If you think you're saving money by not using any products to keep the water clean, you're mistaken. Most people who come here once or twice never return because they are disgusted by the conditions. You would have three times as many visitors if you at least made an effort to reduce the dirt and improve the water quality. People have been complaining about the same issue for years: the water is dirty, green, and has a strong sewage-like smell. It's disappointing to see such poor maintenance. A place like this has great potential, but many visitors are driven away by the lack of cleanliness. read more

Bellmawr Lake - Lakes Near Me - Bellmawr, New Jersey

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It's dirty and completely run down. An old, rusted fence runs through the middle of the lake.

Pros: Closer than driving to the beach. Food was decent. Onsite bar. Plenty of picnic tables under the trees. You can bring your own food. Grills are provided. Free parking. Beach & picnic areas are pretty clean. Cons: It's more of a pond than a lake. Half the "lake" is fenced off and unusable. Food is expensive (I paid $6.50 for a plain cheeseburger). Drinks are expensive. It's a small place with a small beach area and it can get quite crowded. All in all, it's a nice little getaway if you don't feel like driving all the way to the beach, as long as you understand what you're getting. read more

This place could be fun, but it really needs some work. The lake area is smaller than expected, and most of it is fenced off -- it feels more like a pond than a real lake. The swimming space is super crowded, and the water didn't look very clean. A lot of the facilities and equipment are worn down and could use maintenance. That said, the idea of having grills, a bar, and volleyball is great, and the food was decent. Bathrooms were clean, and the staff wasn't rude, just not very attentive. It's okay if you're local and want something cheap and close by, but definitely don't expect a relaxing "beach day." read more

We have fun every time we go. The kids love it. We bring picnic food plus get food from the stands. The older kids like to play volleyball or just have a catch with a medium size rubber ball. The kids would stay in the lake all day sometimes. Miss the water slide though. read more

Family time thier is great and the bar love thier special and lake is great! U can grill and have a volleyball net and bathroom were clean all thier time and u can bring or buy your own floats and can fill it up for free and food is great to.. read more

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Bellmawr Lake is really more of a pond, but it is a TWENTY MINUTE drive from Philly, and in the middle of a pandemic, 4th of July Weekend, with temps in the high 90's, on a Sunday when we wanted to avoid shore traffic, it did the trick. You drive up and pay $12 per person cash (save your ticket, next time you get $2 off) and there is lots of parking. There are tons of picnic tables available (some in shaded areas), some trees for shade (or hanging a hammock if you thought to bring yours), lots of those very basic charcoal grills (if the smell of delicious meat cooking offends you, steer clear). We saw families making elaborate meals- a whole pot of rice on a round portable charcoal grill, trays of marinated meats being cut on giant cutting boards, plantains, corn, people are definitely bringing their A- game and spending the day cooking here. Would definitely recommend bringing your own food although they do also sell food. There is music blaring but lots of people also seemed to have brought speakers and were competing for who could play theirs the loudest. There didn't seem to be designated smoking or non-smoking areas and a few people were smoking nearby.The sand was very hot but for the most part clean and not rocky or anything. Bringing your own alcohol is prohibited, because they sell drinks. We saw several people making the trek back and forth from the bar with pitchers of beer. However, they did not check our bags and you might be able to sneak some beverages in if you're discreet (but they did warn us that could get you kicked out). People brought chairs, umbrellas, pool noodles, small tents, gigantic floating ducks, tubes, and beach balls (that ended up on the blocked off area). The water is split into 2 areas- a deeper area that has a diving board in the middle and where the slide let's out (it wasn't open when we were there, maybe because of COVID) and boats seem to be monitoring this area and only allowing divers later in the afternoon, and a smaller shallower area where people can swim (or walk into waist-deep water and pee, more likely) freely. The diving board provides some entertainment and the people watching here in general is great. There are also lifeguards. The water is refreshing on a hot day but not super cold and obviously no waves like the shore. The water is a deep shade of green and opaque, with a thin oily film on top probably from sunscreen. Very curious about how (if at all) this is cleaned. There are some fountains spouting water so maybe that is part of it? We saw kids with snorkels and goggles but I'm not sure there's anything to see under water, except maybe some trash. There was a small kid swimming with a paper cup full of potato chips who appeared to be leaving a trail of chips behind. Very family friendly and a diverse crowd. Know what to expect, this is not a white sand beach 5 star resort with turquoise water, it is an extremely random pond in an industrial area with lots of space for grilling and picnicking and doing most of the things you would do at the Jersey shore but with a much shorter drive. As for the assertion by one reviewer that the people who come here are low class, if this is low class, I don't want to be high class. read more

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3/4 of the "lake" is fenced off, so you can't swim there. The allotted swimming area is very narrow and shallow. This causes it to be packed with kids... this place could be A L OT better. think pond, less lake read more

After reading the reviews, I thought I was taking a big gamble on coming here for the first time. I'm in northern Delaware but didn't feel like driving almost two hrs to our beaches. A quick google search lead me to this place, only 30mins away. It's a industrial area, you'd never think that this place would be or could be in this area. Pulling into the establishment was simple, price is listed at the entrance, you pull in and there's a attendant who takes your payment. They have TONS of parking. We arrived at about 1130a, it wasn't too crowded, we found a good spot. The water was as expected for a lake, life guards were attentive and active. The establishment played good music, had amazing drinks (21+), and the food wasn't gourmet but it was tasty and just fine for my two kids & I. It was pricey but not outrageous (you will find pricey food at any beach, boardwalk, or amusement park so I wasn't surprised). They have volleyball areas, where a lot of people were playing. People were grilling and having their own gatherings in the gazebo area. The crowd picked up later in the day but it was still a really good vibe. This place did not seem dirty, they weren't unprofessional, the crowd was very pleasant. I am highly satisfied with my first time here and it definitely won't be my last time! read more

Bellmawr Lake - Lakes Near Me - Bellmawr, New Jersey

I honestly waited so long to write this review because I did not want to write this review. Ya know when you find a place that's so good you don't want anyone to know about it? This is that place. So please quietly stand up, move into a dark room away from other people and do not let anyone see your screen. Please! I'm going to trust that you're in a safe place so here we go...This lake the perfect spot to take a nice little beachy trip on a random weekday. That's not to say you can't go on the weekend, but if you really want the calm and sandy romantic beach vibe, you're going to want to be here when the masses are not. Weekdays, this place is empty enough where you can spread out, spend the day and just enjoy that nice warm sun. They have some grill and fried food-burgers & fries type stuff and alcohol too if you're into that. On the weekend, this place is your typical beach scene, loud & packed with screaming children. The lake also has a diving board, paddle boats and a lifeguard on duty if you're the sporty type. I am not. So yea, I'm going to trust that you're a good person and you're going to keep this review to yourself so that we can share this little gem. But if the next time I go to the lake and I see a million people there, we're going to have to have a really serious conversation about trust. We may even need to see a therapist if you're having trouble coming to terms with how our friendship now needs to change. Be a good person, don't ruin this for us. read more

Let's get real, this is not an amusement park by any means. Whoever labeled it that as a category is sorely mistaken. At best this is a recreational area, and an average one at that. But what can you expect of a swimming lake that's located in an industrial zoned area? If your goal is to spend a leisurely afternoon picnicking or swimming then you'll be in luck. The water seems relatively clean, and I'm hoping (praying?) that they test the water often. Unlike many other swimming lakes this lake actually has cool water and is very refreshing. They do also have a large section of picnic tables and pavilions, of which it seems you do not have to reserve and is first come first serve. I can see this being a great place for a family reunion or casual party, of which there seemed to be many on the day I was there. Unlike many other swimming holes there is a small bar here which I can definitely appreciate, and despite alcohol being present it is thankfully lacking the element of rowdy and belligerent crowds. Of course there are downsides. The overall rating of this place should tip you off. Many of the facilities are in serious need of renovation, most notably the shower/changing room area. It is creepy and dingy, and also has a strange smell to it. The mini golf is so tiny and cheap it's basically a joke. The sliding board seems a bit rusted out and is not continuously open anyway; during the time I was there they only opened it up around 2 pm, and the lake had been open since 9 am. A smell of kerosene permeates the air from all the cooking and despite the rules many of the private parties there were blasting their own music. When you come here, you're basically just paying for the privilege to consume alcohol on the beach. Many state parks that offer lake swimming are cheaper and have similar cleanliness of the water. Unless you do plan on drinking a lot of alcohol or seriously using the facilities there is better value to be found elsewhere. That being said, I can't fault this place too much, they saw a niche and went for it. This is one of the closest swimming lakes to Philly, so if you just want to swim but don't want to deal with the crowds at the shore points, you might as well try this place. Just don't expect too much. read more

Bellmawr Lake - Their ice cream stand - Lakes Near Me - Bellmawr, New Jersey

Not great, not awful is the best way to describe this place. Went on a Monday afternoon so it wasn't busy, as others said the slide wasn't opened until later in the afternoon and I noticed a lot of smoking and cigarette butts in the sand. Does the trick to get you out in the sun, get a tan and cool off in the water. The 6 dollar frozen drinks were a huge plus. Cost me 11 dollars since it was my first time, will be ten next time. Just wish the price was per car load not per person, I've been to many places that do it that way and think it's a better option. Overall, I'll be back again if there's another traffic jam or I don't feel like driving down the shore read more

Bellmawr Lake - Lakes Near Me - Bellmawr, New Jersey

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This is the dirtiest lake I have been to. And the staff will undoubtedly make you feel uncomfortable. Not worth it. I wouldn't go back if someone paid me. read more

Great place for a laid back summer day. Not terribly expensive and on a small scale so kids can enjoy and parents can easily watch them.

This place is absolute shit it's very shallow the diving thing is old and there isn't any lifeguard's

This place was outrageous the water is disgusting the diving board creaks like it's about to break and the food is disgusting the only thing good is the sand that is it read more

We have visited this lake several times in the past year and have enjoyed ourselves each time. My nephews (age 1 & 4) love the lake and sand. We love the ample picnic tables and large trees that provide good shade. There are a lot of families enjoying bbqs under the tents. We have never visited the bar, snack area, or played volleyball. But seems like people enjoy it. The only downside are the cigarette butts that you cant help to avoid while walking to the water. I wish the staff would enforce a smoking area or clean up the area more thoroughly. Oh, and the bathrooms are pretty tight. read more

First time here this weekend! Great things - The bar drinks were cheap and on point, relaxing environment. Awesome sand volleyball, great beach area. Downside - water slide and mini golf are not up and running, yet you still pay the same price to enter. BRINGING YOUR OWN FOOD IS A MUST! They didn't have half the menu items, because the girl said "they haven't been busy enough to order anything." We got fries, simple? Well, the condiment pumps were bad. Like spoiled.....the ketchup smells like barbque, looks like ketchup, but tasted wayyyy tooo tangy! The honey mustard was clumpy and tasted strong and rotten, burning your tongue and not in a spicy good way.. . DO NOT TRY ANY OF THE CONDIMENTS, for your own safety! I told the staff they should check the condiments in the pumps, they said oh, ok and just kept about their business. I will definitely go back there for the beach and bar, AND WITH A COOLER OF MY OWN SAFE FOOD read more

Okay I've been coming here for a bit now and I really hope management reads this review. You've got an amazing amusement here. Nothing like this near by. Drinks are cheap, water is clean but where this place fails is maintenance. Lawn is the easy part of it all. But areas that need improvement without digging around is : - rotted entrance fence. I mean come on that's such an easy fix. Heck even paint over it, shows you care. -someone is cleaning the grills as people are walking in. That should get done prior to gate opening. Heck even the day before like restaurants. - bathroom stinks. How hard can it be so spray something - bathroom long urinal had sand and cigarette butts in it. So easy to just scoop that with a glove. - tiny little bugs everywhere. Someone could walk around spraying a harmless bug spray every week. Done. So many simple items.. come on management. Hire me as your maintenance manager. read more

Bathrooms are very outdated and disgusting, including the outdated grills that are falling apart. The water is nice and clean. Not worth $15 per person l. read more

Water was perfect but the establishment is rundown and dirty. The people are very low class and have no manners . There was police presence when we were there escorting people out... I would not go again read more

You have to pay $12 to get in, then they police the beach to the point where you have to swim a certain way. They check coolers and are constantly hovering in your personal space. Will never go here again. read more

Ugh, what a disaster this place is. Came for a family birthday, only saving grace was the people we were here to see. Dirty, overpriced, small, over crowded and generally a poor environment. Hopefully will never have to step foot in again. I would have left zero stars if allowed. Also website is outdated. Said $10 per adult, $7 per child it's actually $11 and $8. Not a big deal except it's not worth a dollar entrance fee. Forgot to mention the appalling nature of the bathroom, beyond filthy and several inches of urine in a trough just sitting there being fetid. read more

I wish there could be a rating less then 5 stars This place was horrific first time there this past weekend we were there for less than 15 minutes and they were already looking through our stuff and touching our belongings without permission and we were treated horribly first we were asked to remove the beer we had which we had no idea it was prohibited and we agreed to remove it and get it back on our way out and they said if they confiscated it we could not get it back as we leave the park then they started saying that hookahs weren't allowed but there were at least two more families in the park who had already lit up theirs and we brought that to their attention and they still didn't do anything about it and continued on fussing with us after a while we were told by one staff member that we could leave everything in the car and park it outside the park but another member said that that wasn't allowed either that everything needed to be confiscated and not given back after a while they started yelling in front of the kids so we asked nicely could we just get our money back and go well apparently they weren't having that either and saying that we were evicted from the park because we were trespassing we HAD NO IDEA THESE THINGS WERE'NT ALLOWED AND WE STILL COULD NOT GET OUR MONEY BACK they kept $108.00 dollars worth of entrance exact and they wanted to keep our stuff which we spent our money on too that was crazy.... The owner and staff got very racial and disrespectful and after I said I was giving them a bad review the owner got surprised and said that we were the ones deciding to leave... ARE YOU SERIOUS?!! THEY WERE KICKING US OUT!!! AND NOW HAVE THE NERVE TO SAY WE DECIDED TO LEAVE I WILL NEVER TAKE MY FAMILY HERE EVER AGAIN FIRST AND BY FAR WORST IMPRESSION EVER!!! We should've at least gotten a refund since we didn't know and we were being discriminated because we are Hispanic HORRIBLE ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS !! And as we left I could STILL see the other families smoking hookah and drinking their own alcoholic beverages ON THEIR TABLES AND THEY DIDNT SAY ANYTHING TO THEM AT ALL!!! Worst park ever The lake wasn't even real and the water didn't even move unless someone was in there super artificial and dirty I'm glad I didn't have time to let my kids bathe in there read more

Bellmawr Lake - Worst lake ever - Lakes Near Me - Bellmawr, New Jersey

Horrible place these days I went with my family on the 4th, no body was waring masks, no social distance, staff harassed my family asking what was in there cup! Searching through our coolers!! I thought it was ridiculous that I am in my 50's, and was there with my 3 and 6 year old grandkids! Yet we seen other people drinking open containers and not getting there coolers checked or questioned on what they were drinking?? I used to go to this place as a child and lived it. I will never go back and I hope the governor shuts this place down!! It's got coronavirus written all over it.... read more

If you live in the area, want to have a couple cheap drinks, tan a bit and take a dip in the water, it's perfect. But if you have to drive more than 20 minutes to get here, you'll be highly disappointed. The sand is hard/grainy/dirty with cigarette butts throughout. The water is pretty icky. Never sure what you'll find floating around in there [last time there was a plastic bag and some empty water bottles], ammenities are run down [rusty fence, old worn down picnic tables/grills/bathrooms etc] and definitely in desperate need of renovation. The price is also a bit much for what they offer. As comparison, much cleaner Lake Atsion only charges $5 a car load during the week, while Bellmawr charges $9 PER PERSON. The crowd that goes there can be pretty hit or miss. Sometimes it's real relaxed with mainly families, and other times it's loud with lots of smokers and loud personal radios playing. General Tip: keep your expectations low, bring some headphones and your own food, and you'll have a great time read more

Wouldn't recommend this place. It is unkept and quite dirty. There is trash/cigarettes on the ground in the sand there is a pretty horrible smell of the entire place. I came here for a couple hours to get some sun, and there was a scent of poop/feces wafting through the air every time the breeze blew which was very unpleasant/unsettling. The actual water is a man made "lake" which is very small. The price to get in is $9 which is way too steep for such a dirty, small place. Would recommend driving elsewhere to go somewhere cleaner if not just to get away from the scent of this place.... read more

I went to this lake expecting a lot from good reviews and the recommendation of a friend. However, it was severely lacking in both customer service and the actual facilities offer. The water opened at 9:30 AM, and by 1PM they still did not allow anyone to swim in water that was any deeper than 4 feet. When they finally opened the deeper part of the lake, they didn't allow anyone to actually swim in it unless they were swimming straight to the diving board to jump off. When we questioned this, we were met with unprofessional conduct more suited to high schoolers than a family running a business. At first we were surprised as to why it was empty on a warm weekend afternoon, but by the time we left it made total sense. Never wasting another penny there. read more

My expectation was just about what I experienced. As mentioned its $11 on your first trip & $10 after that, we went on a very hot weekend and anticipated it to get uncomfortably crowded and as the day went on it did get more crowded but I still had plenty of space for lounge on my float. There is not much shade outside of the picnic area so I recommend an umbrella or canopy if you would like some relief from the sun. There are TONS of picnic tables and I had no problem finding a spot to eat our lunch even after it had filled up. The one set of bathrooms could use some TLC but the bathroom by the bar was much nicer. The bar is really cute and has a tropical feel with extremely low priced drinks that were also very delicious & effective. By the bar is a shaded deck area too and you are allowed to bring your drinks anywhere in the lake area. They even have horse shoes and other game areas and you can rent floats and equipment. There is a snack bar that had better than expected food options and an ice cream hut. Overall absolutely worth the $11 and an enjoyable day & I will return read more

I wish I could give this place -5 stars. Let me start by warning you folks; WORST $11 I HAVE EVER SPENT IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. First of all when me and my family got there at the entrance door we came across with a grumpy old lady giving us a nasty attitude. Once we got in we came across a racist old man telling us that we either got out of the place or he was gonna call the police on us for god knows what reasons (keep in mind that he is an employee there). Secondly their costumer service is just the worst, almost everybody there talk to their costumer like they are their own kids. And don't get me started on the food, nastiest food I have ever eaten. I ate 2 slices of pizza and within 30 mins I had to go to the bathroom 2 times. The bathroom are extremely dirty and disgusting. The beers are hot and have a really bad taste, like it has being there sitting for a long time. Guys trust me on this one DONT GO THERE, it's just a waist of time and money. read more

Wish I could give less than one star. Customer service is so shitty it's unbelievable!!! Went there yesterday with my son step brother and a friend. My friend had words with one of the staff members, as I'm waiting for my ride by the bar 4 young men ( WHO ARE EMPLOYED THERE) are standing there start screaming all types of stuff at us how they will knock us out etc. mind you my child is 5 years old & sitting right next to us as all of this is happening Threatening to beat my step brother up. Threatening to hit us females. As I look up one boy is gathering spit in his mouth to spit on me (my child was right next to me) . The owner comes over I told her what happened all she said was nobody is going to spit on you, didn't say one word to her staff! We were told we had to wait for our ride someplace else. We walked to the benches in the picnic area and here come 2 of the 4 young men, intimidating us as we wait for our ride, once again trying to fight my step brother and saying they were going to call some female friend of theirs to come fight us, an older staff member came up and started talking to me about the situation and he PUT HIS HAND OVER MY MOUTH. I pushed his hand away and kindly told him to not touch me. All in all I would say they are EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL! I wouldn't be surprised if this has happened to other people. Mind you this is supposed to be a family environment! Absolutely disgusting staff !!! Don't say I didn't warn you! read more