Lake · Benzie & Sleeping Bear
An all-sports lake: 9,854 acres, 165 feet deep and very clear. Swim at the sandy Beulah beach, fuel up at the marina, fish for trout and perch.
Crystal Lake is an all-sports lake on a big scale: no local speed or hour limits, so you can ski, tube, sail and cruise across 9,854 acres of very clear, cold water up to about 165 feet deep. The sandy beach at Beulah on the east end is the easy place to swim with a family, and Crystal Lake Marina in Beulah sells fuel at its dock. Anglers come for lake trout, rainbow trout and smallmouth, and perch and smelt keep them coming back through the ice. The Michigan DNR ranks it the ninth-largest inland lake in the state.
Start at the Beulah public beach. You get a marked swim area over a sandy bottom, a beach house and a playground, and the village launch is right there too. Beulah outfitters list kayak, paddleboard, pontoon and fishing-boat rentals.
The tradeoff with a lake this big is the wind. It runs east to west, which leaves it exposed to Lake Michigan winds, and whitecaps are common. If you paddle, check the wind first. Most of the roughly 21-mile shoreline is private, but you have options: the large DNR launch on the south shore, the Beulah launch and beach, and the Railroad Point Natural Area, which protects nearly 200 acres and more than 3,000 feet of undeveloped shoreline. The Betsie Valley Trail runs beside the lake between Beulah and Frankfort.
The numbers are big: 9,854 acres, a maximum depth of roughly 165 feet and an average near 70. The lake fills a valley between glacial moraines in western Benzie County, about half a mile from the Lake Michigan shore and just north of Frankfort, with Beulah on the east shore and Benzonia just to the south.
Its shape comes from an 1873 accident. A plan to dredge a navigable channel from Lake Michigan up the Betsie River misjudged the difference in water levels. When crews widened the outlet, the lake drained about 20 feet over roughly two weeks and lost about a quarter of its surface area. A dam on the outlet holds the level now.
No local speed, hour or horsepower limits are listed for Crystal Lake, so state boating law applies.
Go to the Beulah public beach on the east end. You get several hundred feet of sandy shore, a marked swim area over a sandy bottom, a beach house, a playground and parking.
The Michigan DNR's largest access site is off Mollineaux Road on the south shore, just east of Railroad Point. It opened for the 2012 boating season with four launch ramps, paved parking for vehicles with trailers, and two ADA spaces. Smaller launches are at the end of Lobb Road on the south shore and Nichols Road on the north shore.
Watch the wind. The lake runs east to west, which leaves it exposed to Lake Michigan winds, and whitecaps are common. The Village of Beulah runs a second main launch at the east end with two ramps and a listed accessible fishing pier, and the Crystal Lake and Watershed Association operates a boat-wash station at the DNR site.
Kayaks and paddleboards rent in Beulah, and the east-end beach is the easy place to launch. The lake runs east to west and takes Lake Michigan winds head on, so whitecaps are common. Check the wind before you head out.
This is deep, cold water, and it supports lake trout, rainbow trout, smallmouth bass, yellow perch, rock bass and a popular rainbow smelt fishery, along with a self-sustaining population of coho salmon. Lake and rainbow trout are stocked. Check current Michigan DNR rules before fishing.
Species include coho salmon, lake trout, lake whitefish, rainbow trout, rock bass, smallmouth bass, and yellow perch.
Very clear. Summer 2025 readings averaged a Secchi depth of 35.8 feet, from 10 readings between 30 and 45 feet (MiCorps CLMP). The lake is oligotrophic: low in nutrients, with plenty of oxygen in deep water.
Crystal Lake drains west through Outlet Creek. A dam on the outlet holds the water level, and the lake is kept six inches lower in winter to protect shoreline structures from ice.
Swimmer's itch rose again in 2026, after two summers without the lake association's merganser relocation program. Zebra and quagga mussels are in the lake, and Eurasian watermilfoil grows at the east end near Beulah. Township ordinances require you to wash any boat that has been in other water in the last 10 days. A free wash station at the DNR launch is listed as running May through October, staffed in summer and self-serve any time.
Yellow perch draw anglers through the ice, and the DNR has reported excellent night smelt fishing in 45 to 50 feet of water (February 2014). Safe ice is not a given on a lake this big: in late January 2020 the DNR reported little safe ice. Check conditions before you go out.
Crystal Lake DNR boating access site (Mollineaux Road)
The main public launch, on the south shore: five lanes that take any trailerable boat, three piers, paved parking for 101 trailers and 21 cars, vault toilets and a boat wash station. A Recreation Passport is required.
Beulah Public Beach launch
A secondary public launch at the village beach on the east end. Township boat-wash rules apply here too.
Two locations in Beulah. It bills itself as the only dockside fuel station on Crystal Lake and lists repair, storage and rentals; check current services before you go.
Lists fishing boats, pontoons, a ski boat and personal watercraft for summer rental on Crystal Lake, from two Beulah locations. Drivers must be 21.
Lists kayak, paddleboard, bike and pontoon rentals from shops in Beulah and Frankfort.
Listed because their own sites say they rent on this water. Not an endorsement, and we have no ties to them. Check with them for what is available.
Fishing, launching at a state site or parking at a state park? See licenses and passes for what you need before you go.
Anything not listed here is unverified. Do not assume public access across private shoreline. Check the Michigan DNR boating access listings and the current fishing regulations.
Summer is for fishing, boating, sailing and swimming. Families head to Beulah's village beach on the east end, which has a marked swimming area.
In spring and fall, anglers fish from the Beulah beach area for rainbow trout, lake trout and coho salmon.
Yellow perch draw anglers through the ice as well as in open water. The lake is kept six inches lower in winter to protect shoreline structures from ice.
Map of Crystal Lake
3 places on an OpenStreetMap map
Lakefront cottages and homes are listed by the local rental managers and booking sites below.
Budget
Crystal Lake ResortListed by Traverse City Tourism · Listed by Pure Michigan, the state travel bureau
Confirm details before booking.
Search all hotels in Beulah: Booking.com · Expedia · Hotels.com · Google Hotels
We don’t take bookings or earn anything from these links. Rates, availability and any booking problems are handled by the booking site.
A Beulah-based rental manager with homes and cottages around Crystal Lake, Beulah and Frankfort, plus other parts of Michigan.
A Traverse City rental company with homes, cottages and condos across Leelanau, Glen Arbor, the Benzie area and nearby Arcadia and Bear Lake.
Resort
On the north shore of Crystal Lake near Frankfort
A family-run resort on Crystal Lake that has hosted guests since 1935, with cottages, apartments and rooms in a historic lodge and a listed season of May through October.
Resort · Budget
On the east end of Crystal Lake in Beulah, walking distance from downtown
A small lakeside motel and cottage resort on Crystal Lake in Beulah, with a private beach and a short walk to the village.
Confirm details before booking
Benzie & Sleeping Bear · Small town
For an easy Crystal Lake day: Benzie County's small seat has a sandy village beach, a public launch and the Betsie Valley Trail running through.
About 5 miles away (straight line)
Benzie & Sleeping Bear
A beach-and-lighthouse harbor town: a Lake Michigan beach at the end of Main Street, a breakwater light off the sand and Point Betsie up the shore.
About 3 miles away (straight line)
Straight-line distances from the map point.
Trail
A 22-mile rail trail from Frankfort past Crystal Lake and Beulah, paved at the west end and aggregate beyond, with snowmobiling on the east part in winter.
About 3 miles away (straight line)
Historic site
Frankfort's 1923 Main Street movie house, renovated and run by a nonprofit, showing first-run and independent films and home to the Frankfort Film Festival.
About 4 miles away (straight line)
Lighthouse
A 67-foot square steel lighthouse at the head of Frankfort's north breakwater, marking the harbor entrance in full view of the city beach.
About 4 miles away (straight line)
Lake · Benzie & Sleeping Bear
Frankfort's no-wake harbor at the mouth of the Betsie River, with marinas on both shores, a big city launch and a short run to Lake Michigan.
Lake · Benzie & Sleeping Bear
An all-sports lake of about 2,500 acres near Honor: ski, tube and sail, then fish for walleye and smallmouth. The no-wake Platte River runs on to Lake Michigan.
River · Benzie & Sleeping Bear
An easy, clear, shallow river for tubing and paddling through Sleeping Bear Dunes to Platte Bay, with fall salmon and steelhead in fall and spring.
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