Ballard Pool

Amazing stuff, super friendly. Glad I found this place I am from out of town and would be lost! Thank you again!

It’s a pool. You can swim here. It’s mostly clean. It gets crowded and has limited lap swim times so lanes fill up (4 — 5 per lane). It is what it is. But you can exercise in winter when you don’t want to swim in frigid lake water. Free showers and hot tub to boot. Lots of kids so it can get loud. Just get in, get out. It’s a pool.

We’ve been taking our kids to swim lessons here for the last year, and I like it. They have a pool and a hot tub that are open during family swim, the staff are also really nice.
It’s not the newest building, but they keep it up well. It also seems more kid friendly than the pool at Greenlake, where we also go for lessons.

I want, no wait, I NEED this pool to be better. It’s mere blocks from our house and with two kids who are currently or will soon be in swimming lessons, it should be an easy solution for both learning and playing.
Alas, the schedule is weird. I’m not sure who they’re optimized for, but there is only one family swim session for one hour on Sunday evenings. The beginners’ classes we just ended were at dinner time on Friday, and general open swim sessions are at a different time every day except for the session that’s right in the middle of the work day Monday through Friday.
The facilities themselves have seen better days, with inadequate seating in the locker rooms (assuming the women’s is essentially the same as the men’s) and generally tired fixtures and furniture. The staff can be extremely helpful and friendly, but they can also be disinterested and (barely) doing their job. It’s a crapshoot depending on when you visit.
My biggest beef with the Ballard pool is in the consistency of the swim lessons. Our oldest has been through three rounds of lessons there, the first a parent/​child water familiarization class, which was actually pretty decent, and two fully instructor-​led sessions. The first was really quite good and his comfort level and skills in the water improved markedly over the session.
The second was supposed to be the next skill level up, but our son actually managed to backslide a bit because in the 25 minutes of instruction (in a 30 minute class), at least half of it was spent playing the water and not learning how to swim. I can dump a bucket of water over my kid’s head at home for 15 minutes for free. He went from confidently jumping in the pool with minimal coaxing to barely stepping off the edge with any regularity. The teacher’s assessment at the end of the class series indicated he had mastered every single skill in the class, but my wife and I had seen ample evidence to the contrary. Some of the skills we’d never even seen them practice.
Anyway, that session was a complete waste of money. We mentioned our concerns to the desk staff earlier in the series, but I don’t think they really registered or were relayed to the instructors because nothing seemed to change.
Maybe once the kids are up to speed on their own, the pool will be a better family recreation option, but I don’t see us going back for more lessons based on our most recent experience.

Cons:
The water temperature is a problem. My son (2.5 years) can only handle being in the water for about 10 minutes before he starts crying because it’s too cold. It’s fine for older kids and lap swimming.
The instructor seems a bit out of touch with the ability of the kids in her class (for example we spent 15 minutes blowing bubbles during one session, I think only3 of the 10 kids were old enough to figure out this activity). Since this is mostly a water familiarization class it’s not a huge deal, but generally they could have one more activity per class.
Pros:
The swimming lesson time is convenient for me.
They have plenty of parking, which is rare in Ballard.

Problem solved! The temp is higher and the baby is happy again!

Great pool, super fun for families, awesome staff!

Small and crowded pool made even more claustrophobic by all the «aquatic toys» that surround it. Try somewhere else.

I enjoy the Ballard pool. It is generally clean, except the inside of the lockers could use a spraying out. The staff is polite, but not too chatty, which is great cause I came here to swim. I mostly go to lap swims and everything is perfectly acceptable. Their classes seem to be aimed at the 55+ crowd, but I can just push myself to work harder if I want something more difficult. The kid swim/​classes always seems to be packed, so it must be good, right? I am looking forward to taking my kid to swimming classes here one day. I love that this pool is a short distance fro my house and can’t wait for warmer weather to arrive so I can ride my bike here!

Ready parking nice teacher to child ratio. There is no distractions like popcorn in the lobby to be the point of breakdown for my kiddos. I love the place.

Eating and drinking all summer long was awesome for my social calendar, but not for my waistline… Now my favorite jeans are angry with me because I don’t wear them anymore.
The Ballard pool offers a variety of water aerobics, open swims and lap lanes all at an affordable price. I’ve tried a few classes, but since I’m at least 40 years younger than anyone else in attendance I tend to stick with the lap swim. Fellow swimmers are friendly (but could work on their lane etiquette) and I find the work out challenging but also relaxing. As a former competitive swimmer, I’m still confused by swimming laps without a coach yelling at me. Where is all the screaming? Do I have to pay extra for that?
The pool and faculties are decent. Yes, it’s old, but it’s always clean, never over chlorinated and suits my needs.

Weezie’s happy. Very clean. The women’s locker room is the cleanest I’ve seen. Cleaner than I’ve seen in health clubs. The pool isn’t huge, but it suits my needs. Not overly chlorinated. My eyes never burn. Good temp for laps.
I go for adult swim (sorry, no Harvey Birdman), and plug along in the slow lane. I get my work out. My friend gets to hang out in the spa. Small but relaxing. Everyone is nice. I haven’t had bad experiences in the parking lot. True, it’s next to Ballard High, but I guess I’ve been lucky.

Note this review is kid-​biased:
The pros:
–Close by Ballard neighborhoods (we can walk!)
–On street parking
–Cheap
–Good for smaller kids
–Parents can hang out without paying (unlike Monger)
–Jacuzzi
–Waterslide (a stretch, but one nonetheless (
Cons:
–Poor shape
–Ridiculous hours for family/​kid use!!! Seriously, only 2 – 3 on Sundays IN SUMMER??! Sorry, but why on earth would adult classes be smack in the middle of weekend days? What happened to at least 2 – 3 hours of public swim?

It’s a little bit OLD — OK mega!
It’s a little dirty. Employees are ditzballs.
It’s available hours when Greenlake Pool is not.
Deal with it.

I try to go swimming at least two times a week. The ballard pool is closest to my home so I generally end up swimming here when I have the chance. I follow the general rules when I go there: I shower before I go in, I pick the lane appropriate for my speed, I don’t cut people off in the lanes, I don’t splash around like an idiot. I also don’t use flippers, which is beyond me why people use them when it comes to lap swimming, but I digress.
I really want to like coming to this pool but I always end up disappointed. The check-​in woman that works most of the time is a total jerk and belittled me because I payed the 3.75 fee with a 20 dollar bill once (after searching under the seats in my car to find change so I wouldn’t have to feel bad about giving her money). So please get a quick card pass — it saves you this interaction. After the public swim the locker room is disgusting with socks, hair and leaves from outside covering everything. The lanes can get really crowded: the worst was about 10 people per lane the other day. Which is great because people are exercising but it makes it really hard to keep a steady pace. There will always be some person who goes in the lane you chose that goes way too slow and you’ll catch up to them halfway down the lane. Its not so big of a deal when there are 3 people in your lane, but it definitely is when there are 10.
Anyway, my main complaint is the lap/​adult swim times. Please, please, please just keep a few lanes open for lap swimming ALL OF THE TIME! Why can’t you do this? You would get more money! There could potentially be less crowding! The Medgar Evans pool does it and it’s amazing! More people would exercise because it would fit better to their schedules! Not everyone can swim at noon or at say, 7:30pm. It drives me nuts.
And if anyone could explain to me why these pools in seattle are owned by the park system, I would appreciate it.

Did you know that all of the municipal pools look almost exactly the same? It’s true!
This one is slightly different once you get past the entrance. The locker room is smaller and somewhat trashed by the high school kids who might ram you with their cars in the parking lot. I swear I wasn’t nearly that retarded when I was in high school. Damn whippersnappers! Get off my lawn!
No sauna here, but it does have a colossal hot tub. I passed as is was full of people that looked like they wanted to socialize. No thanks, hungry-​looking old broads. Maybe next time.
They run exercise classes two at a time in the pool. The fogy contingent in the shallows dancing/​dashing through the waters to the classic jams of The Beatles, Elvis, and the like. The injured list and listful in the deep doing water aerobics. Each instructor has a different thing going in these kinds of classes.
It should be noted that you can get a monthly pass that is good at all of the Seattle pools. If you’re game to work this into your exercise routine, you should check it out and save a few bucks.
You can buy me drinks with the savings.