Crystal Pool & Fitness Centre

Positive experience: I love it here. Bit of an older facility and things break down from time to time (showers, hot tub), but I like the atmosphere. I come here often to swim or workout. The workout room with the machines is a little small, but scattered around the upper pool deck they have some free weights and treadmills and such. It's a great spot for overall fitness and such. The staff are friendly and they have programming there for all ages, children and seniors alike. I'd recommend this place to anybody living nearby, it's a great community hub.

Positive experience: It’s very crowded, and there’s always a shortage of parking.

Fantastic experience: Nice big pool. Beautiful skylight. Must hit when in Victoria!

Positive experience: I've always enjoyed the Crystal Pool whenever Esquimalt is closed for maintenance but the water is definitely a little colder.

Fantastic experience: There are a lot of things to do inside and outside and the prices are cheap

Fantastic experience: Been going since January. Great staff love it

Positive experience: Beware if you’re a dad going with your daughter at a busy time (like swimming lessons) there is only a single universal change room. The wait could be 10 minutes, at least, before you can change.

Positive experience: $145 for 3 months. Great value membership. They have a fantastic swimming pool. Includes hot tub, sauna, steam room. There isnt really a gym at this facility. It is 2 small rooms with some old and basic equipment . I also don’t like how they don’t have free lockers where you can use your own lock, or lockers that return your money. You have to pay each time to use the lockers is really absurd to me.

Fantastic experience: Love swimming here.

Fantastic experience: We have visited this recreational centre in August 2024 and will continue to do it further, for sure. Quite big, comfortable pool with separation between newbies and pros, so that you can start to learn swimming in the lesser depth. Jumping springboard with different highs, separate pool for the smallest ones, spacious hot tub, gym, dry and wet sauna. Basically, we have found everything we could dream for relaxation. And the price was about 7CAD for single adult ticket.

Positive experience: Great to have the 50m set up early morning. Security guard in the parking area made me feel much better about having my car parked there.

Fantastic experience: Love this pool and gym!

Fantastic experience: Pretty good place ☺️Friendly staff, my daughter visits this pool three times a week and she is very happy!

Fantastic experience: Friendly staff with an attractive abundance set of exercise bicycles surrounding the pool on the upper level. Thank you and love.

Fantastic experience: I like so much 5 stars

Positive experience: It’s going to be tough returning to the YMCA after their shutdown, having finally enjoined in the hiatus doing my daily one km swims in one of Crystal’s, wide 50 m swim lanes.

Fantastic experience: Amazing staff!!

Fantastic experience: pretty gross, but no pretention and very friendly staff

Fantastic experience: It was hard to find but when we did we had an amazing experience

Negative experience: Be aware, crystal pool issues free life passes to homeless people. I've has my backpack stolen and the washrooms and changing rooms are never clean or safe.

Fantastic experience: Aquafit with Brenden was fun and a great workout! Highly recommend.

Fantastic experience: A community staple, Crystal Pool always aims to please. Sure it's time for a new one until then this recreation center has all the amenities to stay fit, healthy and to have a lot of fun. I have been a patron there as a bachelor, married, and now with two children.

Fantastic experience: Great place to relax

Positive experience: Pool was great, warm water. Sauna was PACKED but the steam room hit the spot.

Fantastic experience: I never got a membership here, but I did some walk in for swimming. The reception staff is always kind and welcoming. The pool is always clean and I’d love to know more on membership for summer.

Fantastic experience: Clean, safe, excellent staff

Fantastic experience: Great customer service at the front desk

Fantastic experience: Kids attend Swimming Lessons. Recommend.

Positive experience: The good: Friendly staff Clean facility good location, parking and accessible by public transport The bad: Facility needs renovation specially the gym You might come across an employee with bad attitude from time to time.

Positive experience: They really need a larger family/universal changeroom

Negative experience: Great , but almost every time I go, the hottub is not functional. Bad timing I guess . Change rooms nice and spacious compared to some.

Fantastic experience: Worked out at a city run facility with two weightlifting areas and a lot of cardio equipment , all on the second floor above the pool deck. The weight room with the cable machines and benches is quite small. Four people seemed full. More would be crowded. The stretching room is nice as there’s lots of space and dumbbells are in there. The check in person was very friendly and remember to request a locker token as your own lock won’t work, because it looks like members have secured all of them on a permanent basis. But there are lots of lockers that use the city tokens. The change room was very large and had quite a few private shower stalls. There are about 10 bike lock ups, right outside the windows of the entrance and lobby, so felt relatively secure leaving my bike there. And a reasonable price for a drop-in of approx $5. I’ll be back!

Fantastic experience: So much fun with my grandson. Love this pool. We always have such a great time.

Positive experience: I really appreciate the staff as they are friendly and willing to assist. If you are there to workout sometimes you have to wait however not that long.

Positive experience: It's decent for a public pool but somewhat antiquated. I have given it 3 stars mainly due to the fitness facilities, which are spread out through the facility, lack several pieces of equipment a normal gym would have, and place the cardio equipment in the warm/humid environment of the pool. It's good if you have nothing else.

Fantastic experience: Excellent place, there are clean and safe... Perfecto to be fitness for low cost

Fantastic experience: The best city pool sauna because of outdoor patio access right after a hot sauna. There's a shower outside as well! The people are fun and the staff are great too.

Fantastic experience: A delightfully large pool with a very comfortable temperature. Room and amenities for all aged.

Positive experience: Okay, but for me the water is cold, and for some reason the door to the street is not closed, this is strange for me, it should be warm in the pool.

Fantastic experience: Pool is clean, lifeguards in duty, lots of lanes for swimming. Never have a problem here.

Fantastic experience: This Crytal pool&fitness Centers is very good and very convenient and comfortable for very body all equipments are awesome since I came to Victoria most 20 years. 5 stars⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fantastic experience: Great place. Nice steam and dry saunas, hot tub is good too

Positive experience: facility wise its all great but the staff was rude i mean very rude.

Positive experience: Have a life pass and love comming here

Fantastic experience: Great place to come with family or teach a scuba class. Friendly staff, always plenty of lifeguards, inexpensive.

Positive experience: The best and perhaps only 50m swimming pool in Victoria!

Fantastic experience: Definitely worth the swim, also the programs are awesome!

Fantastic experience: All in one facility. Affordable and clean it's 5 stars.

Negative experience: Old and worn out. Gym is way too small. This facility should have been replaced 20 years ago. This place is extremely sketchy - has Pandora Ave vibes - I've seen junkies numerous times using the sinks in the change room to wash their underwear and once witnessed some drug addict randomly assault a gym patron in the weight room. Thankfully now they seem to have hired some security staff. Do not recommend this place at all. Try Esquimalt or Oak Bay Rec centres instead, they are much cleaner and safer.

Negative experience: Easily the worst rec centre in the city, also in the worst neighbourhood and has the worst gym in the entire city as well.

Fantastic experience: Thanks for having friendly security person on to make sure the kids are safe. Wishing your staff luck with fulfilling the vacant lifeguard positions so the hours can increase back to “norm” on the weekends! I’ve always found the front desk staff to be patient and as much as possible, accommodating to our family.

Fantastic experience: Great friendly service as always. The facilities are well maintained and accessible (loving the gender neutral restroom!)

Fantastic experience: Great facility, shows it’s age but is well maintained and clean. Diving boards are great for the kids. The slide even opens occasionally so nice diversion for the kids.

Positive experience: A “living” centre. Growing and re-calibrating as community needs evolve.

Positive experience: Good place to go very clean .staff are good very safe with life guards watching out . kids are safe

Positive experience: Is a good place to go swimming at or have a work out , different work out areas , that overlook the pool , or you can go to the smaller area and see people in the pool underwater while doing your workout.

Positive experience: Really hoping the staff will schedule a night with a few hours for women/non binary/women identifying folk. Many of us feel unsafe and uncomfortable in the steam and sauna rooms.

Fantastic experience: Crystal Pool is a fairly regular place where I swim. The Leisure Pool is a decent size ideal for families and kids. The hot tub is adequate. The space is bright and uplifting due to the massive domed translucent ceiling. Water quality and change rooms, in my opinion, are the best in town. Length swimmers enjoy 50 metre lengths but limited availability during the day. Priority should be afforded to public drop in over private rental groups. Staff is friendly.

Positive experience: It was really frustrating to arrive at 8:20 for the security person to say that the doors close at 8:30. The clock behind him said 8:20. The website doesn’t mention the exact time they close their doors.

Positive experience: Best pool on island by far. Great hours for long-course, solid facilities and rates are super competitive.

Fantastic experience: Great facility, spacious change rooms, lots of natural light, and perfect temperature. Built in 1971, it doesn't have great accessibility or other 21st century expectations for equity, so it won't be around for too much longer, but hopefully whatever replaces it will keep the great facilities in a more inclusive format.

Fantastic experience: I have been a member for almost a year. I'm feeling great physically and mentally. Three times a week is great, but I will exaggerate and say I train three hours a day like Dorian Yates who just turned 60

Positive experience: Lots of great programs and a decent pool.

Positive experience: Really confusing when you walk in the door everyone just stares at you. Not a regular pool setting.

Negative experience: Went down this morning to find out closed when it was supposed to be open. No update on answering machine... Lovely. Also toonie swim has been eliminated which seems discriminatory. People that are suffering financially deserve and need rec center options to retain or regain their health. It's rather essential for the health of society really. If you're a proletariat that can't tolerate that demography, you have a vast majority of the hrs of the day to frequent the center outside of that time.

Positive experience: I have been coming here for years :) Great local old school pool ( pre-tear down) I go here with my special needs 4 yr old son's now and find early wkdays Mornings to be perfect time of day for him , nice and quiet and larger of the two kiddy pools almost all to ourselves :) Fun water slide for older kids ( when its opened) and sauna/hot and dry and hot tub Over all many a fun and relaxing hour spent here over the years :) Also great for laps and prenatal or elderly water classes Updated review below February 2024 This pool continues to be a favorite of myself and my special needs 6 yr old sons He loves the smaller kiddy pool that's always nice and warm . There are vending machines in the lobby and a great playground right outside :)

Positive experience: Crystal Pool is a great rec centre. It may not be the most well equipped, and the building certainly is getting old, but the community is bar none. I've worked out at many gyms, but Crystal Pool beats them all in terms of friendliness, chill non-judgmental attitude, and helpful staff. Plus, there's a wonderful nostalgia to looking out over the swim lessons as you run on the treadmill. Sauna is great, pool has tonnes of room, and the gym is decently stocked. DBs go up to 85 and no dip station right now. Unfortunately, the hours are quite limited right now, I suspect due to staffing shortages.

Fantastic experience: Clean change rooms... friendly staff and a variety of small workout areas upstairs and down. Lots of cardio equipment upstairs too.

Negative experience: The heavy bag was the only reason I went to this place really sad to see it go... Quadra fitness, and the YMCA, have punching bags if anyone wants an alternative.

Positive experience: Visiting from out of town it's a decent pool but there's no family changing room so my wife needed to take both daughters (ages 3 and 9 months) in which was both tiring and difficult. Swimming pool was good though

Fantastic experience: Great swimming spot near downtown Victoria.

Positive experience: Has a sauna, steam room, warm shallow kiddie pool, hot tub, swim lanes, and even a waterslide. It's a good place to go for family recreation and personal health. My only complaint is that lately staffing issues have led to reduced hours (closing 9:30 most nights) resulting in overcrowding

Fantastic experience: The staff here is so friendly & helpful whenever you need ! I started Aquafit classes there this spring and they have been a game changer ! all ages & abilities .! super fun!

Positive experience: Love my home pool. Water temp perfect, nice long double lanes. Nit: priority sometimes to be aquaerobics

Positive experience: Great place to swim! Nice place to do some workouts!

Fantastic experience: Just started coming to this pool again after quite a few years for aquafit. I love how bright and clean it is. The showers in the ladies change room area are nice with the dividers. I also really like the design of the hottub being off to one side of the main pool with 2 showers right there. A really great experience each class I go to.

Fantastic experience: I love it at Crystal Pool! The diversity of patrons is great and the staff are professional but warm and welcoming.

Fantastic experience: We are so lucky to have this 50m (long course) public pool in downtown Victoria! When I travel to other cities I can never find 50m pools, only 25. Great atmosphere, fun but professional staff who are very welcoming.

Fantastic experience: Always have a good time when we visit. Kids adore the camps offered.

Fantastic experience: Great to swim 50m long course in the mornings. Great facility.

Positive experience: it's a decent 50m pool and with good people running it for the City of Victoria

Fantastic experience: Great place to take the kids!

Fantastic experience: Always love the pool and workout space

Fantastic experience: Great place to go swimming with kids

Fantastic experience: This is a high five for Chris Woeller, personal trainer.

Fantastic experience: Great facilities and services! I like it

Positive experience: Great pool size, wish all the gym equipment was in one place

Negative experience: They need to bring back the 9 to 11 toonie swim

Negative experience: I'm reviewing regards to the chaos that now ensues at Crystal Pool as someone has reserved out 60% of the pool on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays. This has removed the slow lane, now only leaving a leisure lane which consists of people aged 60+ with flotation devices doing Water Pilates, etc. and a continuous swimming lane. So now you have a mixture of professional athletes who compete, people who have never swam a day in their life, slow swimmers and people who are average at swimming all forced in 1 double lane. I'm not sure how someone thought this was a good idea in any way shape or form? This is a hazard to most swimmers as now you have people swimming 1 minute or faster lengths with people who are basically not moving, no idea on how to swim and causing traffic jams. Also doubling the price of lockers is pretty ridiculous.

Negative experience: I'm disappointed with Crystal Pool. I paid for a three-month membership expecting to be able to go and do regular training in the pool. There are about five or six swimming lanes and every evening I go there all the lanes have been rented out to scuba/swimming clubs etc and there are no swimming lanes for regular members like me to use. This means that we instead have to swim in the public 'leisure area', which often doesn't have lanes specifically for swimming lengths, and even when they do the same area is often busy and filled with children having lessons, people playing with inflatable toys, other people standing around talking etc. In other words, it's not easy or enjoyable to try and swim lengths and train there. As a paying member it's very disheartening to see that Crystal Pool do not reserve at least one of the many swimming lanes available for members to use. Sure, they want to make money and and therefore renting out as many lanes as they can, but this leaves paying members like me in the lurch. I'm sure there are others who feel the same as me and I encourage them to speak up so that Crystal Pool might makes these small and reasonable changes to accommodate regular, paying members. I understand that Crystal Pool advertise when lanes are available, but this is almost never the case in the evenings, and I work 9-5 Monday to Friday, so I don't have much choice regarding when to go - and I imagine the situation is the same for many people. Please just keep one swimming lane open in the evenings for members and drop ins. Thanks.

Positive experience: A great city run facility for all sorts of activities. There are plenty of options for all ages. Refer to activity guide, available on line, or call the friendly people manning the counters for information. My kids have been using the Crystal since they were tots. Good memories.

Fantastic experience: I spent my Spring Break in Victoria and was very fortunate to discover the Crystal Pool. I ended up coming here everyday of my 10 day vacation. The pool and gym are great, however, it is the staff that makes this place incredibly special. I can't say enough how much these people enhanced my vacation: Skylar: Your energy and enthusiasm makes the whole place shine. Lifeguards Nicky, Tristan and Malcolm, and Tristan your sense of adventure is so inspirational! Quentin: Your time and dedication to my jeep every time it wouldn't start (3 times in my 10 days) Quentin came out and jumped it! You don't meet people like these guys anywhere. Thanks for making this an amazing vacation. Sincerely, Darren

Positive experience: This place is great , beautiful swimming pool and showers , the place to go from exercise and clean your body.

Fantastic experience: I've never been here in my life but Google wants me to rate it so it looks like it would be nice

Fantastic experience: This pool has great availability for swimming laps! The staff create a very positive & inviting environment.

Fantastic experience: Excellent place to swim and exercise!

Positive experience: Good value for price and for being a public rec center. Only 4 stars because I wish they had a bit more variety in machines in the gym

Fantastic experience: This pool has great availability for swimming laps! The staff create a very positive & inviting environment.

Positive experience: Stairs to the viewing gallery are nasty on bare feet which is what you are to have unless you bring extra pool shoes.

Fantastic experience: A Very nice place to go and Work Out without being surrounded in big muscular people snickering because you're only lifting a portion of what they can do. Instead, it's more of a Rehabilitation thing, helping to keep each other more mobile! And the Hot Tub afterwards is great!