Lincoln Park's Parks, Beaches & Lakefront: The Local's Guide

The Lincoln Park neighborhood is named for Lincoln Park itself, a lakefront park of about 1,200 acres that is Chicago’s largest public park and runs about seven miles along Lake Michigan. The stretch beside the neighborhood, from North Avenue to Diversey, holds the free Lincoln Park Zoo, the free Lincoln Park Conservatory, the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool, North Pond, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, North Avenue Beach and the Lakefront Trail. West of the lake, smaller Chicago Park District parks such as Oz Park, Jonquil Park and Wrightwood Park, plus the Wiggly Field dog park, serve the side streets.

At a glance

Size of Lincoln Park (the park)	About 1,200 acres; the Chicago Park District lists 1,188.62 acres (another figure on the same page says 1,118)
Length	About 7 miles of lakefront, roughly Ohio Street Beach/Grand Avenue north to Ardmore Avenue
Lincoln Park Zoo	Free, open 365 days a year; founded 1868; 2400 N. Cannon Dr.
Lincoln Park Conservatory	Free; Wednesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. with timed entry; 2391 N. Stockton Dr.
Main beach	North Avenue Beach (1600 N.), lifeguarded Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day
Lakefront Trail	18 miles citywide, with separate bike and walking paths
Official dog area in the neighborhood	Noethling Playlot (“Wiggly Field”), 2645 N. Sheffield Ave.; DFA tag required
Farmers market	Green City Market, 1817 N. Clark St., Wednesdays and Saturdays, April–November
Winter highlight	ZooLights, November 20, 2026–January 3, 2027

Lincoln Park, the park: Chicago’s biggest backyard

Lincoln Park is Chicago’s largest public park, covering about 1,200 acres along the lakefront from near Grand Avenue in Streeterville north to Ardmore Avenue in Edgewater.

The land began as a city cemetery on what was then Chicago’s northern edge. In 1860 the city set aside 60 acres as Lake Park, renamed it for Abraham Lincoln after his assassination, and later moved the remaining graves. Landfill extended the park in stages, most recently with about 5.8 acres of new parkland created at Fullerton Avenue in a $32 million shoreline project completed in 2016. The Park District counts 145 facilities in the park, from an archery range and skate park to harbors and dozens of monuments, and it draws an estimated 20 million visits a year.

Only part of the park borders the Lincoln Park neighborhood. The community area runs from North Avenue to Diversey Parkway, between the lake and the Chicago River, so the park north of Diversey sits beside Lakeview and points north. More in our history guide.

Parks and outdoor spots at a glance

The main parks, gardens and lakefront places in and beside the community area:

Place	Where	Highlights	More
Lincoln Park Zoo	Cannon Dr. near Fullerton	Free zoo, about 49 acres, open daily	Directory listing
Lincoln Park Conservatory	2391 N. Stockton Dr.	Free glass houses built 1890–1895; Palm House, Fern Room, Orchid House, Show House	Directory listing
Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool	125 W. Fullerton Pkwy.	Prairie-style garden, National Historic Landmark; open mid-April to mid-November	Our Lily Pool story
Nature Boardwalk at South Pond	Inside the zoo, south end	14-acre restored pond and prairie, Studio Gang pavilion (2010)	Zoo listing
North Pond Natural Area	2610 N. Cannon Dr.	13 acres of wetland and prairie, dawn to dusk	North Pond restaurant
Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum	2430 N. Cannon Dr.	Nature museum with Butterfly Haven	Directory listing
Theater on the Lake	2401 N. Lake Shore Dr. at Fullerton	1920 Prairie-style building; summer theater, restaurant	Directory listing
North Avenue Beach	1600 N. at the lake	Lifeguarded beach, volleyball, beach house	Parks & outdoors
Lakefront Trail	Along the lake	Separate bike and pedestrian paths	Directory listing
Diversey Driving Range & Harbor	141 W. Diversey Pkwy.	Two-tier range, mini golf; 714-mooring harbor	Fitness & recreation
Oz Park	2021 N. Burling St.	14.4 acres, Wizard of Oz statues, Dorothy’s Playlot, tennis	Directory listing
Wrightwood Park	2534 N. Greenview Ave.	4.64 acres, fieldhouse, junior pool, track, playground
Jonquil Park	1001 W. Wrightwood Ave.	3.25 acres, Richard Hunt’s Eagle Columns, tennis, spray feature
Trebes Park	2250 N. Clifton Ave.	1.85 acres, ball field, basketball, community garden
Adams Playground Park	1919 N. Seminary Ave.	0.78 acres, small fieldhouse, water play
Bauler Park	501 W. Wisconsin St.	0.81 acres, playground, pickleball court
Noethling Playlot (“Wiggly Field”)	2645 N. Sheffield Ave.	Official dog friendly area, opened 1997

Lincoln Park Zoo and the Nature Boardwalk

Lincoln Park Zoo is free to visit every day of the year, and no reservation is needed for general admission.

Founded in 1868, it is one of the oldest zoos in the country and one of the few major zoos with no admission charge. The Lincoln Park Zoological Society has run it since 1995. The zoo covers about 49 acres (the zoo’s own figure) and has about 1,100 animals of roughly 200 species. Posted hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (check for seasonal changes), and zoo-lot parking costs $35–$45 a day. Address: 2400 N. Cannon Drive.

Nature Boardwalk at South Pond

At the zoo’s south end, the Nature Boardwalk turned the old South Pond into a 14-acre wetland and prairie habitat in 2010. A boardwalk loops the water, and Studio Gang’s wood-and-fiberglass pavilion shelters outdoor classes.

ZooLights

ZooLights, the zoo’s winter light festival, runs November 20, 2026, through January 3, 2027, 4:30–9 p.m. (last entry 8 p.m.), closed on a few dates including December 24 and 25. Advance fixed-date tickets cost $7–$12; day-of and flexible tickets are $20. Mondays are free with a reservation (November 23 and 30, December 7 and 14), with tickets released a week ahead.

Gardens: the Conservatory and the Lily Pool

Two of the most peaceful spots in the park, the Lincoln Park Conservatory and the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool, are both free and sit just north of the zoo near Fullerton Parkway.

Lincoln Park Conservatory

Built in phases from 1890 to 1895 to designs by Joseph Lyman Silsbee with M.E. Bell, the Conservatory has four display houses: the Palm House, Fern Room, Orchid House and Show House, which hosts seasonal flower shows. It is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Monday and Tuesday, with free timed-entry reservations through the Lincoln Park Conservancy. Address: 2391 N. Stockton Drive.

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

Originally built in 1889 for tropical water lilies, the Lily Pool was redesigned in the 1930s by landscape architect Alfred Caldwell as a Prairie School landscape, and restored between 1998 and 2002. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. It is open mid-April to mid-November, from 7:30 a.m. until dusk or 7:30 p.m., whichever is earlier, with the main gate on Fullerton Parkway. Read more in Lincoln Park’s best-kept secret: the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool.

North Pond, the Nature Museum and Theater on the Lake

The stretch of park between Fullerton and Diversey holds a natural area, a nature museum and a historic lakefront building with a restaurant.

North Pond Natural Area

North Pond is a 13-acre area of native wetland, aquatic and prairie habitat circled by paved and gravel paths, open dawn to dusk at 2610 N. Cannon Drive. Because it sits on the Lake Michigan migratory flyway, the City of Chicago and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service signed an urban bird conservation treaty there in 2000, and spring and fall migrations bring birders out with binoculars. The North Pond restaurant sits at the pond’s edge.

Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

Opened in 1999 by the Chicago Academy of Sciences, the Nature Museum at 2430 N. Cannon Drive is open daily 10 a.m.–4 p.m. (closed on a few holidays). In 2026, basic admission for Illinois residents is $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and students and $8 for children 1–12, plus a service fee. The Judy Istock Butterfly Haven is now a $5 add-on for non-members. Illinois residents get free basic admission on designated days through the year (in 2026, for example, November 2–4 and November 30–December 2); check the museum’s calendar.

Theater on the Lake

Theater on the Lake, at Fullerton and the lake, was built in 1920 as a Prairie-style sanitarium for the Chicago Daily News Fresh Air Fund, designed by Dwight Perkins, and became a summer theater in 1953. After renovation it now hosts summer theater and year-round events, and The Lakefront Restaurant serves lunch, dinner and weekend brunch with lake views.

Beaches, the Lakefront Trail and Diversey Harbor

North Avenue Beach is the main swimming beach for the Lincoln Park neighborhood, and the Lakefront Trail runs past it along the whole shoreline.

North Avenue Beach

At 1600 N., North Avenue Beach opened in 1895 as the City of Chicago’s first public beach and has the city’s largest lifeguard staff and most developed beach house. In 2026 lifeguards were on duty 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Friday, May 22, through Labor Day. Its parking lot now uses automated pay gates (about $4 for an hour, up to $24 for a full day, with a 15-minute free grace period). Dogs are not allowed on Chicago Park District beaches.

What about Fullerton?

There is no designated swimming beach at Fullerton. The Park District does not list a Fullerton beach; the old beach area was rebuilt in 2016 as a revetment and new parkland with a split trail. The lakefront steps here are popular for sunning and skyline photos, but it is not a designated swimming beach. Oak Street and Ohio Street beaches are in the park but south of the neighborhood.

Lakefront Trail

The 18-mile Lakefront Trail has had separate paths since 2019: a walking and running path about 20 feet wide and a bike path about 14 feet wide in most places. The Lincoln Park section, from North Avenue past Fullerton to Diversey, is one of the busiest. Peak summer weekends can bring about 100,000 users a day.

Diversey Harbor, golf and the driving range

Diversey Harbor, at the north edge of the neighborhood, has 714 boat moorings, a public launch and a fuel dock run by the Diversey Yacht Club. Next door, the Park District’s Diversey Driving Range at 141 W. Diversey Parkway has a two-tier range with covered, heated stalls, putting greens and miniature golf, open daily 9 a.m.–9 p.m. (call ahead for seasonal hours). The nine-hole Sydney R. Marovitz course is farther north in the park, in Lakeview.

Neighborhood parks west of the lake

Away from the lakefront, Lincoln Park’s side streets have a set of small Chicago Park District parks that work like shared backyards for the surrounding blocks.

Oz Park

At 2021 N. Burling St., Oz Park covers 14.4 acres. The Park District acquired the land in 1975 and named the park in 1976 for L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, who lived in Chicago from 1891. Statues of the Tin Man, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion and Dorothy with Toto stand around the park, along with Dorothy’s Playlot, the Emerald City Gardens, tennis and basketball courts, a baseball field and a fieldhouse with a gym.

Wrightwood Park

Wrightwood Park, 2534 N. Greenview Ave., is a 4.64-acre park west of Southport. Founded in 1907 on a filled clay pit, it has a small fieldhouse, junior swimming pool, oval track, baseball and soccer fields, basketball and sand volleyball courts, and a playground with a sandbox and spray feature.

Jonquil Park

Jonquil Park, 3.25 acres at Wrightwood, Lincoln and Sheffield (1001 W. Wrightwood Ave.), was once a CTA salt and equipment yard. It is best known for Richard Hunt’s bronze Eagle Columns sculpture, installed in 1988, and has a ball field, tennis courts, a playground and a water spray feature.

Trebes, Adams and Bauler parks

Trebes Park, 2250 N. Clifton Ave.: 1.85 acres next to Oscar Mayer school, with a baseball field, basketball court, community garden and playground, renovated in the early 1990s with neighborhood support.
Adams Playground Park, 1919 N. Seminary Ave.: a 0.78-acre park donated in 1902 by George and Adele Adams, with a small fieldhouse and a water play area.
Bauler Park, 501 W. Wisconsin St.: a 0.81-acre park with a playground and a pickleball court, renamed in 1980 for longtime 43rd Ward alderman Mathias “Paddy” Bauler.

For more outdoor ideas and places to stop on the way, browse the parks and outdoors and fitness and recreation sections of our directory, including Social Pickleball Fun.

Dog parks and dog-friendly areas

The neighborhood’s official Chicago Park District dog friendly area (DFA) is Wiggly Field on Sheffield Avenue, and every dog using a DFA needs a tag.

Noethling Playlot, “Wiggly Field”, 2645 N. Sheffield Ave. at Schubert: opened in 1997 and one of the best-known dog parks in the city. Its nickname is a play on Wrigley Field.
Walsh Park (1722 N. Ashland Ave.) and Churchill Field (1825 N. Damen Ave.): the Park District lists both with 60614 addresses, but they sit west of the river near the 606 trail, outside the Lincoln Park community area.
Nearby lakefront DFAs include Belmont Harbor in Lakeview and Montrose Beach farther north.

To get a tag, visit a participating veterinarian with proof of a current Chicago dog license or rabies vaccination plus other required vaccines and a parasite test. Tags run January through December. The Park District now lists the permit at $10 per dog (older city pages say $5), and using a DFA without one can bring a fine of up to $500. Dogs are not allowed on beaches.

Green City Market and the year in the park

Green City Market sets up in Lincoln Park at 1817 N. Clark St. on Wednesdays and Saturdays from April through November.

The market is at 1817 N. Clark St., generally 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Saturday hours shift to 8 a.m. late in the season, through November 21 in 2026). Check the market’s calendar for winter markets, which move indoors. For more fresh produce in the neighborhood, see Blue Door Farm Stand and our groceries and markets listings.

Spring: the Lily Pool reopens in mid-April and the Conservatory hosts its spring flower show.
Summer: beaches open and Theater on the Lake’s summer season runs.
Fall: bird migration and the last market Saturdays; see I love Lincoln Park in the fall.
Winter: ZooLights and the warm Conservatory.

After a park day, browse our restaurants, coffee and museums and attractions listings.

Frequently asked questions

Is Lincoln Park the largest park in Chicago?

Yes. Lincoln Park is Chicago’s largest public park, at about 1,200 acres (the Chicago Park District lists 1,188.62 acres). It runs about seven miles along Lake Michigan, from near Grand Avenue north to Ardmore Avenue.

Is Lincoln Park Zoo free?

Yes. Lincoln Park Zoo has free admission and is open 365 days a year with no reservation needed. Parking in the zoo lot costs $35 to $45 a day, and some special events, such as most ZooLights nights, are ticketed.

Is the Lincoln Park Conservatory free?

Yes. Admission to the Lincoln Park Conservatory at 2391 N. Stockton Dr. is free. It is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with free timed-entry reservations through the Lincoln Park Conservancy.

What beaches are in Lincoln Park, Chicago?

North Avenue Beach, at 1600 N., is the lifeguarded swimming beach for the Lincoln Park neighborhood. There is no designated swimming beach at Fullerton; that shoreline is a revetment with parkland and the Lakefront Trail.

Where can I take my dog in Lincoln Park?

The official Chicago Park District dog friendly area in the Lincoln Park neighborhood is Noethling Playlot, known as Wiggly Field, at 2645 N. Sheffield Ave. Walsh Park and Churchill Field to the west and Belmont Harbor to the north are also DFAs. Each dog needs a DFA tag from a participating veterinarian, and dogs are not allowed on beaches.

When is Green City Market open in Lincoln Park?

Green City Market’s outdoor Lincoln Park market runs Wednesdays and Saturdays from April through November at 1817 N. Clark St., generally from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Late-season Saturday hours may shift, so check the market’s calendar.

When is ZooLights 2026?

ZooLights at Lincoln Park Zoo runs November 20, 2026, through January 3, 2027, from 4:30 to 9 p.m., closed on a few dates including December 24 and 25. Advance tickets cost $7 to $12, and select Mondays are free with a reservation.

When is the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool open?

The Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool at 125 W. Fullerton Pkwy. is open seasonally from mid-April to mid-November, from 7:30 a.m. until dusk or 7:30 p.m., whichever comes first. Admission is free.

Thinking about living near the park? Our real estate and cost of living guide and sub-neighborhood guide are good next steps, and Joe Bjorklund of Baird & Warner Lincoln Park is happy to answer questions; see about Joe or contact. Start at the complete guide for everything else.

Sources

Last updated October 2026 by Joe Bjorklund, Baird & Warner Lincoln Park.