The 9 Best Swimming Pools In NYC
June 11, 2015, 1:43 p.m.
If beaches aren't your bag, there are a number of affordable NYC pools that'll cool you down. Here are the best ones.
Hot and sticky summer seems to be here at last, sparking endless office-wide wars over the air-conditioning and turning even the quickest subway ride into total antiperspirant failure. You can head to a nearby beach to stave off the heat, but if you don't have the fortitude to handle the NYC Beach Bus, there are a number of pools that'll do the trick nicely, whether they be public (and free!) or private with a price, if you prefer the exclusivity money can buy. Here are our favorite pools in the city, and note that for the sake of our wallets and our sanity, we've left out some of the more ultra-fancy spots.
Speaking of ultra-fancy, if you're looking for one of those, classics include the pools at the SoHo House, Gansevoort Meatpacking, Le Parker Meridien and JIMMY at The James. (You probably need to know someone or rent a room to enjoy them.) As always, leave your favorites in the comments.
PUBLIC (Free, open daily from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., starting June 27th):
MCCARREN PARK POOL: Sure, the McCarren Park Pool initially gained a reputation for being a diarrhea-filled cesspool of violence and despair, but it's actually quite a nice place to swim, provided you dodge some of those structural issues. The pool boasts 37,571 square feet for swimming (though once, in a far better Williamsburg of the Past, this blogger enjoyed a free concert or two in that then-empty swim pit), along with ample sunbathing space, provided you can drown out the teens. Be sure to bring a lockâthey won't let you in without one.
McCarren Park is located at 776 Lorimer Street between Bayard Street and Driggs Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn
(nycgovparks.org).
RED HOOK RECREATION CENTER: Red Hook residents are lucky enough to have both Ikea's $1 soft-serve ice cream and an Olympic-sized pool nearby. People who use pools for more than lying on floaty devices can sign up for lap swim hours, either from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. or from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Again, bring a lock, and remember that Swedish meatballs await you post-swim.
The Red Hook Recreation Center is located at Bay Street at Henry Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn (718-722-3211, nycgovparks.org).
ASTORIA PARK POOL: Astoria Park, known among non-New Yorkers for its brief cameo in Orange Is The New Black (or so I would imagine), offers both a wholly underrated running track and an excellent Olympic-sized pool, along with a diving pool for individuals looking to traumatize swimmers with their cannonballs. Note that 6,200 swimmers can pack into the area, and it gets crowded as hell on the weekends, so be sure to show up early if you want to grab a prime sunbathing spot.
Astoria Park Pool is located at 19th Street at 23rd Avenue in Astoria, Queens (718-626-8623, nycgovparks.org).
ASSER LEVY POOL: The Asser Levy Recreation Center has the benefit of boasting an outdoor and indoor pool, so if you yearn to walk around with a head full of wet, chlorinated hair all winter, you can hang out here, provided you shell out for a membership. But the 120-foot outdoor pool is for the summertime, my friends, and though it is often filled with children, earplugs generally block out their irritating squeals of glee.
The Asser Levy Pool is located at 501 Asser Levy Place at the FDR Drive (212-447-2020, nycgovparks.org).
BARRETTO POINT FLOATING POOL: The famed "Floating Lady" pool spent some time bouncing around the city before making a semi-permanent home at Barretto Point Part in the Bronx a few years back, much to the delight of neighborhood children and aquatic adults. As the name suggests, the Floating Pool's seven lanes sit on a moveable barge on the water, along with locker rooms, bathrooms, snack bars and other pool-related amenities.
The Barretto Point Floating Pool is located at Tiffany Street and Viele Avenue in the Bronx (718-430-4601, nycgovparks.org).
TONY DAPOLITO RECREATION CENTER: The outdoor pool at this famed Greenwich Village recreation center is the obviously main draw, with large crowds taking up chlorinated space and poolside spots in the shade on the weekends and on summer afternoons. But while the water's the star of the show, a 1987 Keith Haring mural serves as the pool's bonus backdrop, with signature silhouetted fish and swimmers looming over the IRL poolgoers below. Another fun pop culture factoid: the pool serves as the setting for a scene from Raging Bull.
The Tony Dapolito Recreation Center is located at 1 Clarkson St at Seventh Ave South in Greenwich Village (212-242-5228, nycgovparks.org).
PRIVATE:
CHELSEA PIERS SPORTS CENTER POOL: Chelsea Piers Sports Center contains one of the biggest indoor pools in the city, with 6 lanes taking up about 25-yards of swimspace for athletes and lazyboneses alike. The pool is open to Sports Center members, but you can also purchase a day pass for $50, which gets you access to the Hudson River sundecks, the indoor track, fitness classes and basketball courts in addition to the chlorinated water.
The Sports Center at Chelsea Piers is located at Pier 60 at 20th Street & Hudson River Park in Chelsea (212-336-6000, chelseapiers.com).
ASPHALT GREEN POOL: Upper East Side sports center Asphalt Green's got a 50-meter Olympic-sized pool on its campus, with everything from lap swim to adult recreation swim to family time (see here to avoid). Though membership is required for pool access, Asphalt Green offers a monthly "swim only" deal, which covers water exercise classes and access to the steam room, sauna, and sun roof. They also offer a summer membership for $349 that includes gym access, but the deadline for signing up is the end of June.
The Asphalt Green Pool is located at 555 East 90th Street at York Avenue on the Upper East Side (212-369-8890, asphaltgreen.org).
MANHATTAN PLAZA HEALTH CLUB: The best thing about the Manhattan Plaza Health Club pool is that while it's technically indoors, the facility is topped with a retractable glass atrium that comes down when the weather's right. The 75-foot-long pool offers aquatic classes, a swim team and even a scuba training program, run by Pan Aqua Diving. There's an $89 monthly membership fee, but first-timers can purchase a $25 trial workout day pass for a weekday lap or two.
The Manhattan Plaza Health Club is located at 482 West 43rd Street between 9th and 10th Avenue in Hell's Kitchen (212-563-7001, mphc.com)