Beach Cottage on Forest Lake near downtown with your own sandy beach and dock!

***Just Releasing summer 2025 dates!*** Welcome to our Forest Lake beachfront cottage! Come enjoy our year-round lake cabin with your own PRIVATE beach. We have beautiful sunrises from our 3-level cottage and sunsets from the dock or anywhere on the water. Enjoy almost 70 feet of private, sandy beach into the lake, which is great for kids of all ages. Our long dock is available for your private use May-September (weather permitting) and has plenty of space to pull up your own boat. We have 2 kayaks and a paddleboat for you to enjoy as well, and you can also rent a motorboat nearby at “Your Boat Club”. (Note: The motorized boat on the property is not for rental use.) The lake is quite shallow and usually very clear but also weedy at times. For your safety, do not dive from the dock. The bench and 2 lounge chairs on the end of the dock are lovely for enjoying the lake at any time of the day!

We are walking distance to downtown Forest Lake, including the Dairy Queen and a great ice cream shop, Coffee shops, and multiple restaurants. The city park and the city beach are a short walk as well. The bike trail is across the street and steps away, and we have a bike for your enjoyment in the lower level. If you are here on a summer Tuesday night, you won’t want to miss Arts and Crafts in the park with food trucks and live music. Don’t worry about parking - you can walk to the park in about 7 minutes! We are conveniently located about 30 minutes north of downtown Minneapolis/St. Paul if your travels bring you here for events in the city!

Our cottage sleeps 8 comfortably (10 max with a 1 time, extra-person fee for guests 9 and 10) in 4 bedrooms (2 Kings, 1 Queen, 1 lower-level bunk, and 1 Twin in the hallway [Twin "room" has no closet]). There's also an extra fouton in the lower-level family room (linens in the closet). Note: We welcome children but do not have a Pack’n Play or crib, nor is the home setup for the safety of small children. Please feel free to bring your own children’s items. If you should need some necessities and/or groceries, we are an easy drive to Target and Walmart. We are close to Cub Foods or Aldi for groceries, and there are plenty of fast food places near the interstate. The Keys Cafe is also a favorite and only a short drive away. If you are here for the 4th of July the parade goes right past the house on the street and the fireworks are on a barge in the middle of our lake, weather permitting.

Amenities included:
Home internet and free Wifi. A full bathroom on each level, at least 1 TV on each level, whole house boiler heat (if needed) and bedroom AC window units (May-Sept only) and room fans.

-Main Level: Full kitchen with dishwasher and microwave (with air fryer feature), gas range, microwave and fridge. Flatscreen ROKU Smart TVs in the eat-in kitchen and Queen bedroom, in-room window AC units in the bedrooms, ceiling fans in the kitchen and dining room and some portable fans in rooms too. There is a lakeside desk to get your work done, if you need to do any work on your getaway.

-Upstairs: Flatscreen ROKU Smart TVs in each of the 2 King bedrooms and in-room window AC units

-Lower Level: Large Flatscreen ROKU Smart TV in lower-level family room with a futon, extra eating space, kitchenette with fridge, sink and microwave, washer/dryer. Full bathroom with shower is just inside the lower level door for easy cleanup after playing at the beach. Please rinse off your sand OUTSIDE 1st. (NOTE: The infrared sauna in the bunk room is not for rental use.) Sorry, the inside fireplace is not available during the summer months.

Parking: Plenty of parking on our over-sized gravel area when pulling in at an angle. There is no parking inside the garage but you can park on the pad in front of the garage, which is handy for easy unloading. (Important Parking NOTE: We share our driveway with our neighbors to the north. Please Do NOT BLOCK the cars from coming in/out of the neighbor’s garage. Please stay entirely on our side of the driveway. We do have a pontoon trailer in the yard but still room to park.)

Enjoy outdoor living in a number of areas: 1.) Deck lakeside off the living room with a small table and 2 chairs. Great for sunrises with a cup of coffee, 2.) Side patio area with a swing and outdoor eating area and BBQ, 3.) Fire pit near the beach (perfect for s’mores), 4.) The sandy beach and of course 5.) the lake!

Please note, our home is close to both our neighbors. We have the utmost respect for them and expect the same of our guests. No parties/events, no loud music/noise, no smoking/vaping (owner is severely allergic to smoke and pets and has asthma), and no drugs or illegal activity is allowed. As stated, NO PETS! Please respect our neighbors' privacy!

Note: The house does have 2 outdoor ARLO cameras monitoring the front door and the beach from afar for security purposes. There are no cameras in the home. You will be charged for any damages or theft, inside or outside or for excessive messes left by you or your party, those fees will be added on top of the standard cleaning fees and start at $500.

Note new June 2025: We did have some ice damage to our beach over the winter/Spring. It is still sandy but the beach is a steeper than in years past. We added cinder blocks steps down to the water's edge and new adorondack chairs on the sand. The weed service we had last year is no longer so please expect weeds to come up on the beach if the winds blow towards the shoreline. There's a rake in the lower-level utility room if you'd like to clear an area of weeds. (Last year's property fee has also been removed.)

Also, the VRBO site assumes if you have any exercise equipment, you have a "gym". We only have a stationary/recumbent bike and some hand weights in our lower level, and 1 bike for outside for your use. We do NOT have a "gym" or a manicured beach any longer. (Sorry, hard to find workers.)

In addition to our cottage being close to MSP/ St. Paul we are about 20miles to Taylor's Falls thru Chisago City and the cute Swedish town of Lindstrom (great bakery too). We enjoyed a fun day trip up there sightseeing.

Please take care of our cabin as if it were your own and enjoy your time at Forest Lake!!!