Pritchard Island Beach is a Seattle Parks and Recreation park on the southwest shore of Lake Washington in the Rainier Beach neighborhood of south Seattle, at 8400 55th Ave S. It sits just north of Be'er Sheva Park and the Atlantic City boat ramp, with Seward Park visible up the shore and Mercer Island across the water. The name is a leftover from before 1917, when the lake was nine feet higher and the knob of land next door was a true island reached by a footbridge over Dunlap Slough. The city bought the shoreline in 1934 and graded it into a bathing beach with WPA help. Today it is about 8.8 acres of lawn, tall cottonwoods, a bathhouse and a sand beach.

Getting there is easy by city standards. A parking lot sits right behind the beach off 55th Ave S, and the Rainier Beach light rail station is roughly a mile to the west. The walk from the lot to the sand is short and flat. Park grounds are open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and there is no entry or parking fee. Swimming is free.

The swim area is a roped section of lake off the beach with a floating platform and no diving board. The water inside the ropes is shallow near shore, which is why families with small kids like it, and the city keeps lifeguarded beaches clear of weeds and boat traffic. Lake Washington usually warms to somewhere around the low 70s by late July and August, but it stays cold early in the summer and drops off fast in deeper water. Lifeguards work here only during the summer season, which usually runs from late June to a little before Labor Day. Expect lifeguard hours of roughly noon to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends. Outside those dates you can still swim, but nobody is watching, and city code limits swimming to designated areas or within 50 feet of shore.

Water quality is the main thing to check before you go. Public Health and King County sample the beach through the summer, and Seattle Parks has closed it more than once for high bacteria. A stormwater and sewage release near the beach has also led to an extended closure. Closures get posted on the beach, on the Seattle Parks swimming beach page and through King County's swim beach alerts. Swimmer's itch shows up some summers, so rinse off and towel dry right after you get out.

Beach rules are the standard city set. Kids under 10 need an adult watching them, dogs are not allowed on the beach, alcohol is banned in Seattle parks, and lifeguards ask that food, drinks and glass stay off the sand. Children have to pass a swim test before going past the ropes. In summer the city runs free swim lessons for ages 6 to 16 here, and Pritchard is the south-end site for its free teen Lifeguard Training Team.

Beyond the beach, a gravel path from the edge of the parking lot loops through Pritchard Wetland, more than four acres of marsh and pond where herons and muskrats are common and chorus frogs call in spring. The 1996 bathhouse can be rented for events, and a community group has been gathering ideas for a waterfront center here.