About
Old public swimming area with diving boards, lanes, a playground and picnic tables.
Specific, regularly updated pool temperatures for Catalina Pool are not readily published online by the facility or the City of Tucson Parks and Recreation. Public pools of this nature are generally maintained at a comfortable range for swimmers, typically between 78-82°F (25.5-27.7°C), but actual temperatures can vary and are subject to daily monitoring by facility staff.
What are people saying (AI review summary)? Reviews for this public pool are mixed, highlighting significant issues alongside some positive aspects. Major criticisms focus on the severely unhygienic and poorly maintained bathrooms, which are described as having missing doors, closed stalls, constant sewage problems, and a lack of basic amenities like soap and paper towels. Swimming lessons receive strong negative feedback, with multiple accounts stating they are ineffective, taught by inexperienced and potentially unsafe teenagers. While one reviewer found the staff 'awful,' another described them as 'polite and friendly.' The outdoor rinse shower is noted as meager and freezing, particularly problematic given closed locker rooms. On the positive side, the pool offers free entry, is popular for lap swimming, is heated in winter, and provides boards and floaters. Despite being described as 'old and run down,' the pool water itself is generally considered reasonably clean and warm on most days, and the facility is functional.
Location
Gallery
Amenities
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Good for Children
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Accessible Entrance
Reviews
Listing Reviews
July 11th, 2025Sammy Gomez
This pool is terrible, awful staff and horribly unclean bathrooms. The women's bathroom has 3 stalls. the first one has no door, the second has had caution tape across it for weeks AT LEAST and the third is constantly backed up which causes sewer water all over the floor. The hand soap is a very very old bottle of extremely watered down dish soap, only the one for all the sinks to share. no paper towels any time I have been there. The swimming lessons here are taught by high school students with extreme attitude and who clearly have no idea how to teach kids how to swim or even keep them safe near the pool. I would never recommend using this pool or having your child attend swimming lessons here.
July 29th, 2025Sarah Smith
The swimming lessons here are a waste of time. They are taught by teenagers who dont know how to teach or deal with children. I saw several instances where the young kids were put in dangerous situations in the water. The facilities are also in bad shape and very dirty. They really need to address the bathroom situation, disgusting and unhygienic.
August 18th, 2025Rico Lee
As you get older, your life experiences shift. Your perspectives change and your patience wears more and more thin along with your hairline. Some of us gracefully decline into somber nonchalance and others rage against the inevitable. Though other generations could actually afford a mid-life crisis. Remember when they used to make fun of guys going thru it when they bought a boat or a sports car? L O L. AS IF. Now a midlife crisis is using all three of your sick days to visit San Diego in an eco-friendly rental car and blowing the $543 you saved up over 5 years on an Airbnb with okay wifi next to people with screaming children. You get sunburned and get indigestion and come back home and people ask you who the hot babe was in your instagram post and they don’t realize how good you are at photoshop and AI. So at least you got that going for you. Maybe by the time you’re 65, retirement can be a sex robot you financed through Klarna strangling you to death. But that’s neither here nor there. I’m almost mid-life but still enjoying the years as they go on. Even though they keep getting shorter and shorter. The Summer is always a great benchmark for maximum enjoyment. We live in the desert, so it’s not like we’re rollerblading on an ocean pier and drinking coconut water out of real coconuts while high fiving each other. We’re either enjoying our $500 a month electric bill air conditioning or going to work or if we feel real spicy, we’ll go hike Tumamoc at sunset where that weird, sweaty half haked old guy runs backwards up hill to show off. OR there’s always the time-tested alternative. The public swimming pool. A cherished, American motif. Where the smell of chlorine and wet cheetos still permeates through your nostalgic brain. We don’t have Justin’s Waterpark or Breakers anymore because the 90s was too good to last forever. Besides Mister Carwash, Golf Courses and Amazon Data Centers need water more than us. Trust me, it’s for the best. Trust me. Let’s just be happy with what we got, okay? A public swimming pool is a great way to meet new people who are wearing airpods and looking thru their phone in the shade. I couldn’t wait to strut around in my Budweiser tank top wearing my wrap around baseball sunglasses with a nice cold Pepsi in hand checkin out all the tanning moms pretending to ignore me while I begin to gratuitously rub my lovehandles with sunscreen before doing the most bodacious cannon-ball they’ve ever seen on top of some unsuspecting zoomers. I immediately looked on the googles for the closest swimming pool near me. With reviews like “Appears popular. A bit old and run down but fully functional” and “Its green and smells like pond water” and “It’s a Bromine pool, which is great if you’re allergic to Chlorine pools”. I’m not allergic to chlorine, if anything it’s boosted my immune system since I swallowed 18 gallons by accident as a kid. But bromine has the word bro in it, and since i’m a bro, I gotta go. When I got there mid-day, its was pretty busy. Was pleasantly surprised that there was no cost to get in. I put my bag of coins back in the car and waltzed right in. And there they were, kids taking lessons by the brocolli-haired teens, oldheads doing laps, overweight people wearing baggy metal band tshirts just wading and boiling in the water and of course the tanning moms. Unfortunately the lifeguard looked nothing like Wendy Peffercorn from the Sandlot as it was a 22 year old dude with an aggressive handlebar mustache looking around like the Terminator, but that wasn’t gonna stop me from rekindling my youth and enjoying this beautiful Tucson Summer day. I found a plastic tanning bed to put my stuff on and puffed out my chest while strutting around like Arnold in his prime. I did this for about 5 minutes walking laps around the pool and not one mom went “oooh lemme touch” or “my husband is such a beta by the way” or “need help paying off your student loans big boy? Come lather up mama”. Nothing. Not a word not even a glance. (cont in photo)
February 24th, 2021Jesus Galaz-Montoya
Great local pool! You just walk in and swim at no cost, no questions asked. They have swimming boards and floaters. It's reasonably clean, and most days the water is reasonably warm. The staff are polite and friendly. I wish they expanded their hours to start a bit earlier from 11 am straight to 7 pm (without a huge gap in between) as occasionally the pool does get full and you have to wait for a spot up to an hour or come back later. The one caveat/downside is that the hose/shower to rinse beside the pool is meager -there's just not much water coming out, and the water that does come out is *freezing*. Since the locker rooms are closed due to covid, a functional outdoor shower for rinsing with warm-ish water before and after swimming is even more necessary.
December 27th, 2018Buster Weedmire
Not a bad pool for a public outdoor. Heated in winter. Plenty of lap swimmers. Appears popular. A bit old and run down but fully functional.
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Opening Hours
| Sunday | Closed |
|---|---|
| Monday | Closed |
| Tuesday | 6:00 – 9:00 AM, 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM, 6:00 – 8:00 PM |
| Wednesday | 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM, 6:00 – 8:00 PM |
| Thursday | 6:00 – 9:00 AM, 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM, 6:00 – 8:00 PM |
| Friday | 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM |
| Saturday | 12:00 – 5:00 PM |
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