My son and his family want us (7) to rent a place for one week this summer (condo or house). I’ve never been to the area and am looking for suggestions for small towns. Grandkids want a beach nearby.

Thanks. Ill check it out.

park point in Duluth is pretty much the only sand beach. The water temp is numbing year round.

More or less this

Black Beach up in silver bay is much less well-known (and cooler IMHO), but it’s really not near any hotels/resorts (and not really “sandy”).

Basically you can have your pick of any number of nice resorts all along the north shore, OR you can have a couple beaches, but not really both. Sure you can get a hotel room on the water in Duluth, but you’ll be surrounded by people the entire time.

I’d look at where you wanna stay and probably give up on the sandy beach. Just go visit park point on the way to / from, wade in up to your ankles for a couple minutes.....and you’ll have had enough

We stayed at Cascade Lodge last summer and had a great experience. They have a restaurant on the resort and access to some cool hiking trails and several waterfalls. Also about 10 minutes from Grand Marais for more eating options. There are some fantastic places to eat there. The north shore doesn't really have sand beaches, it is either rock formations or pebble beaches and swimming is only for the bold.

Cascade Lodge

You will want to book ASAP wherever you go, things fill up fast.

The average surface water temp for the lake over an entire year is 42 degrees F, but it can be fun to wade in or do some agate hunting. I rented an AirBnB house in a perfect location for hanging out in the summer on a Lake Superior beach. It wasn't cheap, but the house was very nice, and has room for a good size group. I wouldn't hesitate to stay here again.
AirBnB Lake Superior Beach House

Try Grand Superior Lodge.

Wife & I did our 25th Anniversary there.

Right on the water, upper & lower level condos, well maintained, nearby activities, very competitively priced.

https://grandsuperior.com/

Stayed here for a week last summer, I hate Duluth but the Two Harbors area is great.  It's all rocky beach along the N Shore and even in July you'll freeze your nuts off in the water but we still did some paddle boarding and hiking, biking and hitting the state parks was fun.

I wouldn't stay right on Lake Superior.  Head to the W NW of anywhere on Lake Superior and find a resort or campground at least 25 miles from the lake.  The weather will generally better (warmer) and you can actually not freeze your ass off in the water.  You can also get away with a smaller boat as well if you want to cruise or fish.  You can still check out the scenery on the big lake from a 30 minute drive, while still being able to hang out in one of the other 10,000 lakes that is not cold as hell