I sort of want to give this a full four stars just for being a free, public, year 'round, indoor swimming pool. However, if you're picky, there is really nothing special going on here. It's all fairly standard. I only go at the limited times when the whole pool is converted into three laps, so I can't speak to the bain libre scene, but they do seem to have a fair amount of free swim and I have had pretty satisfactory experiences here.
There are usually (depending on the season) two times during the day when the pool is devoted entirely to lap swim, once in the afternoon, once in the evening. I have found that I go around 8pm, there is generally enough space to swim. (Plus, there is nothing better than falling fast asleep after a swim.) But the afternoons are more crowded.
Here's the thing, you will be sharing a lane with anywhere from zero to eight people at a time. That's just the way this goes. At first that was very jarring for me, but I got used to it. While the lanes are divided into "lent," "moyen," et "rapide" these are very loose guidelines, and you may find yourself huffing along in the medium lane, with an olympic competitor on your tail who won't switch into the fast line because he failed to medal or something. (Hey guy, this is a community pool, "rapide" is your destiny. Own it.)
Pros:
- "a free, public, year 'round, indoor swimming pool"
- well-located
- I absolutely love the way the pool room walls are mostly composed of windows, because catching a glimpse of pouring snow in a street light while you're walking around in a bathing suit is the coolest.
Cons:
- water is generally not warm enough in the winter
- by the end of the day, the whole place could DEFINITELY be a little cleaner
- showers are very awkwardly positioned and so it's not super fun to get naked for the full de-chlorinifying experience, but I just sorta hold my breath and pretend I come from a culture where nudity is, like, whatever not a big deal (I don't...this takes most of my will power...)
- you have to take your shoes off before going into the locker room, which is supposed to be for 'garder propre' purposes...but that would all be a moot point if they'd just mop up a couple of times a day... read more