one of the jewels inside the "preeminent jewel" of Atlanta, Piedmont Park. the aquatic center is…read morequite well-run and well-kept, particularly given all the events hosted there. one might assume this joint would show wear-and-tear, but you'd be wrong about that! I was super bummed with the attached restaurant closed, but apparently a new food place opened up in its place. I took my rugrats here for the "Splish Splash" event and really enjoyed it.

Where do you go when the Georgia sun beats down and there's no relief in sight? The pool, that's…read morewhere. This city has a good network of public pools, and some are better than others. This one is nestled in the east side of Piedmont park, accessible by a short walk through some lower traffic entrances. If there is space, park in the neighborhood bisected by Park Drive NE. You can walk through the gate, curve around the lake, and you're there. The pool overlooks the lake, a prime location indeed. Piedmont has a similar relationship to Atlanta that say Central park has to NYC. It's a large, grassy space that everyone loves, and you can see the city looming in the background. The entrance to the pool itself reflects demand; on our afternoon visit, we had to wait a bit for other visitors to leave - they have a hard cap on the crowd size. At 11:00 on a Saturday, they were charging non-members a sweet five bucks. Anyway, the pool is really, really nice. The layout is such that you can do adult things if you like (laps, whatever), or you can entertain your kids if you need to do that. The child friendly features are abundant, including a splashpad and a lazy river. Mine really dig all of that stuff. Shady areas are abundant and you can chill on a nearby grassy area with your blanket or whatever. There is no diving board (no deep end either), but what public pool has one of those anymore? Lockers are abundant and things are generally clean. What's not to like? Also, shout out to Sean's, a very capable snack bar.

Diverse crowd, clean and safe! My son had a ball and made new friends ! The staff and guest were…read morenice

If you're not into loud, noisy ,kids peeing in the pool then this is not the place for you.read more

This is our neighborhood pool and small gym. We joined when we bought a house in GWP a few years…read moreago. The pool itself is an olympic lane pool with a few nods to those with kids. The gym is very small but nice and fairly up to date (I rarely use the gym). The atmosphere is somewhere between hotel and Kawanis club - often the entire place is overrun with kids of all ages, mostly well behaved but there are times when they get out of hand and parents are nowhere to be found. There's a fountain area for little ones and those with abluthophobia. Memberships are available to GWP residents and anyone with a few thousand dollars burning a hole in their pocket. Recently a lifetime membership fell to $999 bringing a glut of new members and making the place overcrowded on weekends and holidays. The membership can be bought and sold in the event of a move or relocation. The management company responsible for running things does a less than stellar job as often the wireless internet does not work and there are frequent unexplained instances of access cards going bad. An attendant was added this year and he does a great job of keeping the pool area and locker rooms clean and in working order. God bless him - there are members who bathe their entire families and dress them for church in the locker rooms. Ideally this pool should be altered to be more of a resort style with in-water seating, more shaded areas on the deck and in the pool. A dedicated kiddie pool would be a welcome addition. There is little if any parking and that which does exist will most likely disappear as more homes are built adjacent to the pool/condos. The pool board (neighbors and volunteers) puts on at least one party a year and provide the beer, food and entertainment for members. This not to be missed event (sometimes two) is usally the kickoff to the summer season and gets to be more of a tailgate party by late afternoon. Chris always does a great job organizing and making sure we all have fun! Overall a good way to spend an afternoon especially if you live in or near GWP. You olympic hopefuls would enjoy swimming laps here in the morning or evenings. I've spent many a Saturday afternoon working on my skin cancer here and appreciate the short walk home after a few locally made margartias find their way to my tummy.

A very cool pool! The James Orange Swimming Pool is Atlanta's brand new community pool and it's on…read morethe MARTA line. It's about one-fourth mile from the Oakland City train station--just a short walk from the station gates. Cross over Campbellton Road and head down Oakland Drive until you reach the park entrance. If you're driving, there are two dozen parking spaces near the pool. The park itself has been open since 1909 but construction on the pool was just completed this year. Its official ribbon cutting ceremony was in July 2015. There's a little something for everyone at this City of Atlanta pool. For the history buffs, there are photo tributes to the Atlanta-based civil rights activist, Reverend James Orange. For those who want to cool off without getting submerged, there is a splash pad. Those who don't want to get wet at all can stay dry on a patch AstroTurf under (what else) an orange tent. The pool isn't designed for lap swim or for diving because there aren't any lane dividers and its max depth is 3 feet 6 inches. It reminds me of a large backyard pool. There are lifeguards poolside to keep everyone safe and one side of the pool has orange buckets that dump out cool water every few seconds. It's open seven days of the week from 12:30 until 8pm. Members of the community can swim for free for the first 3.5 hours, from 12:30 to 4pm. After that they charge an admission. Their fee schedule is as follows: Children under age 5 - Free Children 6-16 years - $2 Adults 17-54 years - $4 Adults over 55 years - $2 Visitors should register for membership and present their membership cards when visiting the pool. You can do that onsite or online at www.usamanagement.com/cityofatlanta. You can also find information about renting the pool for a special event or party. The nearby playground, basketball court and greenspace make the James Orange Swimming Pool a great pick for birthday parties, family reunions and BBQ get-togethers! NOTE: This year the pool will be open through Monday, September 7.

After closing in 2012 because of structural concerns, former Mayer Kasim Reed rebuilt a new $23.5…read moremillion, 64,000-square-foot Recreation and Aquatic Center in the Old 4th Ward towards the end of 2017. The new facility is sparkling and definitely worth visiting if you haven't seen it yet and becoming a member if you swim work out regularly. We paid about $250 for the family to join for the year and the bonus is that it gives the whole family access to all Atlanta public pools. The building is very open, bright (lots of natural light come in through the glass), and beautifully built. While ATL isn't the Northeast, winter is still somewhat more of a period of hibernation for a lot of people and the opening of this center provides a very nice public option for continuing to be active. It seems like they offer a wide variety of classes and activities for kids. While I can't speak to the basketball gym, workout facilities, and indoor running track on the second floor, the pool is great. It's helped our toddler develop an appreciation for the water and we haven't even tried their infant swim program yet. Some highlights of the pool are that the water is very warm, they have a beach front walk-in, a separate family changing room, a variety of aquatic toys for kids to enjoy, and a few fun sprinkler type poles in the pool. For parents looking to entertain their kids this could be a great drop-in option too at just $5 a visit I believe. My only complaints are 1) We've waited months to get our membership cards and the machine that prints them is always down or unavailable for some reason. This is obviously not such a big deal but 2) As this "undiscovered" gem is no longer so undiscovered, we've seen more and more swimmers come to the pool and it can be difficult to find a free lane to swim in now (especially around peak hours weeknights after work). This may just be what happens as you become a victim of your own success. The pool is huge but it's unfortunate that the way they built it the lanes cannot be expanded or added easily because the free swim section has a giant physical barrier from the lanes part.

Great pool! A bit crowded. I don't care for lane sharing; that's why the 4 stars. Clean locker…read moreroom. Workout equipment upstairs.

The pools here is always clean, refreshing and a welcomed part of my summer…read more However the 1.5hr time limit is frustrating after standing in a line for 45mins in the sun. I recommend coming early- 12:30 at opening.

Tuesday June 2nd, 2021…read more So the pool has been open since Saturday and we definitely had to come. It's limited in capacity at 40% or 92 people. We had a short wait of 5 minutes before enough people left the pool for us to get in. A wait list is taken when the pool exceeds capacity and you just have to wait until people leave, which typically isn't very long, on a week day anyway. I have to say the water was very chilly. So we also didn't stay longer than 30 minutes. The kiddie pool was not open. It seemed like there was no deep section and you could walk from one end of this Olympic size pool to the other. Don't bother calling ahead. I doubt they'll take a reservation over the phone. When I was there, the teenage staff were not answering. I also saw that folks had left the water running in the showers. Not very considerate given water is a scarce commodity. I'd suggest also reeling in the excess swim lanes which were just sitting on the ground gathering leaves. The price: Free! So you can't beat it. We will be back next week when I hope it's a little warmer.

Staff is always so kind and helpful, there is such a wide variety of machines throughout the gym,…read moreplus they have a pool which most gyms can't say they have. At first the membership seemed pricey, but considering all the wide range of equipment that is there it is totally worth it.

I like the facility but feel like it is too expensive ($79) for single people without kids who use…read morecardio and weights. The peloton bikes are constantly broken and take weeks to fix. It is still the best option for me and I appreciate the opportunity to be a member.

Don't get me wrong, it's a nice gym with great facilities. The massive red flag to me is the…read morecleanliness and also the staffs response to health violations. I was in the women's bathroom on the second floor and two giant cockroaches came charging after me. Another person said they found a dead cockroach by the pool yesterday as well. I alerted staff that there are several cockroaches and a woman working at the facility said "I'm not sure what you want me to do about it." Nasty business. For some reason it won't let me add a photo of the roach!

Oh what could have been had I chosen to attend Georgia Tech for a Ph.D. in Geophysics... I came to…read morethe Georgia Tech Campus Recreation Center in February of 2015 as part of a graduate school visit (all expenses paid) once I had been accepted to a Ph.D. program in Geophysics. I chose to attend a different university for my studies, but am reflecting on my experience at a different school especially in the context of staying physically healthy in graduate school and decided to write this review. The Georgia Tech Campus Recreation Center was not the biggest athletic facility I visited on my graduate school visits, but it was the one with the most homey feel. That is to say it was a bargain deal even if you wanted to partake in classes or offerings that costed money and the design was one I felt comfortable enough in to want to work out here. At the university I ended up attending, I not once used the athletic facilities on campus to work out partly because they lacked a homey feel. Which brings me back to Georgia Tech and this center and how I would have used it had I chosen to attend Georgia Tech for graduate school. The pool was a site of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, which I didn't learn until we visited it in person. This was a pleasant blindside surprise. To boot, when we stopped by the pool the race going on was a 200 yard breaststroke race (my stroke in swimming is breaststroke) which got me all energized. It was my first time visiting a site from a Summer Olympic Games which just so coincidentally also happen to be the first Summer Olympic Games I was alive for. So cool! In addition to a stand out pool, the indoor track was a beauty. I love indoor tracks in buildings with windows, it is fun to watch the weather change as one runs. The track also looked over basketball courts, another fun thing to observe if walking or running on the track and able to see the courts. All around the facility was amazing and had I chosen to attend Georgia Tech for graduate school I would have made frequent and good use of this facility. The only grumbling I heard from current students on my graduate school visit about the facility was how frequently the pool was occupied by swimming and diving championship events and how that hindered students of the school from getting to use the pool themselves.

Wow! I learned to swim in a month!!!…read more Learning how to swim has been on my bucket list for many years. As a grown adult with friends who like water sports and going to the beach, not knowing how to swim has always been socially awkward. I was also so nervous when I took my child to the pool that I really didn't enjoy it. I really wanted to learn to swim and group lessons did not work with my schedule. I was able to commit 4 weeks to learning how to swim and took three sets of private lessons during this time. Leslie was super flexible with the time and days of my private lessons. Leslie has a natural gift to teach people how to swim. I was so nervous about putting my face in the water and would get super anxious. Leslie took her time with my breathing while still moving forward with other elements of learning how to swim. While I still have a ways to go to be a strong swimmer, the fact that I can even get in an Olympic pool without a flotation device or flippers and actually move my way through the water...with my face in the water...is pretty awesome. I look forward to continuing occasional lessons so that I can get even better.

WORST COMPANY EVER! DO NOT GET SWIM CLASSES FROM THIS…read moreCOMPANY !!!!! They will take your money, never schedule your classes, and then accuse you to have canceled your swim classes and hide behind some unfair policy!!!!!! I have never had such a bad experience with a company who doesn't even provide good service! STAY AWAY!

Pleasant, modest, kid-friendly park in the Grove Park neighborhood. There's a recreation center…read more(which I didn't go into), a baseball field, tennis courts, a playground, and some pavilions for grilling. Grove Park can be accessed from either Hortense Place or Francis Place, and there were lots of parking spaces for cars. One contraption in the playground looked really new and reminded me of spiderweb and worms. It was also covered, and there was a water fountain nearby.