Hey Chicago!
We hope you’re excited that summer is only a few weeks away. And with that in mind, we thought it would be useful to come at you with the ultimate guide to Chicago’s pools.
This year, the outdoor pool season opens on June 19th, so you’ve got some time to buy some new swimwear and charge up your bluetooth speaker.
If you’re new here, we’re the Ben Lalez Team from Chicago. We’ve been helping people buy and sell homes across the city for over a decade, and every week we put out something useful about the city.
In this article, we’ll talk about which pools are free or paid, how session types work, swimming rules, and we’ll mention some pools you’ll want to check out.
General Info About Chicago Pools
In case you didn’t know, the Chicago Park District runs 50 outdoor pools and 27 indoor pools across the city. In neighborhoods without a park pool nearby, it also partners with Chicago Public Schools to open select school pools for community use.
Public pools use specific session types so people can pick the experience that fits them best. These sessions include open swim for all ages, parent‑focused swims, youth and teen blocks, adults‑only time, senior swim, and lap swim.
Open swim is free. During the summer, the park district keeps more than 70 pools open citywide, with a minimum of 8 hours of open swim per day.
Lap swimming is where the cost comes in. A one-month citywide pass runs $25, and a three-month pass is $42. Both work at any lap-swim pool in the system, so you’re not locked to one location. Day passes are also available if you don’t want to buy the full monthly pass.
Aquatics programs, including Learn to Swim classes, water polo, and aquatic exercise, are typically more affordable than taking private swim lessons at swim schools.
There is a “First Free” course for kids ages 6 to 17, which is a 10-session introductory Learn to Swim class at no charge. You’ll need to sign up in advance, because spots fill before the season starts. If you have a child who hasn’t had swimming instruction yet, this is a great course for them. If your child enjoys swimming, you have the option of paid continuation courses covering advanced instruction. There is also lifeguard training and water polo.
How Sessions Work
The day is divided into session types, and arriving during the wrong one means you wait.
Open swim is what most people are after. It covers all ages, costs nothing, and runs on standard safety rules. For deep-end access, you’ll be required to pass a swim test on-site, which lifeguards administer at the start of the session.
The other sessions divide the pool by age and situation.
Parent and Tot is for children roughly 18 months to 6 years old, with a caregiver in the water the entire time. The goal is water comfort and getting young kids used to the pool, not teaching strokes.
Parent and Child is for adults with children 17 and under, typically up to three kids per adult, depending on the pool. The adult needs to stay within arm’s reach of any child who can’t stand comfortably in the shallow end.
Youth Swim covers ages 6 to 12, and Teen Swim runs for ages 13 to 17. Both give kids dedicated pool time with their own age group, without adults managing them in the water.
Adult Swim (18 and up) and Senior Swim (60 and up) are good for anyone who wants to swim at a slower pace without a lot of activity around them.
Lap Swim is separate from all of these, requires its own pass, and is set up with lanes for continuous directional swimming.
Session schedules are posted at chicagoparkdistrict.com under each pool’s individual page. Times can shift late in the season, so check before heading out.
Rules at the Gate
There are a few general rules that apply at every park district pool.
A key rule that surprises some families is the height requirement: children must be at least eight inches taller than the shallowest depth of the pool to swim without an adult in the water with them. In practice, that means a young child who cannot comfortably stand with their head well above the water in the shallow end must be in the water with a parent or guardian during mixed‑age sessions.
Health and safety rules include restrictions on entering the water with open wounds, heavy sunburn, unhealed abrasions, or bandages, and there are bans on using flotation devices except during formal park district classes. Running on the deck is not allowed, and a safety line divides the shallow and deep ends, with a swim test required to use the deep end in most open‑swim formats.
Everyone is expected to shower before entering the pool area, wear clean swimwear, and avoid bringing food, drinks, or smoking products into the pool deck. Only clean footwear, strollers, and wheelchairs are allowed on deck, and people in street clothes and street shoes are not permitted on the pool deck itself.
If your younger child needs support in the water, the Parent and Tot or Parent and Child sessions with an adult in the pool are worth enrolling in.
Street clothes and street shoes aren’t allowed on the pool deck.
Pools To Check Out
Washington Park on the South Side near Hyde Park has the largest outdoor pool setup in the district. It’s a 50-meter heated outdoor pool with a large deck and stadium-style seating. Right next to it is a separate kidney-shaped side pool with zero-depth entry so younger kids can wade in gradually, and there’s a water slide.
Fosco Park on the Near West Side has an indoor Olympic-sized pool with zero-depth entry, inside an 80,000-square-foot community center. It runs lap swim, Learn to Swim for adults, and parent-and-child sessions through the summer, with midday and evening lap swim slots available on weekdays. If you want a large indoor pool with flexible hours, Fosco is the one to visit.
Welles Park in Lincoln Square has an indoor 25-yard, six-lane pool with depths ranging from about 3 feet to just over 10 feet. It has both an ADA lift and ADA stairs and runs a full summer schedule. Holiday hours and the main-season schedule are posted separately on the park’s page, so check there for the current version.
Ping Tom Memorial Park in Chinatown has an indoor 25-yard pool with zero-depth entry and ADA stairs. Spring programming starts in mid-May, ahead of the outdoor season, which makes it a good option if you can’t wait until June 19th.
Accessibility
The park district considers a pool accessible if it has an accessible path to the facility and at least one of the following: zero-depth entry, a ramp, a lift, or ADA stairs. Most pools have some combination of ADA stairs and a lift. Newer and recently renovated facilities often include zero-depth entry, which allows gradual, beach-style access into the water rather than steps.
The pool directory at chicagoparkdistrict.com lets you filter specifically for ADA lifts, ADA stairs, zero-depth entry, ramps, shallow-only pools with a maximum depth of one to three feet, and attached water playgrounds.
Indoor Pools For Year-Round Swimming
Once the outdoor pools close in late August before CPS goes back to school, the 27 indoor pools are your only option for fall and winter and typically run six days a week.
The pools at Fosco, Welles, Ping Tom, and several other neighborhood fieldhouses provide the most consistent year-round access. Not every indoor pool offers early-morning lap swim, and not all of them stay open for evening sessions, so check the schedule for a specific pool rather than assuming any two locations run the same hours.
During heat advisory seasons, the park district has extended spray features and water playgrounds into September and used a Heat Vulnerability Index to determine which pools stay open through Labor Day, focusing resources on communities at higher heat risk.
Finding A Pool
The swimming pools directory lists all 82 park district pools with addresses, phone numbers, and links to current schedules. You can filter by indoor versus outdoor, accessibility features, session types, slides, showers, and nearby water playgrounds.
In neighborhoods without a park pool, search the directory for school pools too. The park district operates certain CPS school pools for community use, and they show up in the aquatics search alongside the park-based pools.
Because pool schedules and availability can change based on staffing, weather, and holidays, the park district consistently recommends checking the specific pool’s online schedule before you go, especially early and late in the season. Severe weather (lightning, heavy rain, or unusually cold temperatures) can trigger temporary closures for outdoor pools, and holiday schedules often differ from regular weekday or weekend hours.
That’s It!
Chicago’s public pools do a lot for the city: they are neighborhood gathering spots, low‑barrier fitness options, and a safety resource during heat waves. Most of all, they’re just a lot of fun and a great summer activity for the entire family.
That’s the end of this week’s article, and we hope it’s been useful!
And if you’re buying a home in Chicago and being close to parks and outdoor space is part of what you’re considering, why not give us a call? We can help you figure out the best neighborhoods to start looking.
Until next week, stay cool out there!
