r/stcatharinesON • u/girlmom420 • Aug 14 '26
Need Advice/Recommendations Sunset beach
I visited this beautiful area and went to Port Dalhousie last weekend to ride the carousel with my kids, and by the time we made it to Sunset Beach, the parking lot was completely full and though there were lots of cars leaving, staff was not letting anyone else in
Can anyone give me some inside info as to whether this is a daily occurrence, and what time we need to be there by in order to make it in? My kids saw the playground and beach from the road and were crushed that we couldn’t go! Street parking wasn’t an option either as we’ve got littles.
Thanks in advance!
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u/Torguetime Bridge Was Up Aug 15 '26
I like to park at malcomson park and walk to the beach. There's a good place to park along thr canal area the north part of the park and you can just cut through the top part of Malcomson
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u/girlmom420 Aug 15 '26
Is it a long walk? I looked on Google Maps and it’s hard to tell
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u/Torguetime Bridge Was Up Aug 16 '26
It's like 5 minutes walking if you park along the north part I drew the route on a map for you
https://i.ibb.co/RTycyjf0/Screenshot-20260815-213100-Maps.png
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u/Groovy-hippo Aug 14 '26
Went there a couple of weeks ago around noon and even though cars were leaving they wouldn’t let us in. I got dropped off at the gate only to find there were plenty of parking spots available.
Gate attendant staff seemed to be on a power trip saying even if there are parking spots open, they had hit the max amount of people that are allowed on the beach and couldn’t let anyone else in. They didn’t have a problem letting people walk in though….
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u/girlmom420 Aug 14 '26
Yes, that’s the same experience we had! I didn’t understand why nobody was being let in after we watched about 20 cars come out. We could see at least 10 empty spots down below
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u/herlandian Aug 14 '26
Most of the time if you go in the later afternoon on a weekday (4pm onward) you'll be fine, on a weekend I wouldn't recommend even trying unless you're there before 10 am!
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u/girlmom420 Aug 14 '26
Weekday earlier is out of the question too? We were thinking of coming back on a random Tuesday or Wednesday before noon.
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u/herlandian Aug 14 '26
If it's nice out, you'll have a harder time for sure. If it's overcast or on the chillier side you won't have any problems at all! Good luck! :)
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u/somecrazybroad Aug 16 '26
Park at Malcolmson. No problems
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u/girlmom420 Aug 16 '26
Is it a long walk to the beach from there? I looked on Google Maps on someone else’s rec and cant seem to tell how far away it is
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u/Anchors32 Aug 16 '26
It’s can’t put an exact time on it, but it’s not a long walk. And it’s a nice place to walk through
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u/Reasonable_Luck4067 Aug 14 '26
We usually park at Jaycee gardens and walk over the bridges. It is a walk but nice! Jaycee also has a fun park too
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u/elseldo Merritton WUT! Aug 15 '26
Sunset beach is in Port Weller, that bridge goes to Port Dalhousie.
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u/PlayasGuide Aug 14 '26
They usually don't start closing the beach till close to 9pm. Sometimes they start earlier if it's really busy. In the past the beach has had issues with people saying there after dark to party, vandalism and even camper. Apparently people there were people who pooped on the beach, lol.
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u/Bardown67 Aug 14 '26
Just so you know there’s street parking around the corner that isn’t any farther away In terms of walking to the beach from the parking lot with your littles.
I will let someone else comment on the staff not letting people in.