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...)

Love this place. It…read morehas pool. A gym. Different classes for different things from zumba, to outdoor boot camp style training, to yoga! The pool has aqua aerobics and also a walking lane. And honestly, if you have a walking lane in a pool then it beats anything hands down. And people actually walk it. It's amazing.

Hit the gym for once so you can later hit the pool at the very same place, yeah! They have very…read moreinteresting classes and their concept will make you interested to come back again.

I came to visit from the States. The accommodations were stupendous, clean and bright. I used the…read more360 visitor pass and was given a wrist band for sauna use. The lap pool was a very comfortable temperature. I wish there was something close to thing back home.

I found the staff to be quite helpful, contrary to what other Yelpers have said. Danielle is really…read morehelpful. She served me when I came here to swim last Sunday morning. Better traction in the middle lane here. No need to worry about catching up with the other swimmers swimming laps in your lane. A great pool. Unlike the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, I had to go into the slow lane here once, and yet I enjoyed uninterrupted swimming, and achieving results in half the time than in the fast lanes at other pools. Quite large and spacious. Great range of classes and learn to swim programs. The showers stay on until you turn off the taps in the change room facilities here. Soap is available too. Again a great pool. Fairly good rates. Location wise, excellent. Only a short stroll from Central train station.

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.

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.

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.

This is a great old school swimming lesson school. They have 3 pools (2 small ones for the…read moretoddlers). All they do is swimming lessons - and they have a great programme to keep kids progressing and motivated. The staff are great with my kids - especially when they are a bit scared of new things. A good sign is that its always busy and can be hard to get a time slot that you want.

From the owner: Col Jones Swim School Hurstville is a specialist swim school teaching learn to swim to the local…read morecommunity for over 40 years. We are a family business with a caring and highly experienced staff. We teach children and adults, from beginners to squads. We look forward to teaching you and your family the gift of swimming.

We used to have all our swimming carnivals at this place, all through my primary and high school…read moreyears. Nothing changed in the main pool area in about ten years, perhaps except the toddler's pool has a cool little sail on top (but that was still years ago). They also have a training pool where we used to hold all our novelty events, and of course an Olympic pool which is 50m in length, and 8 lanes across. The place isn't all that big but it is outdoors so you get none of that sickly humidifying chlorine bleach smell everywhere. Of course you will once you enter the pools or even their new spa and sauna area. The change rooms are still the same old, with wet floors that I definitely wouldn't step in with bare feet, and an office/kiosk which sells some hot food and bottled drinks.

I was so exciting to go to the new pool as I'm living nearby. However, I can't use my Fitness…read morePassport & I was referred to Hurstville pool or other public pool. I just don't understand why my local pool don't operate like other council. I always paid my council rates on time, this is the only facility I was looking forward to use to improve my post operations on my knee & shoulders. I only hope Council will put the wellbeing of the people before profit.