Hamilton Pool

The pool is great, but the lack of food and drink are a drag, the lawn is infested with flies, they have to close a lot because kids crap in the pool all the time, and there’s not enough shade.
My suggestions are: Get rid of grass and increase patio area. Have a food truck park at rear gate on weekends, make kids stay out 15 mins and hit the head.

$ 5 if you live or work in Novato.
There’s 2 separate parking lot near the pool. Their hours are ample enough for morning, lunch or after work laps.
No lockers so bring only what you need. And you have to carry your stuff to the bleachers. It’s safe.
Communal showers. The few times I have been there, even with families and kids around, the bathroom was never crowded.
I’m yet to bring the kids here. Their kiddie pool seemed like a lot of fun.

Bring your suit. Fun safe clean… and it has water

some remodeling was done here so the oaktree and the clubhouse have been torn down. They took the large pool and cut it in half –one half is now the kiddie pool and the other half is the true swimming pool. Forget about swimming laps here-​the hours for that are very strange and change constantly. If it’s not the very restricted lap swimming time, forget exercising in the pool, laps, kick board laps-​this pool is all about small kids with their parent (s). Screaming, splashing, throwing balls and hitting the swimmers in the lap lanes, jumping infront of you, hitting you because they aren’t supervised-​or else ma and pa just don’t care. the staff of teenagers are rude and do not enforce the rules of the pool. A kid could hit you right in the face with the ball and if you complain, it’s viewed as your fault. I would hate to think what would happen if there was an accident at the pool, these untrained kids wouldn’t know how to handle it. a great place for families I am sure-​forget it if you don’t have kids and want to exercise.

A really great family pool. We drove over from SF to check it out and the kids really liked it. Pool was pretty warm making it a nice outdoor pool. They also have tables with barbecues up on the hill for picnics. Good view of the bay from there.

Convenient. Friendly. Clean.
What else do you need? When I decided I needed to get back into the pool, Hamilton came to the rescue when I noticed it was across the street from my apartment. A short walk there, and I was back to doing laps.
$ 5 on free swim days gets you full access to the pool to swim your laps. And it’s refreshing to get into a pool, and people are swimming LAPS. No kids playing. No people doing water aerobics. Just laps. Love it.

This is a great pool! Most of the time the weather is great. I love the kids area! Contrary to other comments, the lifeguards were friendly and responsible. Unfortunately, in the big pool no kids toys are allowed. We had a great time!

Yesterday was one of those days where it felt like winter rather then the middle of summer. It was cold and windy with a thick blanket of fog in my home in Mill Valley. Lo and behold up in Novato at this great pool the sun was shining and the temperature was almost perfect. The pool rocks. There is a lawn a view of the bay, lounge chairs and now a great hot dog stand. No more carting swimming supplies as well as food. The staff is freindly and for the price of a day pass we were transported out of our «winter blues»

Lovely pool with beautiful grounds. They now have a hot dog stand which is really great when you have a hungry 4 year old. The only thing that was a turn off was how dirty the showers were — the walls had slime growing on them and the floor was dirty even at 10am in the morning when not many people had used the changing room yet. I think they need to hire new cleaners. Otherwise, the pools themselves look great and I think the lifeguards are doing a good job of paying attention and keeping kids out of trouble. Also, the instructors are really good.

This is NOT a salt-​water pool, it’s chlorinated. It’s beautiful in a lovely location, but it’s chlorinated.

If you’re looking to lap swim, a mere $ 5 day fee at the Hamilton Pool is the best deal in town, especially to avoid the hassle of a monthly membership elsewhere.
The lap swim schedule can keep odd hours and it certainly gets busy, but in my experience the staff and fellow swimmers have been nothing but friendly. Definitely call first to find the best time.

Had a great experience with staff and facilities.

I did not have a very good experience at this pool.
The lifeguards were very rude and basically bossed kids around on how to jump, dive or where to swim. When the pool was open for only lap swimmers at 6:00 they barked at people to get out of the pool. One of them even SCREAMED to get out of the pool. They might as well not take money very close to lap swimmers time because you pay money but you can’t swim. Also, when kids take the kick boards, the lifeguards scream at them to put it down. Also, don’t waste your time lugging toys there (water guns, torpedos, swimming dolls, etc.) because, sadly, TOYS ARE NOT ALLOWED. Wow. So the only fun thing for kids is a tiny waterslide. I did not have a very good time and at the end the guard rudely told me to get out because the swimming pool was closed.
Don’t want to go there ever again.

I have to agree with the masses, it is a lovely pool. I put my niece in swim camp here and we hung out afternoons. It’s a great place for the kids and a family. Only drawback, it’s packed but I guess that’s what pools are about, right? I think the area could use another public pool. Oh yeah, the cities are broke. So sad.

Lovely pool. It was just remodeled and reopened in summer 2010. They did a fantastic job with the remodel — everything is well-​designed and sparkly. The 6-​lane, 25-​yard pool is very clean, on the warm side (but not too warm) for lap swimming. The setting is great — on a hillside on the old Hamilton Air Force Base. Gorgeous view out across the bay toward Mt. Diablo, beautiful trees, lots of picnic tables, grills, and lounge chairs. I’ve only been there once so far, but lap swim was not crowded at all (in fact, I was the only one in the pool for 45 minutes after work yesterday). I’m sure that on a hot summer day, it could get busy, though. Especially if lap swim and open swim overlap, as they sometimes do. Lifeguards are friendly. $ 5 to swim if you’re a Novato resident, $ 9 otherwise, and lots of lap swim hours (morning, midday, and after work). Shallow kiddie pool with waterslide, as well. Oh yeah, and I think it might be saline-​chlorinated, too, which always feels less harsh to me than a regular chlorinated pool. This pool is right around the corner from my office, so I’ll definitely be back!

Great new pool!
Remodeled and beautiful. New kids pool with slide.