Gordon Head Recreation Centre

Expérience fantastique: Love it here. Funky building with funky art and a funky pool. Great hot tub, great sauna, great times! Would recommend

Expérience positive: Needs an outdoor pool as well.

Expérience fantastique: Friendly Staff patient kind and help me sign up...recommend

Expérience positive: It’s a great facility with very friendly staff and patrons.

Expérience fantastique: The whirlpool was fun. Floating in it made me relaxed.

Expérience positive: Tends to be busy but the gym has everything you need. You just have to wait to use things as it’s a small space for the amount of people who use it.

Expérience négative: Their gym sucks

Expérience négative: Go to oak bay

Expérience négative: Some guy kept filming in the weight room and it was making me uncomfortable

Expérience fantastique: Not too bad.

Expérience négative: Do not go to the gym, not enough equipment. It’s old, there’s 13 year olds running around, and it’s overcrowded. Go to commonwealth or oak bay instead.

Expérience fantastique: Front desk failed to give us information about locker needs. I run into this often at centres I'm not familiar with. Still, five stars

Expérience positive: Nice facility and the front staff are just the nicest people.

Expérience positive: Busy but lovely. Steam room was nice and hot! One thing to note; To the woman hating janitor who takes care of the ladies' bathroom, I feel you dude. I get it, your ex wife or someone hurt you, message received. There wasn't a single decent bathroom stall in the place!

Expérience fantastique: Core & More and yoga classes are excellent and quite demanding. Great teachers.

Expérience fantastique: Great place for family swims with small kids.

Expérience positive: It seems that they’ve improved the Sauna. Maybe an additional heat source was put in or reduced the gaps in the doors, but whatever was done has really made a difference. It’s now as good or better than the Commonwealth Pool Sauna. This facility is great; clean, friendly staff, vibrant. I would like to see a filtered water station inside the pool area.

Expérience négative: Tried to attend the Autumn Lantern Festival 5:00-8:30 at the Gordon Head Rec Centre on September 16, 2023. The traffic was so tied up in knots. Police directed traffic and still was inaccessible. After trying for some time to get close and find parking we gave up.

Expérience positive: Lovely little rec centre :) My son has autism and loves the rainbow lights along the edges . Roomy change rooms , main pool is always a nice temp

Expérience fantastique: Beautiful pool

Expérience positive: Great pool options for kids!

Expérience fantastique: Amazing place

Expérience fantastique: Very nice place with friendly people. Decent gym and great swimming pool. Really can't ask for more from a community center

Expérience négative: Below par hours, commonly closes for "renovations" where nothing will be repaired or changed, equipment will go un repaired for up to a year, overall if you're under the age of 50 and not here for the pool it will never be worth the money. At the time of posting roughly a quarter of weight training extremities are out of order.

Expérience positive: Just found this rec centre. Did not know they had a pool. Very nice dance studio to take my Zumba class

Expérience fantastique: Best Waterfit instructors here. The chair yoga class on Mondays and Wednesdays is exceptional.

Expérience fantastique: So happy to have this lil gem in our Gordon-Hood. The staff are always friendly. The amenities are clean & well kept. Super appreciative and glad to be back to swimming ‍♀️ lessons after years! ONE curiosity; is the climbing wall on the pool deck ever used? Seems like more customers may appreciate the pool / lanes - without the climbing wall making turns pretty difficult. Just curious... ‍♂️

Expérience positive: The swimming pool is too small.

Expérience fantastique: Staff are very friendly. Best designed pool space on the island, imo. I recycle my batteries there. Food donation bin at the month beginning is handy for me too. Great sauna and steam room.

Expérience fantastique: I went to attend Bangla language school arranged by BCCAV in the rec center. On each Sunday from 11 am to 12 pm. Amazing teaching opportunity and free parking lot.

Expérience fantastique: We are very impressed by the clear communication, knowledge and professional customer service that we received from Christy at Gordon Head Rec. Center . She helped us from beginning to end and we are very excited to use our family membership and enjoy activities at the Center. Thank you !

Expérience fantastique: GHRC is a great smaller community Recreation Centre. I haven’t used the weight room but the pool is ideal for families and the change rooms are adequate. The space is bright and the leisure pool and hot tub are highlights. The shallow depth of the main pool is a drawback if you’re a length swimmer and tall. Lockers definitely need updating.

Expérience fantastique: Easily my favourite of the four Saanich Rec Centers. The fitness classes hosted here are great. My only problem with them is that they need more classes. The pool is the best part as it's the only one in Victoria (currently) with Adult Swim. All in all, highly recommend this rec centre.

Expérience négative: The weight room is a major disappointment, it's by far the worst gym I've ever been to. I'm not sure who rearranged the gym from the previous design(I'm sure it was changed for covid) The layout is completely void of flow, with people constantly crossing paths to access the dumbbells that are tucked away in a corner? Also, many of the machines are low end with limited weight. One is too much

Expérience négative: Update your phone and facility hours. It has been several times Ithat I have tried calling within the operational hours listed on both Google as well as the automated phone message. You are supposed to be open at 6am and answering phones? What the ****?

Expérience positive: Great spot for kiddos! Not from around here, so when searching for a good pool for kids I came across this one. My son loved it! The pools are warm water which was so nice. Lots of tops for kiddos & a shallow area perfect for toddlers. Had a great time. Fair pricing as well.

Expérience négative: Power outage occurred last evening and all patrons had to wait (if they wanted) for lights to come back on. I know it's beyond their control. But the parking lot has NO backup lighting. Completely dark. We decided to leave I fell in the parking because i couldn't see a rock I stepped on. Fell flat on my face. Both knees were cut badly and my whole body was sore. Doesn't this community center have a responsibility for proper backup lighting inside AND outside the building??

Expérience fantastique: Love Gordon Head Rec. Best pool in the city for me and the grand kids...as it was for me when our child was young!

Expérience fantastique: Gordon Head has been in my life almost since the first month I was here going to UVic. Saanich Rec has been a great help getting me registered and served. Thanks

Expérience négative: the gym itself is fine, pool is expected, but the staff and (mostly) ladies at the front desk are some of the most rude and impolite people i’ve ever talked to. so unhelpful and passive aggressive when i’m trying to ask questions to purchase a pass or figure out how the different schedules work or passes. every time i’ve talked to a different one and they’ve all been hostile and felt unwelcoming and rude.

Expérience fantastique: I attended a drop-in HIIT Express class this week. The group was diverse in terms of age/race/gender/fitness level, and the instructor was friendly and easygoing without compromising the intensity of the workout. My legs are sore two days later!

Expérience positive: Pretty typical community center, good gym and pool

Expérience fantastique: Wonderful facility. Great staff. Large co-ed sauna and steam rooms, lap pool, multiple hot tubs, kids water play area, free weights, and machines. What more could I ask for. This place has become an important part of my daily addenda

Expérience positive: Our favourite rec center. Just wish the sauna was a bit warmer

Expérience positive: Nice gym (but small) friendly staff and a nice pool. The weight room has low ceilings which can be claustrophobic and jam packed. Not a great variety of machines but it's acceptable for a community gym.

Expérience négative: Gym is very small, hard to get a good workout in if there is more than a few people. The steam room and hot tub are excellent, but they are closed to the public for swimming lessons from ~4PM to 7PM most weekdays which is the time most people with 9-5 jobs would want to use them. It would also be nice if you could bring your own lock to use a locker for the day instead of having to pay each time. Reception staff also weren’t overly friendly.

Expérience fantastique: Love my neighbourhood pool. Friendly staff, safe, clean environment, easy parking, and good value for $$$!

Expérience positive: Gym facilities at reasonable price!

Expérience positive: Very much a community recreation center. Has a nice pool with a kids swim area. It also has a gym that has a decent array of equipment, it isn't large but plenty for a community center.

Expérience fantastique: The registration staff are knowledgeable and friendly. The swimming instructors are wonderful with the kids in the lessons, gently helping them to build confidence and skills in the water with patience and a smile. The lifeguards are professional and friendly, often remembering the names of the kids who come to the pool. There is a clean weight room/workout gym with a good amount of equipment and seemingly always lots of room. The pool is always clean and well maintained. The kids swimming/leisure area has a small slide, a good mix of depths for little ones, and a swirling river type section with both stairs and a ramp to enter. The large 25m pool has lifts for those who need it to enter, a basketball net, large slide, a climbing wall, and monkey bars. There is a good sized hot tub, a toddler/baby pool, steam room and sauna. There are also a variety of activity rooms to rent for community groups or birthday parties and there is a preschool onsite. From the outside it doesn't look like much, but inside it is the best. This is a great rec centre for the community.

Expérience négative: Staff said I had to rent a room to sit and work anywhere on my laptop. I even have s regional pass!!

Expérience fantastique: This is a very nice recreation centre. Good drop in classes although could be more. Easy parking in front and frèe!

Expérience fantastique: My wife rarely calls me at work, so when my cell phone lit up with her face and number, I knew it was serious. She'd lost her car fob, likely somewhere in Lambrick Park, and since it costs hundreds of dollars to replace, she asked if I could do a grid search of the big grass field where she had walked our dog after work, before it got dark. I said sure and spent a few minutes pacing around head down but quickly knew it would be fruitless. The grass was cut short so it would have been very obvious to any of the dozens of people who’d been there since my wife and dog passed through hours before. I looked on benches and other flat surfaces in case someone had placed them there to be more obvious. Nothing. I went back home empty-handed and we tried to shrug off the cost of the fob. The attached four-leaf-clover keychain we didn't much care for anymore; It handn't worked the magic we expected of it. A few days passed. I had avoided calling the car dealership but knew I shouldn’t wait for too long. The next day, we were at the same park and a fellow dog-walker friend of ours suggested we check at Gordon Head Recreation Centre. They get things turned in there all the time, she said. One in a million, I thought, but what the heck. I strolled over. There to greet me behind the counter were Shannon, Christy and Lisa. I told them my issue and they asked me what the fob looked like. I showed them my remaining one. A second later, one of them reached into a box and pulled out the long-lost item with the four-leaf-clover keychain still attached (its talismanic powers now firmly proven). I was gobsmacked. I thanked them repeatedly and then asked how I could return the favour. They did not pause or consult. They had obviously rehearsed the answer for years and had been waiting oh-so patiently to be asked this very question. So when it came, they responded very quickly and loudly: “Google Review!” All right, I said. That I can do. As I walked away, jingling, I vowed silently to myself to write a review of them so glowing, so extravagant, so over-the-top purple, that their boss, upon its reading, could not possibly continue his or her day without furnishing these three ladies -- these maidens of mercy, these altruistic, underpaid sisters of salvation -- with an immediate raise in salary for which they have most nobly and selflessly toiled lo these many years and of whom no municipal employee has ever been more deserving. I hereby declare that their names --- Shannon, Christy and Lisa -- should be sung from rooftops around Gordon Head from Shelbourne Street to Arbutus Road, from Mt. Douglas and Mt Tolmie, as if the angels themselves were trumpeting their brilliance to the gods. And finally let me say to anyone reading this (especially their boss), that these three, these happy three, these sisters of sanctuary, are simply the finest civic employees on Vancouver Island. And that no municipal facility anywhere owes its success -- past, present or future -- more to three employees than the District of Saanich does to the gentlewomen who returned to me and my wife a most valuable item earlier this month. Shannon, Christy and Lisa -- Thank you very much.

Expérience positive: Good quality gym, pool, hot tub, sauna, and steam room. The facilities are great! But, the people who work here and who frequent the place aren't very friendly. No sense of community here like at other rec centres in Greater Victoria.

Expérience négative: So disappointed. I paid 60 for a one month pass and was able to go for only one day. I went back two weeks after and asked if I can get a refund for the next two weeks since I’m not able to go to the gym. I didn’t ask for a refund for the past two weeks ofc because it’s my fault i didn’t go but asked for the next two weeks. The lady there said there’s a no refund policy for a one month pass. I told her I was able to go to the gym only once but paid for a whole month and now asking for just two weeks refund. She said this is life and a learning experience for you for next time. I totally get your policy but it’s totally unfair and this is not how business should run by speaking this way with your members. Now I don’t care about my money but feel so sad that this was the way she spoke with me. Just so you know if she was nice to me and felt bad that I can’t go to the gym and hence won’t get my money back I would’ve appreciated and said well there’s nothing we can do but talking with me in the way she did made me sadly regret even thinking going there.

Expérience négative: The front table doesn’t let people feel comfortable at all. Rude and racism! Don’t go if you are Asian!

Expérience négative: The environment inside is suffocating, very small gym, I am willing to spend a little more money to go to Carsa to exercise, it will be more effective. The rules of this gym are even more anti-human. When the epidemic is over, their staff will force you to wear a mask. I feel like I'm being controlled by the CCP. This gym is like a small concentration camp, and the environment inside is humid and depressing. Never waste your money! Come to this cheater gym!

Expérience négative: One of the worst and most outrageous gyms in BC. They only care if they make money, instead of customer service and feeling. I still remember the first time I registered for a fitness card here, the staff told me that I needed to buy their monthly pass on my phone, they can’t do anything to help me to active on the computer. but their website was so bad, it took me an hour to get it right, and the staff didn't help, just sitting there looking at the computer. The second time I wanted to opt out of my plan, a young girl sat at the front desk. She was very unprofessional and told me that she didn't know how to quit, and she didn't know when will my fitness card had expired. Why should I spend money to exercise here if I can't buy the corresponding service experience with my money? Don't waste your money on this disgusting place, it's really a scam, it will only cheat customers money. If it is possible I will give -5 star for it.

Expérience fantastique: Great facility! Gym, pool, dance class,and group fitness classes all under one roof. Staff is helpful and kind.

Expérience fantastique: Great place for family activities and water entertainment activities. I love this place.

Expérience fantastique: Love the pool - Good little gym

Expérience fantastique: Small but clean with friendly staff!

Expérience négative: The voicemail still says happy holidays on Jan 30th and there are no staff in to answer a call on a Sunday? What’s happening?

Expérience fantastique: Good place for swimming lessons. The staff is super friendly

Expérience fantastique: This is a good place to swim and work out.Ditch

Expérience positive: Me divirto com meus filhos na piscina e tb qd quero relaxar uso a sauna e a sala de musculação!

Expérience positive: ドロップオフ利用で７ドル、ロッカー代５セント、crystal poolより高い。回転プールはビート板にひっついて、ただただ回っているだけでも楽し。hot tub もcrystal より広く、サウナもやってました。crystalではワクチン接種証明書を求められるけど、ここは不要。気をつけないといけないのは、何故か14:15-15:00に清掃をおっぱじめて利用者をシャットアウトするので、その時間に着替える場合はプールのところのロッカーに置く必要がある。そんなの閉館後か開館前にやりゃいいのに。

Expérience fantastique: The attention I have received from the staff at Gordon head rehab is incredible. They take incredible strides to make me feel informed and positive about my recovery. I simply cannot recommend their care highly enough.

Expérience fantastique: Excellent venue

Expérience fantastique: Such a good pool for young kids. My 2 and 6 year old loved it. The river was fun and they have toys to play with all around the kids pool. Not the hugest pool but super reasonably priced and fun.

Expérience fantastique:

Expérience fantastique: Great place to learn Judo!

Expérience fantastique: Great gym

Expérience positive: It's a pretty good facility, with a lot of different offerings - such as a pool etc. They have various covid protocols in place. It is right next to lambrick park which is a plus. However, If you are going to the weight room it can feel a bit small with limited equipment.

Expérience fantastique: Great pool for kids. Lots of options, lots of activities even with covid

Expérience fantastique: Nice staff

Expérience fantastique: swimming pool is nice and clean.

Expérience fantastique: Great pool and friendly staff.

Expérience fantastique: Friendly staff, good workout facilities.

Expérience fantastique: Great place to come for a quick dip, great showers and loved the steam room.

Expérience fantastique: Nice and clean swimming pools. It just cost me about 6$ to have full access to the swimming pools, hot tub, sauna, gym, which is so wonderful. Definitely come back.

Expérience fantastique: Great spot for a family swim! Life guards and staff are friendly and helpful. Wasn't too busy which was nice.

Expérience fantastique: Great rec centre. Nice pool area, with different zones for different interests. Friendly staff. Great skate park.

Expérience positive: First time visit give me good impressions! My family love the swim pools! Will visit again if we go to the area

Expérience positive: I find it really hard to enjoy myself at the pool with my kids there - the lifeguards are constantly hounding on everyone about watching their kids (for the record, I do, but keeping a 4 and 6 year old constantly in arm's reach is a bit of a tall order). Also, the air temperature there is quite cool. It's not a very big area...Commonwealth is able to keep their air temperature much more comfortable.

Expérience positive: Quaint little facility.

Expérience négative: When swimming in this pool continuously for 2 hours back in 2018, had burning nose/throat from chlorine applied in water for 3-4 days. Subsequently learned that some pools in Victoria use 2-3 times less chlorine and/or use salt to treat water.

Expérience positive: The original whirly-gig pool. Great place to go for a skateboard and then hit the sauna.

Expérience positive: Weight facilities are lacking, bench press deadlift platforms and squat racks are all in short supply or nonexistent. The aquatics component is good, but nothing impressive.

Expérience positive: Nice pool

Expérience fantastique: A very nice place

Expérience positive: Hygiene rules need more supervision .

Expérience positive: Good but they really need a ATM. Went for lantern festival with family and no parking and no cash machine. Had to run two blocks away to 7-11.

Expérience positive: This place is alright for swimming. Family change room is really just a big washroom. And only 2 are available making it really hard for families.

Expérience positive: Kids pool is nice and warm. Seems a little outdated though. Kids swimming lessons are on the opposite side of the pool from the change rooms, not ideal for parents with kids.

Expérience fantastique: Friendly front staff. Clean facilities. Great massage services by appointment

Expérience fantastique: My wife and I come down here every year for the lantern festival.

Expérience fantastique: If you're looking to get absolutely shredded, look no further. Within 2 weeks I've gone from Michael Cera to Dwayne Johnson.

Expérience fantastique: An amazing place with a great pool and gym for a single price!

Expérience fantastique: Great gym, pool, programs, lockers.