The key to surviving the Texas heat is spending your time outdoors in the water. If you’re looking for something more laid back and close to home rather than paddleboarding on Lady Bird Lake or exploring Austin’s swimming holes, we have you covered! If you don’t mind spending a few bucks for a day by the pool, there are also municipal pools that are great options in addition to the free neighborhood pools. Check out our list of free neighborhood pools to find the one closest to you!
Free Neighborhood Pools in Austin:
Municipal Pools in Austin:
Free Neighborhood Pools in Austin
North Austin
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Balcones Neighborhood Pool
12017 Amherst Dr, Austin, TX 78759
Balcones pool, located in Balcones District Park, is a privately owned neighborhood pool for the residents of Balcones Woods. The park has a popular basketball court, volleyball court, kids play area, and lots of vast open space. Down the trail behind the pool is access to a hiking trail, as well as a beautiful natural waterfall when the creek is flowing after rains!
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Brentwood Neighborhood Pool
6710 Arroyo Seco, Austin, TX 78757
Brentwood pool is located in Brentwood Park, which covers 9.26 acres in North Central Austin. It is situated in the Brentwood neighborhood but is only a few yards from the southern boundary of the Crestview neighborhood. At the park, there is a softball field, multipurpose field, basketball court, two tennis courts, sand volleyball court, playground, picnic tables, and a non-reservable picnic pavilion!
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Canyon Vista Pool
8455 Spicewood Springs Rd, Austin, TX 78750
Canyon Vista pool is located at Canyon Vista Middle School in North Austin. The best time of the day to go is during the day since it’s quiet, more relaxing and you’ll be able to get more sun time. During the late afternoons, the pool gets busy because of swim lessons. Make sure to check the schedule below for when swimming lessons are to know if you will be able to swim at your desired time!
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Kennemer Pool
1031 Payton Gin Rd, Austin, TX 78758
Kennemer Pool is a free recreational swimming pool located along North Lamar east of Highway 183 and west of I-35 near the Lanimer High School campus. Kenner pool has shorter hours than most municipal pools but also offers swimmers a locker room, lifeguards, and more!
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Murchison Pool
3700 N Hills Dr, Austin, TX 78731
Murchison swimming pool got overhauled over the winter, adding new shade awnings, picnic tables, and tile around the pool edges; which have spruced things up nicely. The pool has a deep end you can dive in and plenty of 3-foot shallow spots. It’s run by dedicated volunteers, not too crowded and is a neighborhood gem! Make sure to bring a blanket or chairs!
East Austin
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Civitan Pool
513 Vargas Rd, Austin, TX 78741
Civitan pool is a free community pool located in Civitan Park near Allison Elementary School. Civitan Park is also home to the Montopolis Friendship Center, a low-cost daycare and community center. The park also offers tennis courts, a ball field, picnic tables and more all in East Austin.
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Dottie Jordan Pool
2803 Loyola Ln, Austin, TX 78723
Dottie Jordan pool is free and opens all summer and is located in Dottie Jordan Park. The best time of the day to go to the pool is in the mornings; you’re likely to have it to yourself. The amenities also include multiple picnic tables, covered seating, and built-in barbecue grills. There’s multiple playscapes, basketball courts, a creek that snakes around the perimeter of the park and just on the inner edge of the creek there is a little jogging trail!
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Givens Pool
3811 E 12th St, Austin, TX 78721
Givens District Park and Pool is always hopping. There are plenty of amenities including tennis courts, basketball courts, playscape, a large picnic area, softball fields, and hosts a variety of well-attended events including Texas Relays, a car show, and #JumpOnIt, a free concert series in the park! It’s the perfect neighborhood pool to go swimming!
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Govalle Neighborhood Pool
5200 Bolm Rd, Austin, TX 78721
Govalle Pool will remain closed for maintenance and construction during the 2018 swim season. For information on the status of the New Govalle Pool, please visit Govalle Pool Improvements.
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Martin Neighborhood Pool
1626 Nash Hernandez Senior Rd, Austin, TX 78702
Martin Neighborhood Pool has been newly renovated, is located along the Colorado River in East Austin, and it’s always fun and free! Make sure to check when swimming lessons and neighborhood swim meets are so you don’t go to the pool on a busy and crowded day. Just a heads up, neighborhood swim meets are held every Saturday from June 16th to July 14th (the pool will open late on these dates).
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Metz Neighborhood Pool
2407 Canterbury St, Austin, TX 78702
Metz pool offers a variety of different facilities including athletic fields, a tennis court, an indoor gym, picnic area, fishing pond and splash pad all located in East Austin. Metz pool has been a place of community for many generations of Austinites and now every summer, parents bring children to the pool and park in hopes of creating fond childhood memories for their children. It’s the perfect pool!
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Montopolis Neighborhood Pool
1200 Montopolis Dr, Austin, TX 78741
Montopolis neighborhood pool is located in Montopolis Park and offers showers and dressing room facilities. There are plenty of things to do such as lift weights in a full-size weight room, go to an afterschool program, play soccer, participate in cheerleading, boxing, karate, girls kickball, basketball, flag-football, women’s workout program, lighted softball, and football field and playscape.
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Parque Zaragoza Pool
2608 Gonzales St, Austin, TX 78702
Parque Zaragoza community pool always has a lifeguard on duty, showers, locker rooms and is handicap accessible. The pool and park offer amenities such as an outdoor stage area, outdoor basketball court, sand volleyball court, and a multi-purpose field. The park also offers programs that focus on cultural and athletic activities for youth, have adult sports and leisure activities, and teen activities!
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Patterson Neighborhood Pool
4200 Brookview Rd, Austin, TX 78722
Patterson Pool is located in the heart of the Patterson Park, between the pavilion and Pharr Tennis Center. There is a shaded pavilion with picnic tables right next to the playground, basketball and volleyball courts, and a mini skateboarding ramp built of concrete by local volunteers! Tennis has traditionally been the big attraction at Patterson Park, but if you go there on the weekend, you will see all kinds of other fun activities taking place, like cricket! Patterson Park is also a favorite venue for weekend birthday parties.
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Rosewood Pool
1182 N Pleasant Valley Rd, Austin, TX 78702
Rosewood pool is a great pool complete with baseball courts, picnic areas, and luscious grass located in East Austin. The pool is packed on the weekends, and when school is out, it can get pretty busy. If you can handle kids splashing around, then this is a great option to hang out with water close by. There is ample parking, and the staff is super friendly.
South Austin
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Big Stacy Neighborhood Pool
700 E Live Oak St, Austin, TX 78704
Big Stacy Pool is tucked into the charming Travis Heights neighborhood in South Austin and has been keeping Austinites of all ages cool and entertained. Big Stacy is spring-fed, free, open year-round and is heated in the winter by water from an Artesian well located 2000 feet below the surface! Much like Austin, this swimspot is fun, friendly, and diverse, so whether you are looking to swim laps or sunbathe you’re sure to have a good time.
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Dick Nichols Neighborhood Pool
8011 Beckett Rd, Austin, TX 78749
Dick Nichols pool is located in a park that offers many nice bike and walking trails, a pretty large playground, is free and offers many options for all kinds of swimmers! There is a larger and smaller pool. The smaller pool is for toddlers and is separated by a fence from the other pools. The larger pool is perfect for the younger crowd just learning to swim and the adults just wanting to hang out in the water. Inside the pool area, there are a few tables and benches with shade cover. Most of the pool is not shaded. Right next to the pool is a large playground, plenty of shaded picnic tables and even a small area with one water feature for splashing.
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Dittmar Pool
1009 W Dittmar Rd, Austin, TX 78745
Dittmar Park and Pool has amenities like a 6,405 square foot recreation center, which has a multi-purpose room, a dance room, a 13,368 square foot gymnasium with basketball and volleyball courts, a weight room, and shower facilities. Outdoor amenities include a jogging trail, two playing fields, and playscape!
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Dove Springs Pool
5701 Ainez Dr, Austin, TX 78744
Dove Springs Pool and Recreation Center offers a community pool with a lifeguard on site, full-court gymnasium, weight room, arts, and crafts room, baseball fields, soccer fields, tennis courts, a basketball court, a pavilion, a playscape, a sand volleyball pit, and a nature walking trail! Wow, what a lot to offer!
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Gillis Neighborhood Pool
2504 Durwood St, Austin, TX 78704
Gillis Pool and Park is a pleasant hidden gem in the ’04. Tucked behind the shopping center at the corner of Oltorf and S.1st, you will find a large open field, gravel trail around the exterior, a few benches, a baseball, softball, kickball field, a kid’s playground and picnic facilities for when you want to have lunch after cooling down in the pool!
West Austin
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Ramsey Neighborhood Pool
4201 Burnet Rd, Austin, TX 78756
Ramsey pool has a few roped-off lanes for swimming laps. There’s a deep section that’s 8 feet for people who can swim and a shallower end for kids. The shallow end is deeper than at Deep Eddy, so if you have younger children that aren’t strong swimmers make sure they are wearing or holding a flotation device. Ramsey pool also offers tennis courts, a toddler playground as well as a regular playground, a basketball court, a baseball diamond, and picnic areas with barbecue facilities.
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Reed Neighborhood Pool
2600 Pecos St, Austin, TX 78703
Reed pool is hidden in the lush trees and winding streets of Tarrytown and ranges in depth from 3 feet to 5 feet, with one lane roped off for swimmers wanting to do laps! There is also a wading pool one foot deep that is perfect for toddlers to cool off. These relatively shallow waters make for budding swimmers and attracts families with younger children. The park that the pool is located in also offers public green space with play equipment, multi-use fields, and a nature trail & creek!
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Shipe Pool
4400 Avenue G, Austin, TX 78751
Shipe Pool and Shipe Wading Pool will remain closed for maintenance and construction during the 2018 swim season. For information on the status of the Shipe Pool Improvements Project, please visit Shipe Pool Improvements.
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West Austin Neighborhood Pool
1317 W 10th St, Austin, TX 78703
Resting in the middle of historic Clarksville, this beautiful pool makes it a West Austin treasure. If you have not visited the West Austin Park pool, you’re missing out. Young and old alike enjoy taking a refreshing dip on a 100 degree summer day in West Austin’s uniquely round pool. Lifeguards are always on duty, so it’s an ideal place to bring kids!
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West Enfield Pool
2000 Enfield Rd, Austin, TX 78703
West Enfield pool is a centrally located neighborhood pool completely updated near the intersection of Mopac and Enfield Road. The pool has plenty of shade over the pool and a separate wading area for the littlest visitors. There were several lap lanes, and an ample shallow end with stairs to enter and a smaller deep end. There is no dedicated parking, so be courteous of where you park in the neighborhood.
Municipal Pools in Austin
North Austin
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Beverly S. Sheffield Northwest Municipal Pool
7000 Ardath St, Austin, TX 78757
Northwest pool is set along Shoal Creek, in the Allandale neighborhood. It is a favorite spot for office picnics, sports and family gatherings. Northwest pool has two different pools: one for the kids, and one Olympic-sized pool with a 14-foot deep end and one of Austin’s few high dives! There is plenty of shade from the big, gorgeous trees and the pool is never too crowded. Make sure to lock your valuables (this pool gets stuff stolen every day from the parking lot).
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Springwoods Municipal Pool
13320 Lyndhurst St, Austin, TX 78729
Springwoods pool in north Austin includes a deep end with a slide, six lap lanes and a children’s entrance with mushroom-shaped water structure! Children and adults will be able to use Springwoods pool all year for swim lessons, triathlon training, and master swim classes. The community’s swim team, the Stingrays, Springwoods pool for their home meets and tournaments.
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Walnut Creek Municipal Pool
12138 N Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78758
Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park is an expansive 293-acre park situated just north of downtown Austin, and features miles of hiking trails, an off-leash dog area, Walnut Creek swimming pool, a playground, and sports and recreational facilities! The pool is nestled behind the first parking lot on the left after entering from Lamar and has multiple lap lanes that are available each weekday morning. Also, a heads up, if you go to the pool when it opens at 11 am, be aware that the parking lot fills quickly!
East Austin
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Bartholomew Municipal Pool
1800 E 51st St, Austin, TX 78723
The newly renovated Bartholomew pool boasts more fancy amenities than any other Austin municipal pool! The former pool at this location closed in 2009 because of cracks but now has a really impressive aquatic facility. The new pool includes a pool for little ones that have a few fountains for splashing and a small frog water slide, a sloped floor (with the deepest part only being 2 ft, 6 inches), a fun pool for slightly bigger kids that includes shade covers and a lily pad bridge that kids can tackle if up for a challenge, a 25-yard lap pool with a diving board at the deep end and two winding tube water slides!
South Austin
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Barton Springs Pool
2131 William Barton Dr, Austin, TX 78746
A local favorite in Austin, Barton Springs Pool has been attracting all walks of life since its inception in 1837, from free-spirited, topless hula hoopers to congressmen to famous film directors. You can always count on a place to swim at Barton Springs Pool, and you can also always count on the water being a brisk 68 degrees. If you haven’t been to Barton Springs Pool, go ASAP!
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Deep Eddy Pool
401 Deep Eddy Ave, Austin, TX 78703
Deep Eddy Pool is a historic, man-made swimming pool and is the oldest swimming pool in Texas that has a bathhouse built during the Depression-era, by the Works Progress Administration. The pool began as a swimming hole in the Colorado River, became a resort in the 1920s, and is today a popular swimming pool operated by the City of Austin!
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Garrison Municipal Pool
6001 Manchaca Rd, Austin, TX 78745
Garrison District Park and its Olympic-sized pool have a definite family vibe. There’s a playground in the shade next to the pool so your kids can run around (separate from the pool area), and there’s lots of parking and restrooms inside, a smaller and shallow pool for the littles with some space around to put your stuff up. The grass isn’t thick and luscious, but there’s room to put a blanket down for snacking, and it’s shaded! The larger pool has a diving board and a few lanes for lap swimmers and the shallow end is 3 feet deep and fairly large.
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Mabel Davis Municipal Pool
3427 Parker Ln, Austin, TX 78741
Mabel Davis pool is large and rarely crowded. A greenbelt surrounds the pool with 2-mile trails that are very popular with joggers and dog walkers, and it has a beautiful view of green trees and the blue sky. There are also lap lanes, a deep end with a diving board, and a kids’ area. Mabel Davis even has a skate park with some pretty cool dips and ramps that you can do some pretty sweet jumps off of!
West Austin
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El Salido Pool
11500 El Salido Pkwy, Austin, TX 78750
El Salido pool in Anderson Mill offers two full-sized outdoor swimming pools, with diving boards, kiddie pools, a water park and full locker rooms. Both of El Salido’s pools are heated during winter to 82 degrees. The El Salido Pool also boasts a fitness center, and they have numerous aquatic and fitness programs!
Map of Austin and Central Texas Water Parks
Related links
- Austin Swimming Holes Guide
- Paddle Board and Kayak Rentals in Austin
- Things to Do on the Water This Summer
