Park overview · INDU

Indiana Dunes.

Indiana Dunes National Park — National Park in IN.

By Nicholas Major · Last updated

Indiana Dunes National Park is a U.S. National Park Service unit in IN (NPS unit code INDU), redesignated from National Lakeshore to National Park in February 2019 and built around 15 miles of Lake Michigan beach, the wind-sculpted dunes that named it, and Mount Baldy on the eastern end. The park recorded 2,629,497 recreation visits in 2025 and runs a 5-year mean of 2,822,437 annual visits, drawn heavily from the Chicago and northwest Indiana metros. The busiest month is July and the quietest is February — winter visits run at roughly 16% of July's peak because beach season collapses with Lake Michigan water temperature. Mount Baldy's summit remains closed except during ranger-led programs per NPS. This page is the navigation anchor for Indiana Dunes coverage on this site: the best-time-to-visit pillar covers month-by-month crowd, weather, Lake Michigan water timing, and Mississippi Flyway bird migration windows; the visitation page covers the long-run annual chart through the 2021 record.

Indiana Dunes on this site.

Indiana Dunes National Park is a U.S. National Park Service unit designated as a National Park, located in IN (NPS unit code INDU). For when to go, what each month looks like, and the access calendar, follow the best-time-to-visit page. For the long-run visitation history and the disruption events that shaped recent years, follow the visitation page.

Park data card

FieldValue
DesignationNational Park
StateIN
NPS unit codeINDU
Latest annual visits (2025)2,629,497
5-year mean annual visits2,822,437
Busiest month (5-yr mean)July
Quietest month (5-yr mean)February

On this site

Methodology

Identity, designation, and coordinates come from the official NPS unit page. Annual recreation visits, busiest month, and quietest month are computed from the NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025 on NPS IRMA Stats. This hub does not duplicate the per-month editorial that lives on the best-time page or the year-by-year chart that lives on the visitation page — follow those links for the deep view. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

Adjacent reading

Independence

Independent site. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Park Service. Data comes from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; editorial analysis is ours. The NPS Arrowhead and other NPS marks are not used.

Last updated · 2026-05-28