Bolding Mill Park is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers park on the northwest shore of Lake Sidney Lanier, about 30 miles up the lake from Buford Dam and roughly 8 miles northwest of downtown Gainesville in Hall County. The park sits on the Chestatee River arm of the reservoir and combines a day-use area (picnic shelters, playground, restrooms, boat ramp and a designated swim beach) with a 97-site campground. Hall County Parks and Recreation now runs the campground in partnership with the Corps, but the beach is in the day-use part of the park, outside the campground gate, and is open to anyone.

To get there from Georgia 400, take the Highway 53 exit east toward Gainesville, turn left on Sardis Road, then left on Chestatee Road, and go straight through the stop sign until the road dead-ends into the park at 4055 Chestatee Road. Coming from Interstate 985, take Highway 53 west and turn right on Sardis Road. The beach lot is the row of parking just inside the day-use area, with restrooms and the playground a short walk from the water. Parking is first come, first served, and on summer weekends and the big holiday weekends it fills early.

The swim beach is unusual for Lanier. Instead of trucked-in sand, most of it is a wide concrete slope that runs gently down into the water, which gives wheelchair users and small kids an easy, even entry. Past the end of the slab the bottom turns to the lake's usual red clay, and it drops off faster than it looks. Swim only within the designated beach area. No lifeguards are listed for the beach, so swimming is at your own risk and children need an adult within reach. Surface water runs in the low to mid 80s Fahrenheit in July and August and is cold well into May.

Lake Lanier Corps parks charge a day-use fee, and Recreation.gov notes for Bolding Mill that day-use fees apply to all visitors, separate from any shelter or campsite reservation. The current Lake Lanier Corps schedule is $8 per vehicle and $3 per person walking or biking in, children under 16 free, and the $40 Corps annual day-use pass and America the Beautiful passes are accepted. One day-use payment covers the beach and the boat ramp for that day. Gate hours are posted at the park entrance, and the campground gate locks at 10:30 p.m.

Lanier records drownings nearly every summer, so treat the deep water past the slab with respect. Stay in the swim area, keep an eye on boat wakes from the main channel, and expect the shoreline to move with the lake level: in dry years the Corps draws the reservoir down and the water's edge can sit well below the bottom of the concrete. Alcohol is prohibited in the park and pets are not allowed in designated swim areas. Thunderstorms build fast over the lake on summer afternoons.

Beyond the beach there are two reservable group shelters (Recreation.gov), open picnic tables, a playground, a fishing pier and a boat ramp with a courtesy dock, so paddlers can launch kayaks here and explore the coves of the Chestatee arm. The campground has 88 water and electric sites plus nine tent-only sites, many right on the water, with showers and a laundry. Duckett Mill and Little Hall parks are a few miles away by road if Bolding Mill is full.