Mission Pool

The newly renovated outdoor pool is awesome! I went during the free community swim day grand re-opening on Wednesday, August 7, but it officially re-opened July 27. The staff is very friendly and all the life guards seem pretty cool.

The long length of the pool seems to be 25 yards and there are four lanes for the lap swim. They provide kick boards and pull buoys. I was there during the 11:30am - 1:30pm lap swim and all the lanes were full with at least two swimmers per lane. The water was luke warm, pretty clean, and lightly chlorinated.

They also renovated the locker rooms, but it's nothing fancy. As you walk in, there's a small shower room on the side (easy to miss) with 3 shower heads. Then you'll encounter a long row of lockers opposite a long row of benches by the wall that has hooks to hang clothes. There's a lot of space between the lockers and benches so you won't have to bump into people. The largest locker is kind of small and it barely fits my gym bag. If you don't want to use a locker, you could probably tuck your bag along a wall by the pool outside. After the lockers are the toilet stalls and they look very clean (it has been freshly renovated, afterall). Finally at the very back, you'll see two sinks with large mirrors and a handicap-accessible shower next to it. I wish they had a wall-mounted hair dryer as found in some swimming pool locker rooms.

I would definitely come back and do some more swimming here.

I've been living in the Mission for a long time and came to this pool for the first time just recently. It's wonderful! The pool staff (especially Charles!) creates such fun and uplifting energy. And big bonus for playing great music. The patrons of the pool were very kind, and the overall atmosphere was cheerful and welcoming. It made me feel so grateful to be part of the Mission community.

The pool is gorgeous the staff is delightful on certain days but they could get an attitude check!

The pool offers a pleasant outdoor swimming experience with four lanes of 30 yards. The staff recommended I come when the place opened for lap swimming, and the lanes (fast, 2 medium paced, 1 slow) filled quickly. I might go 25 minutes into the session next time. The pool could be cleaner, and the life guard team should be cleaning the bottom of the pool of debris. The filter system is fair; I had to deal with hair strands around my hands on several occasions. Not everyone wore caps. The lane lines discs are small in size, so the water was choppy, worse than open water swimming according to one swimmer. I agreed. I question the focus of the lifeguard staff: music played loudly, one guard was tanning in her bikini on the deck (off duty, she should have been on the grass out front or elsewhere), and the guard holding the rescue float was jamming out to Lizzo and other tunes, dancing with his eyes closed, singing along. A second guard seemed to be staring into the pool standing under the umbrella, needing to jump over equipment if he needed to get in the pool. One of them should have been walking around as the lanes were full. I didn't fear a drowning but a collision that the guard wouldn't see. No one was ready for action. Experienced swimmers could hold their own here, but I'd suggest newer swimmers look at other public pools before jumping into this one.

Just a block from Mission Dolores Park, and around the corner from trendy shopping and restaurants on Valencia St, I would have never guessed that there was an outdoor pool right there in the heart of the city.

The building itself could use some updating. The locker rooms definitely have *character*- there is all kinds of wood paneling, and orange and red tiling in the showers and walls. The shower area itself was confusing- there were 3 showers in a small, very dimly lit (and orange-tiled) room. Although the locker room was obviously outdated, the only thing that was truly missing that other SF city pools included is a swim suit dryer.  

The pool was busy compared with other SF city pools I have visited; I was surprised to see 2-3 people per lane. It was a smaller pool (4 lanes, 30 yards), with narrow lanes, and it did feel crowded. Some were waiting for swimmers to leave before hopping in for their swim- my lane mate complained about running into the entry/exit ladders when swimming near the wall, and I did get breaststroke kicked.  

Apart from the number of people, it was such a treat to swim outside right in the middle of the city.The Mission Pool is a hidden gem best meant for anyone who is comfortable with no-frills locker rooms, and is looking to get outside to enjoy a casual swim.

TLDR: Check the schedule on your website before coming here. It's super cheap and has the amenities you'd expect. Bring a lock if you want to store away your valuables.

Entry for 1 adult is $7 or you can get their 10 entry pass for a discount. It's a great deal for an hour or more of swimming. They offer Lap Swim and Family Swim, which you'll have to check their schedule online for the exact times. We made the mistake of showing up in the 30 minutes between the sessions and had to wait. They have slow, medium, and fast lanes for lap swim and it's usually not too crowded if you go in the afternoon. Family swim, however, is when they divide the pool into 2 sections and it's great for beginners or people learning how to swim.

They have showers and lockers here! You just have to bring your own lock to use the lockers. A lot of people just leave their items on the benches by the pool, where they can keep an eye on them. They also provide kickboards during the sessions.

Overall, very friendly people and a great place to get some laps in.

Went there around 1pm and had to wait 15 mins until someone left. The lanes were crowded but good enough to get the workout done. No complaints here since it's free and close to where I live.

This pool facility is rather dainty, so bear that in mind when visiting.

The ladies' change facility has little space in which to work. The shower area is rather compact with three shower heads in total. To be fair, there's no room for more. If it's you and another swimmer showering, then it almost feels a bit too intimate such is the tightness of the space. There's a single shower at the opposite end of the narrow change room just beyond the row of toilet stalls meant for those with mobility issues, but it's often dominated by mothers with children or body-shy folk.

I haven't had issue with anyone on staff, but I watched as one of the girls working gave a delighted-to-swim, small child the biggest stink eye for walking through the Fort Knox-like entrance in front of her mother too enthusiastically. This same worker also seemed displeased by the child walking a couple of feet away from the payment window before her mother had finished paying the entry fee. The child wasn't spazzy, wasn't behaving in a manner that made one anxious for her well-being, she was just being a happy kid. I thought, man, if I can see her absolute displeasure at this child's behavior, then so can the child's mother. This was confirmed in the change room. The mother had had a sense of decorum and chose not to engage with the bratty employee. That was probably for the best as had the mother responded, then it could have soured the swim session, or worse, she and her child might have been ejected from the premises altogether.

Recreation swim may or may not be as listed on the pool schedule, so be prepared for whatever goes. The other day, the teenagers who work there decided to leave the lap lanes up from the previous pool session in place during the rec swim hour, so that blew. Of course, it didn't suck for the lappers who somehow sussed out that they got another hour of lap swim during the day and came out in droves. The rest of us adults were relegated to a fourth of an already rather narrow pool for our pleasure. If the day hadn't been so windy, then I would have said that the pool trip had been worth it. However, with literally half the pool having been commandeered by lappers and my having to repeatedly dunk under to get away from insistent wind, I wish, on that day, that I had skipped visiting altogether.

If you're lucky enough to find yourself at the pool on a warm and windless day when rec swim is actually rec swim, then you'll have half the pool for your lounging pleasure & it will be brilliant. If not, then it may be a 'meh' of a day for you. As my Irish Catholic grandma, who, incidentally, swam at this pool, would say: May you have 'the luck of the Irish' when visiting this facility!


**no suit wringer contraption at this site
**street parking is scant

Great place for lap swimming in the mission! Staff is super nice, lanes when I went (4pm Friday) were not too crowded, and pool temp was perfect for the weather. Make sure you check the hours ahead of time because they are sometimes closed between time slots. Overall a great spot and will be coming in again.

Love it there its small but does cool you off . After tennis at the park its a great place to enjoy a swim

Dirty and smelly men's locker room. Dirty lockers, all of them. Showers oddly situated and claustrophobic. Showers are warm.

Smallish pool (4-5 lanes), not much room along the sides. Cold water.

Deep end is 8-9 feet.