Chism Beach Park is an 18-acre waterfront park run by the City of Bellevue Parks and Community Services Department on the east shore of Lake Washington, about a mile southwest of downtown Bellevue. It is one of six Bellevue parks with a public Lake Washington beach. The land belonged to Middleton M. Chism, who bought it in 1940 and held off developers who wanted to divide up close to 1,000 feet of shoreline. The city bought it from his family with a 1965 parks bond and opened it in 1966. The swim beach sits at the foot of a wooded bluff and faces west toward Mercer Island and Seattle, so it gets the afternoon sun.

The park address is 9600 SE 11th Street. From downtown, take Bellevue Way south to Main Street, go west, then left on 101st Avenue SE and follow it uphill to SE 11th Street. The main lot is up top next to the Upland Lawn. Stairs drop from there to the beach, with a paved, gentler path for strollers and wheelchairs. A small lot off 96th Avenue SE next to the lower picnic area has two accessible spaces; the road down to it is narrow and winding. The city lists no entry or parking fee, so the beach is free. Park hours run from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset.

The swim area is a level, sandy beach with a roped-off zone marked by float lines. A dock with ladders extends along the edge of the swim area and there is a separate float farther out in the deeper section. Lake Washington is a large, cold, deep lake with no real current, and the water is warmest from late July through August. In 2026 lifeguards worked at Chism daily from noon to 7 p.m. between June 27 and Sept. 7, which put it among the three Bellevue beaches with the longest guarded season. When guards are on duty, swimmers have to pass a supervised swim test before going into the deep water, and any flotation device needs a lifeguard's approval. Outside those dates nobody is watching, so in fall and spring you swim on your own.

Bellevue's beach rules apply here: stay inside the float lines, no diving from the dock or floats, no swimming under docks or floats, no sitting on float lines or log booms, no running on the dock and no scuba diving. Dogs are not allowed at beach parks from June 1 to Sept. 15. Kayaks, paddleboards and other non-motorized boats may only be launched and landed here outside the swim season. King County tests lake swimming beaches for bacteria in summer and the city posts any Bellevue swim closures on its beach parks page. Chism's swim area was closed for one day in July 2014 after a small sewer overflow nearby, and testing showed it had not reached the beach. The county advises staying out of the lake for 24 hours after heavy rain and watching for algae blooms.

Right behind the beach there is a children's playground (ages 5 to 12). Restrooms, a drinking fountain and picnic tables sit on the lower level. Up the hill, the Upland Lawn has views across the lake and two picnic sites the city rents for group events and weddings. The lawn is also home to the Burrows Cabin, built in the 1880s by pioneer Albert Burrows and considered Bellevue's oldest surviving building. A short path runs north from the beach along the rocky shore, and the small Burrows Landing park is just to the south.