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Rinconada Pool
Rating Details »
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
17 reviews for Rinconada Pool
This is *not* your average public pool. It's got:
a deep water diving area with two boards
a huge kiddie pool with areas ranging from 1-3.5 feet
ride-on ducks for spraying your friends
a slide
all kinds of fountains and splashing for kids of all ages
low entry fees of $4 per kid and $5 per adult
As a result, it's ridiculously crowded. Or at least it has been the two times I visited on a Saturday. This made watching my little guys rather stressful. It also made the locker rooms rather wet and unpleasant.
But the pools are awfully nice, and it's open to the public. Would be 5 stars if they could find a way to thin the crowds a bit more (e.g., reservations, longer open hours?).
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Two words for you people: Night-time Hours!
Or how about two more: Trees overhead!
Or another double: Not overcrowded!
Or yet 'nother: Old School..
Ok, i've run out of cleverness. Nonetheless, this is my pool for Sunday night swims, my after the work week Friday night rinse off, my just off the 101 as i come home from the city or head there from the peninsula to make the transition from clinic treating into subdued relaxed weekending.. Its a little run-down in the locker room sense, but that's what i've got Equinox for on other days, this place is for the simple pleasure of floating in deep, clean water, swimming hard under summer skies.. and i love being there 'round sunset as the birds overhead mingle with the trees and I can kickboard myself quietly into contemplation. Check it out! Great deal too at 4 bucks a swim.
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Love this pool. Been swimming masters here for last year or so and it's very mellow and coaching is great. Not too crowded and 10 or so lanes. Surroundings with the redwood trees next to the pool are awesome. Locker room a little grubby - bring flip flops or you'll go home with athlete's foot! Gets very crowded on weekends during general swim hours in the summer and a bummer that it closes at 4:30 for kids stuff.
Sorry to say...despite the preceding glowing reviews, I have to rate this place a star. The place PISSED ME OFF.
One really HOT SUMMER weekend afternoon, we headed to the pools with family, friends and at least half a dozen kids. All ready to have a fun-filled afternoon. When we got there, the little street parking were all taken. We circled around like hungry sharks quite a few times before we found spots to park.
Then we all piled out of our vehicles sweaty and anxious to get cooled off. Went up to the gate and found the pools CLOSED !!! They had a power outage we learned....we were bloody close to fainting in disbelief and from the heat !!!
HelloooOOO....this is PALO ALTO man....YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSE TO HAVE THAT ON A HOT SUMMER WEEKEND ?!? A 2-bedroom fixer-upper goes for over a cool MILLION $$$....WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS 'HOOD ?!?
Anyone in PA ever thought of an auxiliary power source ? Or is there no budget for it ?!
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Sorry, X X, that the power went out and you weren't able to even try out the pool before giving it a single star. Hmmm but if you lived in Palo Alto you might have known that the power was out. So really, you're just mad that you can't live in Palo Alto.
Here's a number to call to get a recording of the rec/lap swim schedule: (650) 463-4914.
This is a great neighborhood pool. It has a wading pool complete with play things (slide, bikes, fountains etc) and it's shaped like a flower for the little ones and a larger lap pool for the adults.
Good pool, clean pool, outdoor pool.
The lap pool is not olympic sized. It feels like 25 yards. This means you have to turn around more often. Who cares. Maybe X X would complain about this.
The locker rooms are a far walk from the lap pool, but a close walk from the kiddie pool. The little kids don't have to be cold after getting out of their pool, thus reducing the chance of having little kids running to the locker room. But for me, who is not a little kid, I have to be cold for a little bit. How far is far? About 30 feet away for women, less for men.
No designated parking lot. There's plenty of parking on the streets around the pool. more than a few spots in front of the tennis courts across the street, plus two parking lots across newell (for the PA art center and one for the library/neighborhood garden).
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It is a great pool to take young children. We came on a weekday, so the crowds weren't so bad. The lockerooms were a bit old and run down, which is why I can't give it 5 stars. Otherwise, I would highly recommend this place if you are looking for an outdoor pool to take kids.
No pool. No AC. And it's so FREAKING hot your little one keeps taking off all his clothes and laying on the tile floor. Sound familiar? If so read on...
I just discovered the Rinconada Pool this past weekend. A friend of ours threw a birthday party for her 3-yo son and we all had a blast!. Now mind you, this place has an adult swimming pool with lanes and a kiddie pool but be warned on a Sat. it felt like the kids dominated the scene. Which was fine by me. I have a rug rat of my own who loved this place!
Growing up around pools and the ocean - I never spent much time at public pools. But my preconceived ideas of what a public pool would be like were way off base when it came to this place.
Yes, it was:
- CLEAN
- WELL STAFFED
- LIFEGUARDS SEEMED VERY ATTENTIVE
- POOL RULES were always enforced
- SAFE - though I keep an eye on my lil' bubba always - esp. around a pool
They had:
- cute little wading pools for babies and infants not ready to venture in to the 1.5 foot pool. (So cute)
- cool water toys to spray other kids and unsuspecting adults who need a good shot every now and then...
- water fountains that shoot into the pool and a mini slide for more adventurous kids.
There is a poolside patio like place you can rent for parties, but our party was out in the park which was actually better for the adults. We barbecued. Had lunch. Those who wanted to go swimming did. Which left the "adults" to watch over everyone's stuff and oh yes.. relax in the park on an absolutely beautiful day. You do need to call in to reserve a BBQ pit if you'd like to fire up the grill there and picnic. While there is a no In-N' OUt rule for the pool facilities we didn't really need it. Once the kids were done. They were done.
Did I mention this park was void of any bees or annoying pests? (yes... I know it's their right to be there - we all share this planet etc..) But it was odd that we didn't have any pest problems there. I'm not complaining.. .just thankful.
Enjoy!
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I swim at Rinconada about 3-4 times a week (nights). Now I am not a recreational swimmer and I do not have kids. Therefore, my review is from the perspective of a lap/training swimmer.
Good: open year round. If you're like me, and love nothing more than a bracing swim during the sub-40s temps in February (the pool is heated, obviously) with the steam rising out all around you, Rinconada accomodates. They close for thunderstorms but that's pretty much it. Good hours. Open till 8:45 on MWF which is better than most places nearby. Water temp is appropriately cool for lap swimming (warm water in a lap pool is SATAN!!!). It's clean.
So-so: 25 meter lanes. I would prefer 50m, but hey... $3 entrance fee is high IMO, but if you live around here you can afford it. I buy the resident ticket books which knocks the price down to $2.50. I thought they were phasing these out in favor of membership cards, but I might be wrong. Lifeguards are HS kids. Most are extremely nice sweet kids. Some are snotty. However, unless you are buying swim tickets or drowning, you don't need to interact with them.
Bad: locker room is like an elementary school or day camp. No lockers or lockable storage. It is Palo Alto, though, so you don't need to worry about your shoes walking away by themselves. I lock up my wallet in my car. There are 'gang' showers which is fine, but they are the kind where you need to press a (single) button to turn on the water for a minute or so, keep pressing every minute or 30s or else the water turns off. One star off because the locker room is so spare.
Crowds: if you arrive after 7:30 you can usually get your own lane. During the summer high point, it's 2 people in every lane and sometimes 3. This starts in May and tails off after Aug. or Sept. I like to have the whole lane to myself (who doesn't?) so I come a bit later. Can't speak for the morning swims.
Social/people aspect: like most places in Silicon Valley, everyone keeps to themselves and chatter is held to a minimum. There are people who do Masters club and other events outside but this is not a place to make new friends. Night swimming is mostly older guys in their late 30's and up, a few women here and there but they do not make eye contact, much less chat. But that's Palo Alto for ya!
Overall: great outdoor pool. I used to frequent a pool like this in college. Since then, I have been dreaming of having a good pool in my neighborhood for lap swimming. Thank goodness for this place!
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For us young hipsters, this is a great place to stay in shape and work on the hot sexy tan. I've been swimming here for about 2 years now, at least once a week, but I come here more for lap/training swims rather than recreational swims. I love coming here because I would say that for the most part, I get my own lane or share a lane with someone else, which means I never have to circle swim (1 out of every 10 visits) since they have a decent number of available lap lanes. Circle swimming here gets particularly horrible though because swimmers are of such different skill levels, the fast lane really consists of swimmers who swim anywhere between 1:15 to 1:45 on their sets. The only drawback is that this is a 25 yard pools, when I would prefer a 50 yard, or even just a 25 meter pool.
Summer lunch swims here are especially awesome/crappy because they open up the kiddie pool. Kiddie pool means that the pool is super crowded with lots of kids running around. Kiddie pool also means some attractive scenery when all of the Palo Alto stay-at-home moms come out.
During the winter, the attendance at the pool definitely leans out and you can almost guarantee your own lane whether you come at lunch or at night. Despite the slightly higher places compared to pools like Eagle Park, the pool never gets really crowded unless it is peak hours (12-1 pm) during the warmer months. And even then, you might just have to wait a few minutes to avoid circle swimming. But those hours tend to be easy to avoid. And finally, the shower and locker rooms here are horrible (no lockers and annoying showers that require the user to push a damn button every minute to keep the water running), but they get the job done.
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I read the reviews and decided to check out my local swimming pool.
This pool is nestled in a nice neighbourhood and is part of the park.
I went there at about 2 pm , and there were empty lanes, so I could have the lane all by myself. I am not used to swimming 25 m , I much rather have 50 m pools , it will suffice.
You can either pay $4 entrance, or if you are a palo alto resident, you can buy 10 passes for $30 and save money that way.
The water is freezing.
Great place to take the kids! Plenty of fun at this water park that has a water slide and fountains. Our little girl loved the slide and enjoyed walking in the shallow water area. A great way to spend a few hours on a sunny afternoon with the family.
a new regular at this pool. the water and the pool (bottom and sides) were really clean. i love that they have a lot of times available for lap swim! i got a 10 swim tickets for $30, which is a really good rate for this clean of a pool - but this rate is for residents only. there is sufficient parking on the street behind the pool. showers were clean, but not private, but i still give it five stars because of all the lap times available and it was really clean. lifegaurd staff is very attentive and plenty of lap lanes.
MWF 11:15 am-2:45 pm, 6:30-8:45 pm
T, Th 6-9:30 am, 1:30-4:30 pm
Sat 6-9:30 am, 5-7:30 pm
Sun 7-9:30 am, 5-8:30 pm
Every summer I take my little girl here. We always have a great time! This year she actually took on the diving board. She must've been inspired by the Olympics he-he. I've introduced a couple of mom friends to this place too and they just fell in love with it. It's close (20 min from SB no traffic), it's cheap, and it's a clean and safe place. Make sure you bring cash and food with you besides all the necessary swimming activity items (towels, sunblock, lawn chairs,etc). I gave one less star to perfection because I wish the big (lap) pool hours should be the same as the wading pool hours. The big pool doesn't open until 1:30 to public. Regardless, this place is a definite hit on my list of things to do during the summer. Happy swimming!
This is my neighborhood pool. The lifeguards are nice, and the open lap-swimming times are frequent. It's more crowded for lap-swimming in the summer; in the winter, you can almost be sure of a lane to yourself. Their ticket-admission system is great--buy a book of 10 tickets, use one every time you go for a swim.
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I'm so glad to know about this spot and it's $5 per adult! I really had so much fun with my family! They have a wide kiddie fountain/ pool area that's 0-3 ft. deep. My 1 year-old girl had a great time splashing around and seeing lots of other kids (and babies). For the "big" kids like me, there's another large pool area with swimming lanes and small diving areas. Yes, there are lifeguards. Other than the pools- the locker rooms/ bathrooms are convenient to use, but are quite grimy. So make sure to bring your flip-flops.
i swam here and it was crowded. but cheap. very nice.
Most of my experience here is relegated to the Kids pool. We've spent many hot days beating the heat in this place. From water bikes and a tot slide to a mushroom waterfall and a wading pool, the kids pool offers a lot of fun for kids of all ages and swimming abilities. The price of admission is reasonable. Bring a picnic and make a day of it! Make sure you bring your own chairs as well --- they are at premium in this place and if you don't arrive early there's no hope of getting any pool supplied furniture. I made this mistake only once --- I was almost 8 months pregnant at the time and no one offered me one of the pool supplied chairs they were using! This is how hard these chairs are fought for. Also worth noting --- floaties are not allowed. It is the theory of the pool management that dependence on them causes adults to relax a little too much. In other words they want you on alert. Lifeguards are on duty here as well.
