photo credit: party dive via photopin (license)

Maybe you are lucky and live in an apartment with a pool, but if you don’t have a pool in your neighborhood, you’re still lucky! Raleigh has 4 year-round (open all year) pools and 5 seasonal pools, which are only open in the summer.

Year-Round Pools

• Buffaloe Road Aquatic Center (5908 Buffaloe Road) – Located in north Raleigh, this place is so cool! It has indoor pools for both exercise and fun, a lazy river, and a 3-story water slide!
• Millbrook Exchange Pool (1905 Spring Forest Road) – Also in north Raleigh, this park has indoor and outdoor pools. It also has a spray ground for children to play in.
• Optimist Pool (5902 Whittier Drive) – Optimist Pool is in midtown Raleigh, near North Hills. It has indoor and outdoor pools, a baby pool, water exercise programs, swimming lessons, and lifeguard training classes.
• Pullen Aquatic Center (410 Ashe Avenue) – This center is in Pullen Park, near downtown Raleigh and NCSU. It is a large, indoor aquatic center with pools for competition, exercise, and therapy. It also has water exercise programs, swimming lessons, and lifeguard training classes.

Spray ground photo by Shannon Smith on flickr (https://flic.kr/p/8zXj4L) Licence – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Seasonal Pools

All of the seasonal pools are outside. Most of them also have a baby pool and a spray ground. They are only open in the summer. The seasonal pools are:

• Biltmore Pool (701 Crown Crossing Lane) – Open June 11 – August 14, 2016
• Chavis Pool (720 Chavis Way) – Open June 11 – September 5, 2016
• Lake Johnson Pool (1416 Athens Drive) – Open May 28 – September 5, 2016
• Longview Pool (321 Bertie Drive) – Open June 11 – August 21, 2016
• Ridge Road Pool (1709 Ridge Road) – Open May 28 – September 5, 2016

More Information

Click here for more information about each pool (where it is, when it’s open, when it’s closed, and contact information).

Click here for fees (prices/cost) and rules. In general, if you are a Raleigh resident, you can swim cheaper than non-residents. Just take your driver’s license to show a Raleigh address. You can pay each time you go, or you can save money by buying a monthly or annual pass. You can also buy a “punch pass.” That means you are paying for 15 visits, and you can use them at any time. If you aren’t a Raleigh resident, you can still swim at any Raleigh pool. It will just cost a little bit more.