Last Updated: August 2026
New Buffalo, Michigan sits 70 miles from the Loop at Exit 1 off I-94 — the first exit after you cross the state line — and it’s the closest real Lake Michigan beach town to Chicago. You can be on the sand in ninety minutes, or on an Amtrak train that drops you four blocks from the water.
This is the weekend I send people on when they want the lake without the Michigan Avenue price tag. I’ve talked Midwest getaways on Fox 32 Chicago, and the single thing Chicagoans get wrong about New Buffalo is the clock — more on that in a second, because it will cost you an hour if you don’t know.
In a Nutshell
- Distance from Chicago: about 70 miles, 90 minutes on I-94 without traffic.
- Time zone: New Buffalo is Eastern Time. You lose an hour crossing the state line.
- Car-free option: Amtrak’s Wolverine runs three times daily from Union Station; the Blue Water adds one more.
- The one reservation to make: nothing. New Buffalo doesn’t really take them. Show up early instead.
- Dogs: not allowed on New Buffalo City Beach. Warren Dunes, 20 minutes north, has a dedicated dog beach.
Here’s the thing nobody tells you until you’re standing in a parking lot doing math: New Buffalo runs on Eastern Time. Berrien County is in the Eastern zone, and the Amtrak line literally crosses the time boundary here. Leave Chicago at 10 a.m. and you arrive at 12:30 p.m. local, not 11:30.
That hour matters more than it sounds. Kitchens close on Michigan time. Beach parking enforcement runs on Michigan time. And on a Sunday, the drive home gives you the hour back — which is why a Saturday-morning departure and a Sunday-afternoon return is the shape of this weekend.
| What you want | Where to go |
|---|---|
| Beach with amenities and lifeguards | New Buffalo City Beach — walkable from downtown |
| Big dunes and a dog beach | Warren Dunes State Park, Sawyer (20 min north) |
| Beer and pizza | Beer Church Brewing, downtown New Buffalo |
| Beer and a view | Ghost Isle Brewery, US-12 (closed Mon–Tue) |
| The burger everyone talks about | Redamak’s — cash only, closed Tue–Wed |
| Rain plan | Four Winds Casino, or the Galien River boardwalk |
How to Get to New Buffalo From Chicago
Driving takes about 90 minutes from downtown Chicago on I-94 East, and New Buffalo is Exit 1 — you barely have time to settle in before you’re there. Summer Friday afternoons are the exception; the Skyway and the Indiana toll stretch can add an hour, so leave before 2 p.m. or after 7.
The better answer for a lot of people is the train. Amtrak’s New Buffalo station sits at 225 N Whittaker Street — four blocks from the beach and two from Beer Church. The Wolverine stops three times daily in each direction between Chicago and Detroit, and the Blue Water adds one more run. Station parking is free, and the platform is wheelchair accessible.
I’ll be honest — I’ve done this trip both ways, and the train version is better than it has any right to be, and is actually one of my favorite getaways from Chicago. You walk off the platform into a downtown you can cover on foot, and nobody has to stay sober.
The Beaches: New Buffalo City Beach and Warren Dunes
New Buffalo City Beach is the one you can walk to, and it’s the reason this town works as a car-free weekend. Wide sand, restrooms, concessions, lifeguards in season, and a pier at the marina mouth — all within a few blocks of Whittaker Street.
- 📍 200 Marquette Drive, New Buffalo, MI 49117
- 🚆 About four blocks from the Amtrak station
- 💰 Paid parking April 1 through October 31
- 🐾 Dogs are not permitted on the City Beach
- ♿ Paved ADA walkway toward the shoreline; beach wheelchair available
If you brought a dog, you need Warren Dunes instead. Twenty minutes north in Sawyer, the state park has three miles of shoreline, 260-foot dunes, and a designated dog beach north of the third parking lot where leashed dogs are welcome. It’s also where you go if you want a real climb — Tower Hill is a genuine workout in loose sand.
Entry requires a Michigan Recreation Passport. Illinois plates pay the non-resident rate — roughly $11 for a day pass or about $41 for the year. Park staff also keep two beach wheelchairs available free of charge.
Pro Tip: Warren Dunes parking fills by 11 a.m. Michigan time on summer weekends — which is 10 a.m. by your phone if it hasn’t switched yet. Get there by 9:30 Chicago time and you’ll walk right in.
Where to Eat in New Buffalo
Redamak’s
Redamak’s is the New Buffalo institution, and it’s been serving the same wax-paper-wrapped cheeseburger since 1946. Order it with crinkle-cut fries and don’t overthink it.
Two things will ruin your visit if you don’t know them: Redamak’s takes cash only, and it closes Tuesday and Wednesday. It also shuts down for the winter, typically reopening in early March.
- 📍 616 E Buffalo Street, New Buffalo, MI 49117
- ⏰ Thursday–Monday, noon to 9 p.m. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Hours can change — confirm before you go
- 💰 Cash only, no credit cards
- 📞 (269) 469-4522
- 🌐 redamaks.com
The Stray Dog Bar & Grill
The Stray Dog is the reliable one — open seven days a week, year-round, which matters in a town where half the kitchens go dark after Labor Day. Get the fish tacos and a seat on the rooftop deck, which looks out over the marina toward the lake.
The rooftop is 21 and up, and they don’t take reservations. Despite the name, only service dogs are permitted inside — Michigan’s health code, not the owners’ preference.
- 📍 245 N Whittaker Street, New Buffalo, MI 49117
- ⏰ Daily from 11:30 a.m.; later on Friday and Saturday. Hours can change — confirm before you go
- 📞 (269) 469-2727
- 🌐 thestraydog.com
Oink’s Dutch Treat
Oink’s is an ice cream shop in a former Quonset hut, decorated with more than 3,000 pieces of pig memorabilia, serving over 50 flavors of Ashby’s. It is exactly as strange and as good as that sounds.
The line on a hot evening runs out the door and down the sidewalk. Go at 4 p.m. instead of 8 and you’ll walk straight up.
- 📍 227 W Buffalo Street, New Buffalo, MI 49117
- ⏰ Daily, opening around noon and running later in summer. Hours can change — confirm before you go
- 📞 (269) 469-3535
- 🌐 oinksdutchtreat.com
The Two Breweries Worth Your Time
Beer Church Brewing Co.
Beer Church occupies a restored Civil War-era church at the corner of US-12 and Whittaker, and the beer garden out back is the largest outdoor bar in Michigan. If you only stop one place in New Buffalo, this is it.
The pizza is Napoletana-style — the team trained under Roberto Caporuscio, the New York pizzaiolo behind Kesté — and the dough is fermented fresh daily. Order the Seraphim Saison and whatever pizza is coming out of the outdoor oven. The 21+ Upper Deck and the covered family patio both run full service, and weekend brunch starts at 8 a.m.
- 📍 24 S Whittaker Street, New Buffalo, MI 49117
- 🚆 Two blocks from the Amtrak station
- ⏰ Mon–Thu 10 a.m.–10 p.m.; Fri–Sat 8 a.m.–midnight; Sun 8 a.m.–10 p.m. Hours can change — confirm before you go
- 📞 (269) 586-3864
- 🌐 beerchurchbrewing.com
Ghost Isle Brewery
Ghost Isle sits on 3.5 acres between US-12 and the Galien River marsh, and the patio looks out over wetlands rather than a parking lot. The Amtrak line runs about fifty yards away, which means you can watch the train you could have taken go by while you drink.
Brewer Dale Vanderaa runs a rotating list on a 10-barrel system. The New Buffalo Pilsner is the easy entry; Stoner’s Paradise is what the regulars order. Live music runs Friday nights. The catch is the schedule — Ghost Isle is closed Monday and Tuesday, which catches out anyone stretching a weekend into Monday.
- 📍 17684 US-12, New Buffalo, MI 49117
- ⏰ Wed–Thu 4–9 p.m.; Fri–Sat noon–10 p.m.; Sun noon–7 p.m. Closed Mon–Tue. Hours can change — confirm before you go
- 📞 (269) 469-9069
- 🌐 ghostislebrewery.com
What to Do When It Rains
Two answers, and they’re very different. Four Winds Casino, owned and operated by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, has full gaming, several restaurants, a hotel, and concerts — it’s the obvious indoor play and it’s five minutes from downtown.
The better one is Galien River County Park, where an ADA-accessible boardwalk runs out through the marsh to a 60-foot canopy tower. It’s the best thing in New Buffalo that nobody photographs, and light rain over the wetlands is genuinely better than sun. Note that dogs aren’t permitted here.
If the weather is bad enough that even the boardwalk is out, the antique malls along Red Arrow Highway run north from town for about fifteen miles and will absorb an entire afternoon.
A Two-Day New Buffalo Weekend
Saturday
Leave Chicago by 8 a.m. Central and you’re in New Buffalo around 10:30 Michigan time. Head straight for Warren Dunes before the lot fills, climb Tower Hill, and take the beach for a few hours.
Late lunch at Redamak’s on the way back into town — remember the cash. Afternoon on New Buffalo City Beach or in the shops along Whittaker. Dinner and the evening at Beer Church, in the beer garden if the weather holds.
Sunday
Brunch at Beer Church starts at 8 a.m., which is 7 a.m. your time and probably too early. Sleep in, then walk the marina and the pier.
Spend the late morning on the Galien River boardwalk, grab a cone at Oink’s, and drive home mid-afternoon. You gain the hour back westbound, so a 3 p.m. departure gets you into the city at 3:30. That’s the whole trick to this weekend.
When to Go
June and September are the two months worth planning around. The lake is swimmable in both, and neither carries July’s parking problem or the Chicago-weekender crush that hits every summer Saturday.
Late August is the warmest the water gets all year — Lake Michigan takes the whole summer to heat up, so the last week of August beats the first week of July every time. Winter is the underrated one: lodging drops sharply, Beer Church and the Stray Dog stay open year-round, and the dunes under snow are worth the drive on their own. Just check what’s open first, because Redamak’s and several smaller spots close entirely.
Should You Stay Overnight?
New Buffalo works fine as a day trip, and plenty of Chicagoans treat it that way. But the drive back on a summer Sunday evening puts you in Skyway traffic with a car full of sand, and the town is at its best in the two hours after the day-trippers leave.
Lodging is mostly vacation rentals, with the Marina Grand Resort downtown and the Four Winds hotel as the two full-service options. Summer weekends book out by spring — if you’re deciding in June for July, you’re already late.
New Buffalo is also the southern end of Harbor Country, a string of nine small towns running about fifteen miles up the shoreline. If this weekend works for you, the next one is Union Pier, Sawyer, and Three Oaks — and my full Harbor Country guide over on MyMichiganBeach covers all nine.
Go Before Labor Day, or Wait Until October
The stretch between Labor Day and mid-October is the version of New Buffalo I’d actually choose — warm water, empty parking lots, and every kitchen still open.
Whenever you go, set your phone to check the time zone before you make a dinner plan. That one hour is the difference between walking into Beer Church at 9 and standing outside it at 10.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=12dlS-NQKgUvyW7kQcM7xO8uh0wWV4hI&usp=sharingFrequently Asked Questions
About 70 miles, or roughly 90 minutes on I-94 East from downtown Chicago. New Buffalo is Exit 1 — the first exit after the Indiana-Michigan state line. Summer Friday afternoons can add an hour through the Skyway and Indiana toll stretch.
Yes. New Buffalo is in the Eastern Time Zone while Chicago is Central, so you lose an hour driving east and gain it back coming home. The Amtrak line crosses the time zone boundary at New Buffalo.
Yes. Amtrak’s Wolverine stops in New Buffalo three times daily in each direction from Union Station, and the Blue Water adds one more. The station is at 225 N Whittaker Street, four blocks from the beach and two from Beer Church Brewing.
June and September. Both have swimmable lake water without July’s parking problems. Late August is when Lake Michigan is warmest all year. Winter is quiet and cheap, but Redamak’s and several smaller spots close entirely.
Yes, a Michigan Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry. Illinois-plated cars pay the non-resident rate — roughly $11 for a day pass or about $41 annually. Two beach wheelchairs are available free of charge.