Swimming Pools- New York, Indoor, 2024 Edition

January 7, 2024 11:21 AM

Hi- I'm looking for suggestions for good (quiet, large, clean) indoor pools in New York. I will state more specific preferences inside.

I was getting into swimming on my vacations in my hometown pre-Covid. Then I joined the JCC in New York which was Okay but blocked off after-school (big no), and too cold in the evenings and too crowded on the weekends.

Here are my preferences.

1. Clean
2. Quiet
3. Has afterschool lane swimming times (I'm a teacher, I'm on the same schedule as the students!).
4. Preferably salt water??
5. Preferably windowed?
6. I'm covid paranoid now- which has extended to everything- so definitely as uncrowded as possible.

I'm open to any suggestions, but not outdoor, free, public pools because I'm specifically looking for indoor pools with as few people as possible (which may be an insane request for NYC).

(I'm even thinking about moving so if I could find an apartment complex pool that would be great too. Unfortunately, I am not a Roy/Murdoch so my options there are probably limited).

Thanks in advance!! (Also, I checked previous questions, and the last ones were 2009/2010).

posted by bquarters to Health & Fitness (3 answers total)

Just in case you don't know about this resource, SwimmersGuide.com (previously SGOL) has user reviews aplenty. For example, the Denny Farrell Riverbank State Park Aquatics Complex gets lots of positives at Swimmers Guide: "Underutilized, especially off-season" and "By FAR the best deal in NYC."
posted by Jesse the K at 12:47 PM on January 7 [3 favorites]

I have not investigated either of these personally, but there are some higher-end gyms in NYC that have indoor pools generally more aimed at adults (because who's paying several hundred dollars a month for a kid to be a member), like the Greenwich Ave. Equinox or the (much newer) Lifetime Fitness Sky on W. 42nd St. You should be able to get a free tour of either facility to suss out whether they meet your requirements.
posted by praemunire at 3:55 PM on January 7

When I worked in Battery Park, Asphalt Green was recommended to me, but I chose to join the Y on my commute back to Brooklyn. That was super busy and a frustration, but someone clued me in to a neighborhood school with a pool that had after school hours. I paid by visit (about $10 each time, so pricier, but fiscally better than a monthly when I traveled so much) and it was such a serene place to be. Occasional private lessons for kids in the exterior lanes. I usually had a lane to myself or with just one other person. I'm pretty sure it was a chlorinated pool.
posted by icaicaer at 6:18 PM on January 7