Arizona's Most Charming Beach Towns
Arizona's most charming beach towns line the Colorado River and the reservoirs behind its dams. Lake Havasu City draws swimmers to beaches beneath a transplanted London Bridge. Yuma logs more sunshine than any city on record. Nogales trades street music for a quiet mountain lake. The seven towns below each pull a beach day out of the desert.
Lake Havasu City
Lake Havasu City has more than 450 miles of sandy reservoir shoreline. A transplanted London Bridge watches over its beaches. The London Bridge crosses the Bridgewater Channel downtown. Robert McCulloch won it at a 1968 auction for $2,460,000. Crews shipped the numbered granite blocks to Arizona. McCulloch finished the rebuild by 1971. The span had carried traffic over the River Thames in London, England.
Lake Havasu formed behind Parker Dam on the California-Arizona line. Its beaches fill up through the warm months. Swimmers and boaters share the water. More than 350 species of desert birds live in the habitat nearby. SARA Park and local trails handle the hiking and biking.
Parker
Parker stretches along more than 50 miles of Colorado River waterfront. The Parker Strip draws a steady summer crowd. The river town sends visitors to Buckskin Mountain State Park. The park has sandy beaches for swimming, boating, and camping. Jet skiing and water skiing fill the river all summer.
Parker Dam is the deepest dam in the world. About 73 percent of its 320-foot height lies below the riverbed. The dam created Lake Havasu upstream. Bars and restaurants line the downtown streets. The area also has museums and a casino.
Nogales
Nogales backs a cross-border downtown with Peña Blanca Lake. The lake lies in the hills northwest of town. Anglers and paddlers find quiet water there. The United States-Mexico border splits the downtown. Mexican restaurants and local boutiques line the streets. Music drifts between them.
Madera Canyon draws birders in the cooler months. Migrating species move through the surrounding ranges. Sonoita Creek State Natural Area adds hiking and horseback trails. Patient visitors spot the occasional endangered species.
Tempe
Tempe centers its beach scene on Tempe Town Lake. The lake dams a reach of the Salt River downtown. Sandy edges line the shore. Paddleboarders share the water with sunset walkers. Festivals fill the banks through the year. Mill Avenue lines up shops and restaurants nearby.
The Salt River draws herons and egrets just outside the city. Tubers, kayakers, and anglers crowd the channel in summer. The university crowd fills the calendar with live music and theater.
Safford
Safford has its beach at Roper Lake State Park. A sandy swimming beach meets a natural mineral hot spring there. The park lies a few miles south of downtown. Soakers use the spring after a day in the water. Campfire nights round out a lakefront stay.
The Gila River passes the town. Interpretive markers line its banks. Mexican food draws crowds downtown. More than a dozen restaurants and a local tortilla factory feed them. The Black Hills Back Country and Coronado Trail byways climb into the hills. Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness opens up to the south for backcountry hiking and camping.
Page
Page overlooks Lake Powell and Wahweap Beach. The beach gives the slickrock canyons a sandy swimming shore. The water stays clear and blue with light crowds. Red rock formations ring the town. Page began in 1957 as a camp for Glen Canyon Dam crews.
Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area open the door to boating and rafting. Glen Canyon Dam holds the lake just outside town. Antelope Canyon offers guided slot canyon tours nearby. Vermilion Cliffs National Monument and Monument Valley lie within driving range.
Yuma
Yuma matches record sunshine with sandy river swimming at Centennial Beach. The city holds the Guinness World Record as the sunniest place on Earth. The sun shines about 91 percent of possible daylight hours each year. The beach stays busy near the Mexican border.
The Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park preserves a Wild West lockup. It held prisoners from 1876 to 1909. Offroaders head for the Imperial Sand Dunes east of town. Kayakers and canoers take to the Colorado when the heat eases.
Where Arizona Goes to the Beach
The water here comes from dammed rivers and spring-fed parks, not an ocean. Lake Powell fills the slickrock canyons above Page. The Salt River pools into Tempe Town Lake downtown. Roper Lake holds a warm mineral spring south of Safford. Parker Dam hides most of its 320-foot bulk under the Colorado. Each town trades the cactus image for sand and open water. The swimming season here lasts well past summer.
