Swimming pools in Palo Alto

For a city with so many backyard pools, Palo Alto has surprisingly few public ones. The city's own park listing tags exactly one park with a swimming pool: Rinconada, on Embarcadero Road. The good news is that Rinconada Pool is heated, open all year and busy with everything from 6 a.m. lap swimmers to toddlers in the play pool. Beyond it, the options are the YMCA in south Palo Alto, Stanford's pools for those with access and the public pools of neighboring towns.

This guide explains how each one works. Details come from the pool operators' own pages in late October 2026. Schedules shift with the season and around swim meets, so check the linked pages before you pack a towel.

Rinconada Pool

Rinconada Pool sits at 777 Embarcadero Road inside Rinconada Park, a short walk from the Junior Museum and Zoo. It is an outdoor facility with two pools:

• The lap pool. 25 yards long with up to 14 lanes, kept at about 81°F.
• The play pool. A shallow pool for young children, used during open swim.

The city contracts with Palo Alto Swim and Sport to run lessons, camps and community swimming at the pool. The company began as Menlo Swim and Sport in Menlo Park and has run the Rinconada programs since the late 2010s. The city's aquatics page now links straight to its site, paloaltoswim.com, which posts the daily schedule.

Lap swimming

Lap lanes are open seven days a week, all year, with a lifeguard on duty whenever the pool is open. The number of lanes changes through the day as lessons and team practices come and go. Look for yellow cones on deck to find the lap lanes. Swimmers circle swim when more than two share a lane.

In the fall the pool generally opens at 6 a.m. and runs lap swim through the working day, with a break on Saturday mornings for programs. Winter is shorter on weekends. From November 14, 2026, the pool closes at 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays and keeps that schedule until daylight saving time begins in the spring. The pool is also closed on Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and 8, 2026, for a swim meet hosted by Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics.

What it costs

A drop-in fee is good all day for both lap swim and open swim. Monthly lap members can also use open swim at no extra cost, which suits a parent who wants to swim laps while a partner watches the kids. Check the lap swim page for current prices before you go.

Open swim for families

Open swim uses both the play pool and part of the lap pool. Buy a drop-in wristband at the front desk, or check in with a membership. A seasonal Open Swim Family Pass is also sold. The rules are clear and enforced:

1. Children 5 and under and anyone who cannot swim must have a responsible person aged 15 or older in the water, within arm's reach.
2. Children 13 and under must have an adult supervising on the pool deck.
3. Swimmers 13 and under get an orange wristband. Swimmers 14 and up get a green one.
4. To swim in deep water without a chaperone in the water, younger swimmers must pass a swim check: jump in, float or tread for one minute, turn around, swim 25 yards and climb out. The check is valid for the calendar year.

The pool recommends swim shoes because the pool floor is rough on bare feet. Bring sunscreen and hats in summer, when afternoon open swim is at its busiest. Our weather guide shows how warm each month runs. For more family plans, see our guide to Palo Alto with kids.

Lessons, camps and clubs

Palo Alto Swim and Sport is the city's exclusive provider of swim lessons and summer swim camps. Its programs at Rinconada include:

• Group swim lessons for kids, private lessons and adult lessons.
• Aqua Fit classes in the water.
• Masters swim workouts for adults.
• Lifeguard certification courses.
• Week-long summer swim camps for ages 5 to 14, including a junior camp for 5 and 6 year olds with a daily 30-minute lesson, plus a spring break camp.

Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics, known as PASA, also trains and hosts meets at the pool. Swim scholarships are offered through the operator's site. For how swim camps fit with other local camps, see our summer camps guide.

The Palo Alto Family YMCA

The Palo Alto Family YMCA at 3412 Ross Road in south Palo Alto is the main indoor alternative. Its facility page shows a lap pool and a separate warm water pool, along with a gym, fitness rooms and a teens club room. The Y lists swim lessons, recreational and lap swimming, masters swimming and water exercise classes.

Facility hours posted in October 2026 were 6:15 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, with shorter hours on holidays and a Christmas Day closure. Pool times are narrower than building hours. Swimming is a membership benefit, so ask the Y about guest passes and short-term options if you are visiting. Call 650-856-9622 or check the Y's location page.

Stanford's pools

Stanford's Avery Aquatic Center is one of the best-known college swimming venues in the country, home to Cardinal swimming, diving and water polo. It is not a public pool. Stanford Recreation and Wellness says the Avery Recreation Pool is open for lap and recreation swimming to people with a membership. The main competition pool is closed to general members for most of the year except masters swimmers, opening more widely only during the winter closure of the recreation pool at the end of December. Stanford Masters Swimming trains there. We found no public drop-in option.

If you want to see the pool in action, the easiest way is to watch a meet or a water polo match. Our Stanford sports guide explains tickets.

Other places to get in the water

• Boronda Lake. At Foothills Nature Preserve you can paddle a hand-launched canoe or kayak, but swimming is not allowed.
• The bay. The Baylands are tidal marsh and mudflat, not a swimming beach.
• Hotel pools. Several hotels along El Camino Real have pools for guests. If a pool matters, filter for one when you compare Palo Alto hotels.
• Neighboring cities. Mountain View, Menlo Park and other nearby towns run their own public pools with their own resident and nonresident rates. Check each city's recreation pages.
• The ocean. The coast is over the hills to the west, but the Pacific is cold all year. Most people go for the beach rather than a swim.

Frequently asked questions