West Overlook Beach is the designated swimming beach in the West Overlook Day Use Area at Coralville Lake, a flood control reservoir on the Iowa River run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District. The beach sits on the south shore of the lake a few hundred yards upstream of Coralville Dam, inside the dam complex north of Iowa City and roughly 4 miles southeast of downtown North Liberty. It is one of four swimming beaches on the reservoir and the one nearest the dam.

To get there, take Interstate 80 to the Dubuque Street exit on the north side of Iowa City, head north on Dubuque Street, and turn east onto West Overlook Road NE, which runs to the dam. The day use area's address is 4065 West Overlook Road NE, Iowa City. Paved lots sit just above the sand, so the walk from car to water is short. The road continues past the beach to the West Overlook Campground, which has 89 electric sites if you want to stay over.

The beach is a broad strip of sand under shade trees, with the swim area marked off by a line of buoys and floats. The bottom is sand and soft silt, and the water inside the buoys stays shallow near shore. Coralville Lake is a muddy prairie reservoir, so the water is brown and you will not see your feet past knee depth. By July the surface usually warms into the upper 70s or low 80s Fahrenheit. The Corps listing does not mention lifeguards, so plan on swimming unguarded and keep a close eye on kids. Boats launch from the West Overlook ramp just north of the beach, and the Corps has extended boat speed limits near the swim area because anglers, swimmers and idling boats share this corner of the lake.

West Overlook is a Corps day use fee area. From April 1 through September 30 the fee is $5.00 per private vehicle per day, or a $40.00 USACE annual day use pass. America the Beautiful Senior, Access and Military pass holders get in free, and registered campers with a valid campground hangtag can use the area at no charge. Outside that window there is no day use fee. Alcohol is prohibited anywhere in the West Overlook Day Use Area, not just on the sand. For current conditions call the Coralville Lake Project Office at 319-338-3543.

Water quality is the main hazard. The Corps samples its Coralville Lake beaches for E. coli during the season, and West Overlook has been under swimming advisories in some summers, sometimes along with all of the lake's other beaches. The Corps has also warned that the shallow water right along the shore here tested high even when the beach as a whole passed, which matters because that is where small children play. Check for an advisory before you go, avoid swallowing water, and do not let dogs drink from the lake. The reservoir also rises sharply after heavy rain upstream, and in flood years such as 1993 and 2008 water poured over the dam's emergency spillway and the shoreline day use areas went underwater.

The day use area also has a playground, picnic sites, a reservable group shelter for up to 50 people, and a sand volleyball court. Below the dam, the Devonian Fossil Gorge exposes a 375 million year old sea floor scoured clean by the 1993 and 2008 floods, and it is a short walk or drive from the beach.