Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk Beach is the Lake Michigan swimming beach at the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk unit of Indiana Dunes National Park, on the City of Portage's short piece of shoreline between the Burns Waterway and the town of Ogden Dunes. The National Park Service owns the land and buildings, and the City of Portage operates the site in partnership with the park. The ground was once industrial settling ponds and a sewage plant, reclaimed and opened as parkland in 2008. A sand beach now runs west from a rock breakwater below a grassy dune bluff.

The address is 100 Riverwalk Road, Portage, IN 46368. From U.S. 20, take State Road 249 north over U.S. 12 toward the U.S. Steel and Precoat Metals plants, turn left at the stop sign, cross the Burns Waterway, then turn right onto Riverwalk Drive and follow it north to the lake. Three paved lots hold 106 cars and are often full by mid-morning on summer weekends. A short paved path leads past the pavilion to the sand, part of the 0.9-mile Lakefront and Riverwalk trail. A wheelchair beach mat is put down in late spring and taken up in early fall.

This is open Lake Michigan, with a sandy bottom that shelves gradually and water that usually stays cold until July. There are no lifeguards at any time of year. The park warns that rip currents are more likely here than on a plain beach because the breakwater bends the waves and current, and it strongly discourages swimming when waves are up. In 2020 five teenagers needed rescue off this shore in high surf, with rocks and debris making the rescue harder. Keep away from the breakwater stones, and check the National Weather Service beach forecast and the park's E. coli monitoring before going in.

It is not free. An Indiana Dunes National Park entrance pass is required to park: $25 per private vehicle for 7 days, $20 per motorcycle, or $15 per person age 16 and up arriving on foot or by bike. The $45 Indiana Dunes annual pass and America the Beautiful passes are honored, but Indiana Dunes State Park passes are not. Buy passes at the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center or on Recreation.gov. The park lists beach hours of 6:00 am to 11:00 pm daily, but the trail page posts temporary hours of 8:00 am to 9:00 pm because of vandalism and illegal beach fires, with gates locked at 9:00 pm and any car left inside held until the next day. Check the current hours before an evening visit.

Storms reshape this shore. Waves in fall 2018 wiped out the old beach trail and part of a dune, and beach access stayed closed until a new trail opened in July 2019. Right now a section of the Riverwalk trail along the Burns Waterway is closed for erosion damage while the park looks for repair money, though the pier can still be reached from either side. Glass and beach fires are banned. Dogs are allowed on a leash 6 feet or shorter but not inside the pavilion. Ticks and poison ivy are found along the trail edges, and winter shelf ice is unsafe to walk on.

The 3,500-square-foot pavilion has restrooms, drinking water, a seasonal snack bar and a glass-walled classroom, with picnic tables outside. An accessible fishing pier sits on the Burns Waterway, and the restored 900-foot breakwater is popular for fishing and walking. For a guarded swim, West Beach, about a mile and a half west, has lifeguards from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day.