When the sweltering sun becomes too much for your family to bear, grab a towel and a swimsuit and head to the blue part of the map. We have a deluge of chill spots that will keep the whole family, from tentative toddler swimmers to wild wave riders, refreshed and happy. —
Swimming Pools
The city is overflowing with free and low-cost pools for calm waters and comfortable temps. For kids who aren’t yet comfortable swimming in a full-sized pool, the Tompkins Square Mini Pool on Avenue A between East 7th and East 10th offers three feet of cool, manageable waters.
Hamilton Fish Recreation Center in Brooklyn has a four-feet deep pool as well as a giant kiddie pool so all the kiddos can swim safely. Outside of the pool area is a park to play and picnic.
Dry Dock on East 10th Street between Avenues C and D features a 3.5-foot pool that won’t intimidate nervous swimmers.
Grab some food at the snack bar, play on the playground and then leap off the diving board into the John Jay Pool on 77th Street and Cherokee Place. Use of the pool is free, although there is a suggested yearly donation of $25 for adults and $10 for teens.
The Manhattan Plaza Health Club has a luxurious pool and roofdeck and offers family swim on weekends, in addition to regular baby and kids swim clinics.
Kickstart a steamy summer day in Central Park with a dip in the Lasker Pool. If you’d like to get some exercise in, the pool has lap hours Monday through Friday from 7 to 8:30 in the mornings and evenings.
The Asser Levy Rec Center on East 23rd Street and FDR Drive has a free outdoor pool along with basketball courts, a playground and a game room for true fun in the sun. The center also features an indoor pool for the winter and rainy days that requires a $75 membership fee for adults, but is free for kids under 18.
Learn to Swim
If your kids have dreams of becoming the next Michael Phelps or just want to win Marco Polo for once by going into the deep end, the city Department of Parks & Recreation offers free swim lessons and teams at its pools in all five boroughs. Registered members of local rec centers can sign up online for a lottery slot between June 18 and 24.
Asphalt Green offers swim lessons for beginner, intermediate and advanced swimmers in age-appropriate groups. Private lessons are also available.
Aqua Skills offers swim classes for all ages and ability levels, including adults, and specialized classes such as triathlon swim prep and overcoming fear of water.
Imagine Swimming classes maintains a student to teacher ratio of 1 to 4 to maximize personal attention and skill building, and MySportsClubs offers lessons at its locations throughout each borough.
Physique Swimming’s classes for all ability levels are marked down 10% when you register online, and SwimJim’s philosophy stresses creating a friendly, caring environment in which to learn swimming.
Take Me To The Water has private and semi-private classes, as well as adult and swim team lessons and “Baby and Me” programs for parents to accompany their children.
Your local YMCA also offers swim lessons at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels and has summer membership discount options for adults and families.
And if your kids are reluctant to get in the water or you’re hesitant to dive into all that chlorine, check out these kids’ incredible passion for swimming for inspiration!
And if you still haven’t found your ideal swim spot, check out a complete listing of the public outdoor pools in all five boroughs here.
Beaches
Beat the heat with some sweet saltwater fun on the city shorelines. The Bronx’s only beach, the mile-long Orchard Beach, offers a true beach-boardwalk experience with a promenade featuring shops, playgrounds, a sprinkler system, picnic areas and sports courts.
Brighton Beach in Brooklyn has ocean-view restaurants to refuel, and Coney Island boasts amusement rides and activities for active beachgoers. Manhattan Beach offers plenty of room for families to much on a picnic in between wave-jumping and playground-hopping.
Wave enthusiasts can rejoice at Rockaway Beach, the sandy stretch in Queens that serves as the only surf beach in the city. If you’re Queens-bound but shake at the thought of paddling out into the waves on a board, Jacob Riis Park has plenty of sand and sun for you as well as a recently restored historical Art Deco bathhouse.
Take advantage of the island part of Staten Island at Cedar Grove Beach, currently undergoing transformation into a public park. Midland Beach features a whimsical Sea Turtle Fountain that draws kids like, well, kids to a turtle-shaped fountain, and South Beach hosts free concerts and fireworks shows on its popular boardwalk each summer. Wolfe’s Pond Beach offers plenty of sand and shore, but the park which contains it holds a wildlife and plant preserve as well as open-air recreation.
Long Island Express
From reading a book in front of an iconic lighthouse to soaking up the sun on five miles of sandy expanse to surfing at Ditch Plains Beach, Montauk offers the perfect venue for a daylong family getaway.
The popular Jones Beach is a true swimmer’s paradise, beckoning visitors to go surf jumping along 6.5 miles, still-water swimming along its half mile bay beach, and laze around in one of two swimming pools.
Planning to serve an extra-fresh dinner tonight? Catch your own meal at Robert Moses State Park, which offers surf-fishing and pier-fishing, while your kids swim and surf.
Road Trip
These watering holes are a little farther from the city, but are sure to give the fam a nice change of scenery and a bumpin’ new getaway spot!
The Delaware Water Gap is home to the clean, calm Delaware River, on which your family can swim, canoe, kayak, fish, raft, tube…just about any activity that involves H2O!
Heat up with a bike trek and then cool down in the pool or the lake–take your pick–at Bear Mountain State Park. Situated near the familiar Hudson River on the not-as-familiar Appalachian Trail, the park has plenty of open field and picnic space for locals and visitors alike.
Although it’s a bit of a journey, a trip to Lake George will combine scenic beauty and good clean fun for a memorable family mini-vacation. Apart from the vast spring-fed lake, Lake George has tubing, rafting, parasailing, boating, water skiing and water parks, not to mention a family-friendly village to shop and eat in…if you can still walk after an exhausting day of water sports, of course!
