Volta Park

I loved visiting Volta park during a recent week-​long stay in Georgetown.
Residing at a nearby VRBO, I brought my 10 year-​old hoop-​loving kid to Volta Park daily to get some air and play basketball. Sometimes I played basketball with him, other times I relaxed at a table nearby and watched the «happenings» in the park.
Lots of kids, dogs (and owners), a recreation center for children, tennis courts, grassy fields, a swimming pool and lots of nice plants & trees. Volta is really a lovely neighborhood park.
I particularly enjoyed watching the recreation center hold a soccer class on the basketball courts for ~3−4 year-​olds. The rec leader was awesome — very encouraging, positive while teaching the kids the basics — what a nice guy.
In all, my kid LOVED the basketball courts and we had an awesome time at the park.
5 stars

Ah, yes, Volta Park. You might think that a public pool in Georgetown would be fancier or cleaner than elsewhere. You’d be wrong. But to me, that’s not really the point.
The park also offers some nice athletic courts and fields, one of the better-​appointed playgrounds you’ll find, and a quiet, verdant area to sit. What this place is really for is basketball, tennis, and other non-​aquatic activities. And the trash cans are actually emptied regularly; how many urban areas can say that? All of which is in a location that, if it were sold to some developer and made into residences, would sell for millions.
Keeping some public green space is one of the things we do right around here. Assuming you can handle the insufferable snootiness of Georgetown (as someone who grew up a mile north of here, went to this pool, and has a degree from the nearby university, I am entitled to take a shot), you might want to stop here whenever you’re in the area.

The pool seemed nice at first (I had no problem getting a chair) until I realized that there is no ban on swim diapers. Nor do the lifeguards seem to pay any attention to whether or not some munchkins are wearing them. SO. GROSS. I can’t even imagine how much baby poop is in the water…

On opening day 2015, half of the chairs were broken. This is pathetic. I mean, they would collapse if one sat in them. Can the city do better???

First time trying out a DC pool. Got here around 1:15p (opened at noon) and all the lounge chairs are already taken but laying on my towel with a bunch of others works OK too. Found parking on the street without problem as it looks like there are maybe 4 parking spots total designated for the whole park.
Free internet is nice. Some families with kids but mostly seems like the Georgetown college kids.

A cute little playground, good for a variety of ages as it has two main areas. The toddler bit is quite small, the area for older kids is super cool. It’s annoying you have to navigate the small fry past the large older kid structure for the swings and all together Volta is on the smaller side, but it’s a well kept fun little corner close to Georgetown campus.

So I hear the pool is nice but crowded– we came in the winter so can’t vouch for that. What I can say is that there are tennis courts, a basketball court, and a slightly neglected softball field with plenty of room to run around. I went there with my two small kids on the recommendation of our front desk person at the Residence Inn Washington, DC/​Dupont Circle.
The directions to the playground from the hotel sounded a bit tricky but it was a quick walk (5 blocks?) and right past the basketball court there is a charter school with a kicka$$ playground! They actually have 2 playgrounds– one for children under 5 and one for over 5– both fenced in. They have climbing equipment and a couple slides. The ground is the super safe tire bits and the equipment is new, bright, and clean. My 2 ½ year old and 1 year old had a BLAST!
One thing I would note though is during school days, shortly before lunch, the school uses the playground and for insurance reasons can not have non-​students on the playground. I think they used it from something like 11:45 — 12:30p– though I can not recall the exact times.
We normally stay near the Kalorama park– and I’m so glad we found this gem!

The pool itself is great! The area is clean and people are very friendly.
The problem is the staff. The staff is ridiculously lazy, rude, and go about their business as if costumer service was not a thing here in the US.
For example: during my visit last weekend, the lifeguard whistled, yelled, and scolded children constantly. You might think children were killing each other but they were just playing and jumping around, sometimes getting out of the water and jumping back in. They were with their parents the whole time, under supervision, it was a bit ridiculous.
Today I went by the pool at 1:45pm and the hours posted are 1pm to 6pm or something. As I was approaching the door, one of the staff members was leaving. She didn’t greet me, she walked past and as I approached the door, I noticed it was locked. She didn’t even bother to announce it was closed, she walked briskly down the stairs and disappeared. I saw a sign handwritten taped to the door that read — «closed on weekdays until June 24»… the paper was faded and folded.
Pretty disappointing.

Great pool It is true… got there at 11:40 (opened at noon) on a very hot day and there was already a small line up, but moved very fast when they opened. If you are picky about where you sit, or even getting a lounge chair then you should get there earlier to opening time. However, people seemed very relaxed also to spread out their beach towels on the pavement. Very clean, attentive lifeguards. Free with your DC license. Mixture of Georgetown students and young families. Will be returning!

Volta Park has a great pool. It’s a descent amount of space and it’s mostly Georgetown students, and not too many little kids. I do recommend coming early to get a chair and food is also not allowed.

I got to spend the afternoon here — we had no problem finding chairs, but we got here a little after 1. By the time we left (around 3), a good deal of people were laying on the ground but no one seemed to really mind. The pool itself isn’t very big — it’s about 3 or 4 lap lanes wide — but there was a dedicated lap lane for the swimmers; everyone else was pretty much wading in the pool. The shower room was small and not really clean but it did its job. We had no problems getting in since we had our DC ids, but I noticed that people without an id paid $ 4. It was pretty relaxing here but I might try to find another pool that is easier to get to and a little bigger.

I love the Volta Pool. For those who complain about seating… Just arrive before the pool opens. I usually start lining up around 11:45 and have had a lounge chair every single day I’ve come to the pool this summer. It opens at noon on weekends and apparently, according to the new signs, now 11:30 on weekdays. It is not the largest pool, but it is near downtown Georgetown and the perfect place to relax, get a swim, and lay out with a book on a sunny afternoon.

Ok, so I still love this place, but there is a serious chair issue and the place can get ridiculously crowded on the weekends. I had to wait in line just to get in the other day and then ended up laying my towel out on the concrete because there was nowhere else to put it.
So…to summarize, be prepared for big crowds on hot summer weekends, but during the week it’s still pretty mellow and easy enough to find a chair and kick back. It’s also open until 8pm during the week, so I can get in a swim and lounge by the pool for a bit reading a book after work.
As for ID, you need either a DC license or a utility bill with your name on it and an ID to match it.

Wow — After reading the most recent review from Pedro I was psyched to go check out Volta. However, I had a crappy experience and didn’t even go into the pool! My neighbor and I headed over there with our documentation. I had my DC id and she had her out of state id but her current pay stub with our apartment address on it, proving that she lived in DC. The man working there was a total jerk to us! Evidently a pay stub doesn’t cut it with them. We also offered to just pay the $ 4 (as noted by past reviewer) but they refused. They said they didn’t take cash. The guy wouldn’t even let us speak. He went off on some tirade about how people are always trying to sneak in there without being DC residents (which I can understand they can’t let happen — but we had paperwork!). At least he could have been kind about it and asked us to come back with a utility bill with the address on it. Plus it looked like all the chairs were full so we wouldn’t even have gotten a spot. Ugh!

Not nearly enough lounge chairs here but the pool is always clean and pretty chill. I spent about 3 days a week here one summer (yeah, I should have gotten a job where I worked more than twice a week– gotta love internships). Sometimes all the little kids get annoying but its mostly chicks from Georgetown in their Lily Pulitzer bikinis tanning. It doesn’t open til 1 PM which is the only bummer, but its so hot in the summer in DC that only a few hours will get you nice and crisp.

The pool is nestled up on a hill in the middle of Georgetown, adjacent to the basketball and tennis courts. It’s a great place to relax, swim, and people watch. The pool is small and it can get pretty crowded (people are lined up on their beach towels at every angle), but the social atmosphere and the fact that it’s free is what makes it idyllic in the summer.

I’ve never swam in the pool, but i’ve used the tennis courts. What makes this park so nice is its secluded location. It gets really dark around here at night, which makes it a popular spot for shady deals and drinking. Whenever I play tennis here or just sit under the Magnolia tree, it feels like i’m in a park back home, in a place forgotten by time. It’s a shame that the softball field doesn’t get hardly any use. Maybe the recent kick-​ball craze will put this park back on the map.

How many public pools are there in this city – like zero, which is why Volta Park is so great. It’s small and therefore hard to get a chair, but the setting is really pretty. It’s true that they have meager hours, but I’ll take what I can get.
Oh and apparently a threesome pick-​up spot.