North Beach Swimming Pool

Let's go swimming at the beach!

Contrary to popular belief, there is no beach in North Beach... Aquatic Park probably the geographically closest one to this neighborhood.

As a child, my family mostly went to Rossi Playground after school/work as part of our family bonding and physical activity program. My parents and sometimes my uncles would take my siblings and me there. I actually mostly waded in the pool as I hated the chlorine in my eyes. After paying the entry fee, we would go to the male and female locker rooms respectively and change, given designated lockers to secure our clothes and belongings. As a child, the pool looked large but I'm sure it is more up to scale since I'm a grown adult now. It was a decent sized pool. To be honest, I looked forward to going to the family pizza place after our swimming session. Just how I'm built.

North Beach Swimming is much larger and spacious. It sits just next to the playground, a place where I spent infinitely more time playing softball. I remember when I first came here, the entry fee was $0.10.... yes, as in ten cents; it's $7.00 for adults now.. The pool was more crowded with mostly children who hailed from the neighborhood, North Beach, Chinatown, Nob or Russian Hill. The demographic was mostly Chinese, given the proximity to Chinatown from my childhood visits there.

They are currently open under limited hours so do check their posted message board for the schedule. I noticed that the are mostly lap swimming, which makes sense with the social distancing requirements. The remodel is complete for the pool and the playground so I'm sure the neighborhood youth are awaiting things to open up again.

I am an ex professional swimmer and have swam in pools all over the world. I'm new to the city and looking for my spot to get some laps in, North Beach pool was just OK.

The pool is located in a bustling part of San Francisco- right on Lombard, and you can expect to circle the block for parking. I did expect this ahead of time, and was pleasantly surprised to only circle once & find parking on Chestnut- just 1 block away. $7 is the fee for lap swim, standard at all SF city pools. When I visited in April 2022, they were only accepting cash. 

The North Beach Pool has an interesting set up. There are actually 2 separate pools in this facility- one "cold" pool, ranging between 77-78° F, and one "warm" pool, ranging between 86-88° F. The differing temperatures in the two distinct pools strike me as odd. The temperatures aren't as extreme as you might find in a day spa- contrasting a hot tub session with a cold plunge. It was a small facility, and I would anticipate that 4 lanes total, 2 for serious lap swimmers, would get crowded at times. However, when I visited, there were max 3 people in the cold pool, which was manageable. 

The locker rooms are shabby and could use some updating- but the basics are there. There is a communal shower space, lockers for day use, and curtained changed areas, and a swim suit dryer. Although it is definitely dated, it didn't feel particularly dirty or inadequate.  

The North Beach pool space is definitely a bare-bones facility, but the warm pool and the sauna make this a good spot for anyone seeking warm water therapy or just a nice recovery swim session.

so disappointed that they only have 1.5 hours of lap swimming available for people who work full time and need to blow some steam off in a cold pool.

they used to have a minimum of 3 evening lap swims, but easily reduced that to 1 day a week (actually 1.5 hours a week) AND you have to share it with 15 loud (remember this place echoes) families.

no more awesome peace of mind swim after work.

they literally have so many bodies in the water, that the cold pool is now a warm pool for serious swimmers (now as mediocre temperature-d as any other public pool).

(aka they took away the benefits of a cold plunge- it's regenerative powers)

i really miss this place.

i can't believe it's still here, but inaccessible to the public (and no i'm not sharing my peace with 30 screaming kids because you decided to jam us all into a COVID heavy breathing room - they don't ventilate the place well to cater to non-swimmers complaining about being cold)

how can a place be open only during working hours and closed to tax-paying adults when they're off work?

i seriously miss swimming here.

this place used to be my go-to sore muscles regeneration place.

didn't know I could mourn this much over the loss of a cold pool where you could lie on your back and see the night sky through the skylight before.

RIP

I appreciate that they have a sauna, but given that the young woman who admitted me to the pool also told me to keep my belongings with me as there have been reported locker break-ins in the changing rooms, I can't for the life of me figure out how to use it. I mean, I'm not going to schlepp my clothing bag & various other personal items in there with me, am I?

The two pools on site would be grand if they were fused into one. As it stands, there are two, narrow pools for use. The 'cool' pool accommodates only two (wide-ish) lap lanes. The 'warm' pool is further reduced ( 89′ x 21′ cut in half) as it's bisected in order to separate children and their parents from a few adults at the 7' deep end. It felt as if I were in a small, backyard pool, to be honest.

The one good thing I thought would be as a result of this truncated swim area was that there wouldn't be any lap swimmers to contend with. Au contraire! Those fools are trying it in the small pool area as well!

Short swims are to be had, but you're at the other side of the pool in a flash, so it may not feel satisfying to the visitor. However, if you're keen to just hold onto the side of the pool and kick your legs for a spell or want to use water weights in place, then this might be the pool for you. Then, again, maybe not.


*Lockers, toilets and showers are fine. If you've been to Coffman, then these change rooms might feel somewhat familiar. Although Coffman's set-up is a bit more humane & simply a bit nicer.

*Visitors/viewers are parked in the reception area, so the space can feel fairly cramped when entering the facility.

*Street parking is extremely difficult.

*Transit: 30 Stockton bus

Compared to Coffman Pool--this one feels a little cramped; less lanes. The lap lanes (very cold) are physically separated from the recreational (very warm) lanes.

No-frills men's locker/shower room but clean. Warm showers.

There's a sauna and shower by the pool.

Pleasant staff, chill music when it's on.

$6 cash only. Bring a lock.

Beautifully maintained with an immaculate pool and locker rooms, this great pool is easily accessible to the Financial District and of course, North Beach.

I chose this Parks & Rec pool because the time for weekly swim lessons jibed nicely with my little boy's school schedule, despite the across town jog that a half hour barely allows.

I expected parking to be extremely "challenging" but it's usually a simple spin around the block to find a free street parking or a meter, at least at this shoulder time of 4pm.

(Even with the Central Subway dig going on right behind the building, I know, you'd think it'd be impossible).

Instructors are dedicated and the manager wants to see kids build confidence and learn how to swim.

Everyone is very respectful to the children and they give extra attention and help to kids who need more one-on-one instruction.

I've heard the pool is one of the warmer ones in the Parks & Rec network: it's kept at a balmy 86 degrees so if you're looking for a bracing/refreshing dip, this may not be your spot.

Parents aren't allowed into the pool room (and you must remove outside shoes if you want to enter for a moment) but you can watch the class through the glass wall but there are only a few places to sit or even stand.

Between the number of parents and the tropical temperature inside the building, many parents spill out onto the sidewalk to wait.

All and all, it's another well-run Parks & Rec pool with the added benefit of its proximity to awesome North Beach restaurants, the North Beach public library (need to return a library book, it's a half block away) and Trader Joe's just up the street.

Not bad, everything is good. I just had a nice swim there this morning from 8:39-9:30. Clean, not crowed, and nice location. warm pool is pretty good, but the cold one is a little cold for me, I probably gonna do warm pool all the time~ they also provide lessons for different lever, around 60$, the regular adult lab ticket is 6$ per time. Scrip ticket is 52$ for 10 swims.
There are something you need to know before you come. First, bring exact change (cash only). Second, bring a lock. Last, slipper and bath towel.
Good luck :))

I've been coming to this pool since '94 and I love what they did with the renovations. However, I stopped coming after an incident with a staff I had about 6 years ago. I was sitting in the sauna just enjoying myself after a swim when a high school boy (a volunteer, probably) told me and my boyfriend we had to get out. We were confused because there was another gentleman in the sauna with us, but he targeted just my bf and me. We asked him why? He said because the sauna is for 18+ only. We were 22, so we didn't know what the issue was. Maybe that's his way of complimenting me for my youthful genetics? The teen then insisted we were under 18 because he saw us paying kids price to enter the pool, which was FALSE. We paid adult price. We told him to **** off and reported this unacceptable behavior to the manager.

The world is smaller than it is, because that teen who accused us happened to be my bf's younger brother's classmate's younger brother. Somehow the sister of that teen got ahold of my IM and messaged me to personally apologize for his younger brother's behavior. I let bygones be bygones, but that was the last time I went to North Beach Pool. I'm all for hiring young people so that they'd get some work experience, but please make sure they are properly trained to not be an a-hole.

Beautiful Pool, newly renovated, Dry Sauna, and helpful aquatic staff. This public pool actually has two pools. A warm pool that is set at 85 degrees for recreation swim, lessons, and water excercise and a cooler pool set at 76 degrees for lap swim only. One thing to remember is to check the schedule before coming because the pool has different activities going on in each pool and the staff is strict about what goes on in each pool during those activities.
The price of admission is $4 for adults and $1 for children. Bring exact change!!! They do not give change!!! If you take swim lessons or the water excersice class there then all you do is add $1 to your entrance fee. The fee is only good for one session and you dont need any kind of membership to swim there.

I swim laps at the North Beach Pool a few times a week. The lap pool is 82 feet (25 meters) long and ranges from 3.5 to 10 feet in depth. The water is a very cool 77 degrees, which is perfect for swimming laps but might seem cold if you're used to other pools in the city. There are only two lanes (fast/slow) but they're extra wide (11 feet) to make it easy to circle swim and to pass other swimmers.

There's also a warm pool (85 degrees) for lessons and rec swim. Compared to the cold pool, the warm pool feels like taking a hot bath. It's way too warm for me, but many people (especially older people and children) seem to like it.

The hours are very strange and unpredictable, so check on http://sfrecpark.org for the latest schedule. The schedule changes every couple months.

Perhaps the best part of the pool is the sauna. It's usually set to 195 degrees and is great for relaxing post swim.

Besides the wonky hours, the only downside is the bathroom and showers are sometimes used by homeless people.

For regular visitors, it's worthwhile to buy scrip tickets online. (10 swims is $47) Otherwise, swims are $5 (exact change only).