Silver Lake Beach is the City of Eagle River's public swimming beach, sitting in Silver Lake Park on the north shore of Silver Lake at 932 Silver Lake Road. The city owns and runs it. Silver Lake is a small, clear seepage lake of roughly 57 acres in the Eagle River watershed of Vilas County, set in a quiet residential pocket just northeast of downtown and separate from the busier Eagle River Chain of Lakes. People have been swimming here for a long time: the Eagle River Historical Society holds home movies of the municipal bathing beach and its old wooden pavilion from the 1930s and 1940s.

From downtown Eagle River, head northeast on Silver Lake Road; the beach is less than a mile from the center of town, on the lake side of the road. You park at the park itself, and the sand is a short, flat walk from the car. Road work on Silver Lake Road has closed the beach before, so check the city's notices if you plan a late-summer visit.

The swim area is a small sandy cove marked off in front of the beach house. The state's lake survey describes the bottom of Silver Lake as mostly sand with a little gravel and muck, and the water as clear and slightly acidic. The shoreline shelves gently, which is why the city holds its children's swim lessons here every July. This is a northern Wisconsin lake, so the water is cold in June and usually comfortable by mid July into August. There is no current to speak of. Do not count on a lifeguard. The city stopped hiring lifeguards for the swimming area, so outside of lesson hours assume nobody is watching the water and keep children within reach.

Using the beach is free. The city posts no admission or parking charge, and the only fee it lists is for swim lessons ($20 a week for the first child and $5 a week for each additional child, with registration in person at City Hall, 525 E. Maple Street). No hours are posted for the beach itself, so treat it as a daytime summer spot. Vilas County's beach guide notes that the park is not dog friendly, so leave pets at home.

Two current conditions are worth knowing. Silver Lake has an established population of Eurasian watermilfoil, and the city has treated the lake with herbicide to control it. During treatments the city has kept the beach open but asked residents not to use lake water for irrigation for 24 hours. Watch for notices if you visit in early summer. The state also lists the lake as impaired for degraded aquatic vegetation, which is a plant community issue, not a bacteria problem. Wisconsin DNR keeps a monitoring station at the Eagle River City Beach, and its recreational assessment found E. coli levels clearly below the state's thresholds for swimming.

The park around the beach has picnic tables, a playground and public restrooms. The concession stand in the beach house has reopened after years of being shut, selling ice cream bars, candy, chips and a few swimming toys, and the city council approved it partly so someone would be keeping an eye on the water. Downtown Eagle River, with its restaurants and shops, is a few minutes away.