Douglas Beach is a 1.5-acre city park on the Lake Michigan shore in the City of the Village of Douglas, in Allegan County. The City of Douglas owns and maintains it, and its Tri-Community parks plan lists swimming, picnicking, sunset watching and beach glass hunting as the main uses. The park sits on a wooded bluff in a quiet cottage neighborhood along Lakeshore Drive, roughly 1.3 miles west of downtown Douglas and about a mile's walk south of Oval Beach. A beach has been here since about 1900, when the site had a bathhouse with 19 changing rooms, a snack bar and steep stairs to the water.

The address is 3099 Lakeshore Drive, at the west end of Center Street. Parking is the hard part. The bluff-top lot and the road shoulder hold only about ten cars, with one marked barrier-free space, and parking is free. On summer weekends it fills early. The paved Beach to Bayou Trail follows Center Street for 1.6 miles from Wade's Bayou on the Kalamazoo River, past downtown and the Root Beer Barrel, and ends at the beach, so walking or biking in from town is a reasonable plan. The Interurban bus that serves Saugatuck and Douglas is another way to skip the parking problem.

From the lot, a long wooden boardwalk staircase with landings drops down the bluff to a narrow strip of sand tucked between private lakefront cottages, so the dry sand above the waterline on either side belongs to the neighbors. You swim in open Lake Michigan straight off the beach over a sandy bottom, with no roped area, so small children need close watching. Water temperatures usually reach the 60s to low 70s by late July and August, but a west-shore upwelling can drop them sharply overnight. There are no lifeguards. Allegan County samples Great Lakes beaches for E. coli weekly in summer and posts results on the state's BeachGuard site, which is worth a look after heavy rain.

Entry is free, with no parking fee or permit, and the beach is open to everyone, not just residents. Dogs and alcohol are not allowed. The city does not post beach hours online, so follow the signs at the gate. The gate has been locked at times in winter, when the city limited access over icy steps and complaints from neighbors, so do not count on getting down to the water in the off season.

Wind is the main hazard. Lake Michigan builds waves and rip currents quickly when the wind turns onshore from the west or southwest, and this beach has no breakwater or pier to block them. Check the marine forecast and stay out on red-flag or high-wave days. The bluff is also a real factor. During the record high water of 2019 and 2020, waves destroyed the old stairs, and the city spent about $165,000 rebuilding them and stabilizing the bluff before reopening in 2021. In high-water years the beach can shrink to almost nothing. The climb back up is steep, and the beach itself is not reachable by wheelchair or stroller.

At the top of the bluff are restrooms, picnic tables, an accessible portable toilet and an accessible overlook deck with a wide view of the lake. A paved path runs from the parking area to the restroom building. Sunset is when this beach is busiest, and people come down the stairs just for that. For a bigger beach with more parking, Oval Beach in Saugatuck charges a parking fee in summer, and Saugatuck Dunes State Park to the north is reached on foot through the dunes.