West End Beach is a city park and public swimming beach owned by the City of Traverse City, on the south shore of the West Arm of Grand Traverse Bay, a Lake Michigan bay. The city lists the park at 9.89 acres. It is a long, narrow strip of sand and grass between West Grandview Parkway (M-72) and the water, running west from the Open Space and the downtown waterfront toward the Division Street end of the bay. The city's own short description is a sandy water's edge with a grass area behind it, and that is what you get: open bay water, a view across to the Leelanau Peninsula, and no shade on the sand itself.

The beach sits right on the Grandview Parkway corridor, about a mile west of the Front Street shops. It is easy to walk or bike in on the TART Trail, the paved path that follows the parkway along the back of the beach. The small West End parking lot on the north side of the parkway has only a handful of spaces, and a second lot, the RB lot, sits by the volleyball courts farther east. With so few spaces, expect the lot to be full on warm weekends and be ready to park farther away and cross the parkway at a signal. Check posted signs for any parking rules.

The swim area is the open bay right off the sand. The bottom is sandy and the water near shore is clear, but this is Great Lakes water: it stays cool well into July, and a north or northwest wind can push steady chop straight onto this stretch of shore. The city's recreation directory lists swimming as a park use, but it does not list lifeguards here, so treat it as an unguarded beach and keep children within reach. Boats often anchor just offshore on summer weekends, sometimes inside the 50-foot buffer around the swim area, so stay visible.

There is no admission fee. The city's park page lists no charge and no posted hours for West End Beach. Leashed dogs are allowed in the park's grass areas, but the city does not allow them on the sand or the volleyball courts. The Grand Traverse County Health Department samples the water at county public beaches weekly through the summer, with the Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay, and posts results on Thursdays. West End Beach has been placed under short partial-body-contact advisories after E. coli spikes, sometimes lifted within a day. Bacteria levels tend to rise after heavy rain, so check the county's beach monitoring page before swimming after a storm.

Beyond swimming, the park has picnic tables, grills, a drinking fountain and fishing from shore. The sand volleyball courts at the east end are among the busiest in northern Michigan, with league play most summer evenings. The city has planned new ADA-compliant restroom buildings near both the West End and RB lots to replace the 1950s bathhouse. Clinch Park beach and the downtown marina are a short walk east, and sunsets over the bay are a big draw in the evening.