This is a community swimming pool inside the botanical gardens. We passed through in November, it…read morewas 70 degrees and too cool for swimming. The location along the harbor is perfect.

Generally, Sydney is a swimmer's paradise. I'm visiting from California and cannot believe the…read moreoptions for pool and open water swimming. ABC Pool hasn't disappointed. Awesome location and views, always plenty of lane/circling space and a solid post-swim cafe experience.

Maccallum Pool, on the western side of Cremorne Point, is a unique harbourside pool with heritage…read morecharacter and superb views. Its waterside timber deck is an unparalleled sun bathing spot. It was originally just a rock pool created by local residents to form a safe harbour swimming hole. You need to work out the timing of the cleaning of the pool which is once a week and varies. When its closed for cleaning it will be up for 9 hours. The days leading up to the clean the pool can be very dirty. Take a picnic blanket, a wine, cheese, crackers and really indulge in one of Sydney's free attractions.

There is nothing better than finding a spot near the pool on Australia Day and hopping in to cool…read moreoff as you enjoy the park, the views of the harbour and bridge, and digest your prawns and sausages. The rock pool is a nice safe swimming area with some of the best views of Sydney. What makes this such a great place is that it is free.

This is a must do on your visit!…read more It's $10 AUD ($7 USD) for access! It's a great value for this experience. The pools are saltwater. There's a dedicated lap pool for those that want to actually swim, and there's another pool for those that want to take a dip. The waves also crash over the edge, plus you have the beautiful Bondi Beach all around! You can't ask for anything else. The pool area was also very clean! Be sure to get to the pool early enough to secure your spot!

One of my favorite highlights and places in Australia!! Truly breathtaking. Even though the main…read moreiceberg big pool was closed due to high winds and tides, the sights and beauty of the water was truly mesmerizing. After making the walk from Coogee, seeing the icebergs was a breath of fresh air. I stared for quite awhile and took far too many pictures! Definitely the most beautiful body of water I have ever seen.

Great park for infants to pre-schoolers, though older kids might be a little bored…read more Well-maintained and secured playground, with security gates on all entrances. There's some swings, slides, a sand pit, a wooden train, and a small climbing structure for kids to play in. There are a few benches and a single BBQ area, and council has recently attempted to re-grow some grassy areas. Can be a little hectic on the weekends, and there is an oval nearby, with accompanying overflow at times. Also, I don't think there're any bathrooms nearby, though I might be wrong. And hey, downtown Chatswood is pretty close, so this is a prime opportunity to teach the littl'uns to "hold it". Reasonably well shaded and secure park, with occasional coffee vans stopping by. What more could you want? (Ok, bathrooms, but hey, half the visitors to this place are in diapers, so it's al good).

El Dorado, the Lost City of Gold, exists, and it's right there in plain sight, right next to…read moreCentral station and just down the road from every damned hipster bar and coffee shop worth caring about. What the hell am I talking about? Prince Alfred Pool is what I'm talking about. No, not talking. Gushing, in strictly the non-chatroom sense. I always thought this was a scummy hobo park littered with needles and broken dreams. But I took a punt on a friends advice and hit this pool up for an afternoon swim and I stand before you a changed man. Firstly, it's free until November. Nada, nix, bupkiss. Secondly, it's a hella nice pool, with clean, clear water, lotsa lanes, and - the best - a huge slope of grassy wonderland for sunbaking and, sure, perving, because why not? There's a big wooden deck under a tree, umbrellas, a cafe, and state of the art changerooms. We even smuggled a bottle of wine in and got a little sozzled in the sun. Fine a lot sozzled. What a day though. I particularly enjoyed the city workers who busted out the budgie smugglers and were sprawling out in the sun while getting through a fat stack of reports. Now that's how you read, son. That's how you read.

They've finished building it, and it's beautiful. This is an outdoor Council pool set within the…read morelandscape at Prince Alfred Park, near Central Station. It's a great design: grassy hills, big yellow sun umbrellas, with detailing in dark wood and swimming-pool blue. There's not that much to it: a 50m pool and a cafe, change rooms, lockers, and little fountain thing for toddlers to run around in. It's highly green rated : sustainable materials, tri-gen energy, water recycling. The pool is clean and heated (though not too too hot). Suitable for wintertime laps, though getting out of the pool is the unpleasant bit. Today I was a bit unimpressed with people's pool etiquette (the slow lane is not for standing around in with your boyfriend, it's for swimming, morons - and a few stray legs from the play lane heading into the lap lanes, hmph), but I guess that's life in a public pool. It has the standard fast, medium, slow, and leisure lanes and mostly people understand what that means. I'm pretty thrilled that I had a swim in late May, and lay around in the sun. Go Sydney. Go Prince Alfred Park. And the best bit: it's free for the first 6 months! (Until some time in November 2013...)

Did a nice hike and stopped by Giles Bath for a second. The waves were coming in a bit crazy and…read moregot a light splash which actually felt nice in the warm weather.

What's up summer!…read more Blow past the burning sands of Coogee Beach - with its packs of marauding seagulls and a vast purgatory of tourists - and head up the grassy hill on the north side of the beach. Follow the path past the shrine where a Brazilian saw a vision of the Blessed Virgin (actually a thing) until you hit the ye Olde England-style arch that proudly declares "baths." Then it's a skip down the cliff to a lovely clear rockpool that will be either preternaturally calm or manageably rough-n-tumble depending on the swell. Stretch out on the rocks like a cat. Duck down 'neath the water and caress the mossy bottom. Find the secret cave. Laugh at that girl with the selfie stick doing duckface. Then toddle back along the path to Coogee Pavilion for some well-earned beers.

For those of us living in the Inner West, sometimes Dawn Fraser Baths is the closest thing we can…read moreto the beach. For you East/North/South shore folk this may seem ridiculous. But, despite the lack of sand, waves and seagulls, it is still the ocean and sometimes you've got to take what you can get. In the middle of summer Dawn Fraser ocean pool is packed with kids, water-polo teams, pregnant mums, big groups of teens, lap swimmers and anyone wanting to escape the city heat. The pool rises and falls with the tides, and we can kid ourselves that there's some surf if a ferry goes past creating a minuscule swell. Yes the beach may be free and Dawn Frasers may not be, but Dawn Frasers also has free parking, whereas many beaches do not. What's more, Dawny allows for jumps into the pool, it is shark-free and with timber boards instead of sand, you can make your way to the kiosk and back without sand being blown all over your icecream. Whilst I have some friends that won't come back here due to the occasional jellyfish, this is a standard ocean-related risk not specific to poor Dawny. And besides, this just makes it all the more of a genuine beachy experience. OPENING HOURS Oct - Nov 7.15am - 6.30pm Dec - Feb 6.45am - 7.00pm Mar - Apr 7.15am - 6.30pm Closed Christmas Day and Good Friday

I've been going to Dawny since I was a tot, and thankfully it hasn't changed much! It's a fabulous…read morespot for people watching: a lot of old Balmain characters still hang out there, leathery skin and Speedos .... you can also watch local teams play water-polo. When I lived in Balmain, Dawn Fraser Pool was the next best thing to a beach, and a whole lot closer. There isn't any sand (unless the tide is super low, I guess), but what you get is wooden boards to lie upon, which is actually really, really nice. You can stare down through the cracks at the water below. There's a mix of sun and shade, and a little canteen where you can buy hot chips and ice cream. You will probably see clear jellyfish, sea-weed, and little schools of fish in the water - it's a harbour pool so it comes with the territory. Sea lice can be a problem, though that's never happened to me. Dawny is generally nicer at high tide than during low tide, although at low tide you get to see the holes in the wooden slats: some big enough to let sharks in! Don't worry, there are no sharks, and they fixed the hole. I think. This pool is great for kids, and there are life savers hanging around watching everyone. As with Sydney beaches, it's best not to swim here after a heavy rain, as the run-off can contaminate the water.

A great location, right near St Mary's Cathedral; The Domain; Hyde Park and the Australian Museum…read more If you want to give the Boy Charlton Pool a bit of a break (and great swimming in winter here) then come and swim your laps here. A great, fast pool (like the Homebush aquatic centre) with great aqua classes for toning and shaping your body; especially if you want to give the traditional gym machines a miss. And it is extremely close to Kings Cross. Local residents living in Kings Cross, Darlinghurst and Elizabeth Bay normally come to this gym, or to City Gym on Crown Street. It is the type of establishment that you want to come back for more, and more. Gym junkies and fitness fanatics rejoice. I have mainly been a causal visitor, although I have friends and business associates who are on memberships here; and once they have left the chain gyms behind; they become addicted to adrenaline here in addition to using the swimming pool. It is bliss to also be surrounded by an abundance of greenery; and an inspiring way to workout. Their fitness trainers are also quite professional, and it is the type of health club where you don't feel like your left out or forgotten weeks after joining up.

Australia and Sydney has some of the best swimming pools in the world in my opinion. When I lived…read morein Australia I used to go here every time I visited Sydney. The facilities are outstanding and it opens up in summer, it has nice wall art and it's a full 50M pool with lots of lanes open for lap swimming. When I think about the best pools I've been to this is the one that I think of. If I lived in Sydney I'd go here every day. The price is quite honestly cheap for what you get. Seriously, just go here and enjoy an excellent facility.