playground and an ice rink in winter. Everybody Plays Park on S 15th is an all-abilities playground with its own splash pad. Pine Tree is the largest, with sand volleyball. There are six lighted pickleball courts and six tennis courts on N 20th, and a fenced two-acre dog park at the recreation complex on 12th Ave S. Shelter reservations are free.
Ventura Marsh at the west end is over a thousand acres and an Important Bird Area, with a new section opened in 2025. It's also an active waterfowl hunting area, so check the season before you wander.
Trails — and one thing to get right
You'll see a 14-mile "Lake Lap" promoted as a loop around the lake. Be clear on what it is: a signed on-road cycling route on public roads, with a gravel stretch near Farmers Beach. It's a good ride for confident adults. It is not a separated family path, whatever the marketing implies.
The genuinely separated trail is the Trolley Trail — 7.5 miles of asphalt following an old trolley line, set back from the road, running east to meet Mason City's network. There's also the paved mile of Sisters' Prairie Trail at Ventura, and a mile of paved trail inside McIntosh Woods.
Golf, disc golf and the seawall
Veterans Memorial on North Shore Drive is the municipal course — nine holes, and green fees start at $15 on a weekday. Oak Hills on 27th Ave S is nine holes, par 30, and a good place to learn. For disc golf, One Vision on N 9th St W is eighteen wooded holes and free to play; the recreation complex has a flat, beginner-friendly nine.
And the seawall — the downtown promenade, built by WPA crews out of local fieldstone and finished in May 1936, on the site of a dance hall a tornado took in 1931. It's on the National Register, it's the best walk in town, and it's at its best in the twenty minutes after sunset.
Ask me anything
Text me before you come up and I’ll tell you what’s worth doing that weekend — what’s open, what’s on, and where to eat. No appointment and no pressure. I do it for people who have no intention of ever buying a house here, because that’s the town, not the job.
Places open, close and change their hours. Everything here was right when I wrote it — check with the venue before you drive across the state for it.