El Cerrito Swim Center

The wait is about 30 minutes on a weekend. The waitlist wasn't very long. But the staff was nice and help. Answered all my questions. Assisted with getting my baby a life jacket.

A beautiful pool, clean, low chlorine, great for lap swimming. Wonderful and friendly staff, like Arman, one of the nicest lifeguards I've met.

It's a great pool, I use it for fitness swim and the quality of water, staff and users are all decent. My only HUGE Complaint is, having to wait in line for 45+ minutes just to check in with my pass is annoying, they should install a Clipper card type entry because there is literally one person at the window and it's often very slow. Beware during summer times. Please make permanent a separate line for lap swimmers.... Thank youuuuuuu

My son had a great time learning to get acclimated to the pool. He took lessons elsewhere when he was two, but it was not very productive. Now at 3.5 years he was still fearful, but much more receptive to the idea of swimming.

The instructors were very patient with my boisterous son and the other children as well. As soon as my son was comfortable in the water, he decided he was an Olympic swimmer. The instructors kept a careful eye on him and reigned him in when needed.

Taking this class was worth it because he loves the water and taking showers now. He is comfortable with getting his head and face wet, and cannot wait to wash his face each day just so the shower water can run on top of his head. This is a big change from crying everytime his hair or face was washed.

We don't have a pool at home for him to practice on a regular basis, but he loves to practice some of what he learned in class in the tub: back float and practice holding his breath.

I would definitely recommend swim lessons.


I recently signed him up for level 2 and 3 during the Spring 2022. I would definitely recommend.

El Cerrito Swim Center is the only pool I swam at when I lived in the East Bay (2015-2019). I came for lap swimming and greatly appreciated that the pool was open year round. A seasonal schedule was posted online which made it easy to check when lap swim hours were and adjust my work schedule accordingly. If I was really ambitious I would get a swim in during my lunch hour.

I found midday lap swims to be the least busy, especially during non-summer months. The evening lap swims could get a bit packed and showers could get crowded when trying to shower before getting in the pool due to a high volume of youths showering after swim team practice.

Lap swim while water aerobics is going on is quite the treat. A few lanes were dedicated to water aerobics and other lanes would be open for lap swim. Music played during the water aerobics class, which made my kick sets enjoyable getting to listen to music and swim.

I paid per lap swim which is the more expensive option. There is also a pass option where the pass is good for a certain number of lap swims or certain number of days and you pay in advance for the set number of swims or days. They had these passes for lap swim, water aerobics, the masters swim team, and recreation swim. For lap swim the passes were for 10 swims, 30 days, and 90 days. The price range for these lap swim passes spanned roughly $50 to over $300. Something to keep in mind when budgeting if you also have and/or want a gym membership.

Facilities were clean and the lifeguards kind and helpful. Kickboards and pull buoys were provided on deck. The pool entrance and usage fees were well marked and payment for each swim was simple and straightforward.

It's hard to make the pool not fun, but El Cerrito swim center management have done the impossible. Excessively complicated schedule that is impossible to follow and changes every 2 weeks? Check! Excessive, complicated rules, including ordering everyone out of the family pool at random times? Check! Constant problems with the pool, meaning that when you go and try to swim it's not open? Check! Surly staff? Check! Very few available times for children to swim in the summer? Check! Truly, el Cerrito swim center's management are raising the bar in terms of completely messing up with hat would otherwise be a great neighborhood spot.

This review is for their splash park. Their splash park is a hidden gem! My son takes early afternoon naps and when he woke up at 4:00pm most of the splash parks where we lived were closed or about to close. Thankfully Yelp saved the day and I found this place. It was the only splash park open in the late afternoon/early evening in summer.

The location is more tucked away in the residential area. It was only $3/person to enter in the splash pad/park area. What I love about this area is that it is gated off from the actual pool so you don't have to worry about your toddler/child running away and diving into the adult pools. What is also nice is that the area surrounding the park is a well manicured grass area where parents could lay out to watch their kids play and where kids done playing can sit and recharge on snacks. The number of fun water activities is more than enough to entertain kids. My son loves this splash park and could probably play for hours if we allowed him to. Sadly summer has come to an end and we will have to wait until next year prior to returning.

Rude staff, inaccurate calendar for fitness swim- better options in the area with less messy facility and hostile staff

Not sure if the age 7 and under thing is a rule or a recommendation. If it's a rule, they should enforce it more at the entrance. There were a handful of older kids (ages 9, 10+) who were mean to the little ones. They pushed my toddler and yelled at him to "scram". Parents watching and not doing anything. It's ok when toddlers push each other but not when it's someone 3x your size.

All 3 drains don't really work well so water starts pooling. There is a large sign that says "water recirculates do not drink" so I had to put my germaphobe side aside and let my toddler have fun.

Great pool, easy to access, parking available- yes you CAN lap swim! And great weather too! Love it!!