Lake Havasu State Park

Lake Havasu did not exist until the twentieth century. In the 1930s Parker Dam was built downstream on the Colorado River, backing the water up into a long, wide reservoir behind it and drowning the old river channel to create the lake. The dam and lake were part of the great effort to tame and share the Colorado's water among the fast-growing states of the Southwest and to send water and power toward distant cities.

For thousands of years before the dam, this stretch of the river was home to the Mohave and other Colorado River peoples, whose descendants remain in the region today. The reservoir transformed a harsh desert crossing into a recreation destination, and the state park was set aside to give the public access to its beaches and coves along the Arizona side.

The heart of the park is its shoreline: sandy beaches, gentle coves for swimming, and calm water that suits paddlers and small boats as well as speedboats and personal watercraft. Anglers work the lake for bass, catfish, and other fish, and boat launches make it easy to get out on the water, whether for a lazy float or a day of skiing and tubing.

Because the desert sun shines here so much of the year, the water is the main event, warm enough to enjoy across a long season. The park's campground puts visitors right by the shore, and shaded ramadas and picnic areas give families a place to spread out between swims. On summer weekends the coves fill with boaters, while quieter days let you have a stretch of beach nearly to yourself.

What makes the setting striking is the meeting of water and desert. Beyond the beaches the Sonoran Desert climbs into rocky hills and mountains, dotted with cactus and creosote, so that a swim in blue water sits against a backdrop of stark, sun-baked ground. The park keeps a short nature garden that gathers native desert plants and explains the ecology of this arid country.

That contrast draws wildlife to the shore, from herons and other water birds to the desert creatures that come down to drink. Early mornings and evenings, when the heat eases and the light goes gold on the water and the far hills, are the loveliest times to walk the beach or the garden path and take in how sharply the two worlds meet here.

Lake Havasu City owes its fame to an audacious idea. In the late 1960s the town's founder bought the old London Bridge, which was sinking into the Thames and being sold off, had it taken apart stone by numbered stone, shipped across the ocean and the continent, and rebuilt over a channel of the lake. It has been a quirky landmark ever since, a genuine piece of London standing over the Arizona desert.

Around the bridge the town offers restaurants, shops, and a waterfront promenade, giving the park a lively base close at hand. Between the beaches, the bridge, and the boating, the area has built a reputation as a sunny playground, especially through the mild winters, when visitors from colder states come south to trade snow for sand and blue water.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.