Surrounded by the rugged San Bernardino National Forest, Big Bear has a crystal blue lake that's perfect for boating and fishing.
Located on the eastern shoreline of Lake Champlain, Burlington, Vermont has a little something for everyone.
About two and a half hours from Atlanta is Lake Blackshear, which covers 8,700 acres and is in the city of Cordele. It has a tree-lined scenery covered in Spanish moss.
More than 50 miles of beautiful lake fed by glaciers make up Lake Chelan. It's only a three-hour drive from Seattle.
Coeur d'Alene Lake, the second largest lake in northern Idaho, is fed by two rivers—the Coeur d'Alene River and St. Joe River.
Sister Bay is on the Door Peninsula in Wisconsin, and there are only 1,180 people living there. It has a cute waterfront with small shops, boutiques, and studios.
Lake Winnipesaukee is New Hampshire's largest lake at 72 miles. Laconia is the biggest city in the area and has a busy downtown.
Traverse City is the largest city in Northern Michigan. It is known for its yearly cherry festival, its scenic highway, its vineyards, and its lake with sandy beaches.
"The best lake town in the U.S., in my opinion, is Lake Placid, New York," says travel blogger Becca Siegel of Half Half Travel.
Lake Tahoe, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the California-Nevada border, attracts 15 million visitors yearly, according to the Lake Tahoe Visitors Bureau.
WHETHER YOU'RE HOPPING IN A KAYAK OR LYING IN A HAMMOCK, HERE'S WHERE TO RELAX BY THE WATER.