Swimming Pools in Singapore

The Pool at School of Physical Education, Evans Road

Not living in a condominium here in Singapore can be a real disadvantage when the weather is always hot and sticky and the best way to cool off is to have a dip. I have already written about Jurong East Swimming Complex, and how great it is for the kids, but there are many other pools here in Singapore as well.

Our local pool is the Buona Vista Swimming Complex which is walking distance from Holland Village. It is always very clean and never crowded, even on the weekends. There are three pools; a toddler's paddling pool, a pool used for swimming lessons which is shallow enough to stand in, as well as a 50 metre lap pool. Entrance fee is only $1 for adults and 50c for children (a little more on weekends).

There are actually about 30 of these local pools all over Singapore, some with wading pools, some without. I have made a list here of the ones I could find that do have pools suitable for toddlers and early swimmers. If anyone knows of any others, please leave a comment at the end.

Apart from the local swimming complexes, it seems that not many people know that they can use the SAFRA pools during the week if you are a non-member. SAFRA is an organisation predominately for National Service personel and their families and has a network of clubs which provide quality social, recreational, sports and educational facilities for NS men and their families.


We visited SAFRA at Toa Payoh the other day to see if the pool was worth $3.20 for adults and $1.60 for children.

Safra at Toa Payoh

As you can see from the picture, there is a wading pool as well as the larger pool. The main pool isn't huge-large enough for our purposes but not big enough for doing serious laps. During our visit on Friday morning, there were only a couple of other people (servicemen I presume) sunning themselves and doing gentle laps. It is a pleasant enough pool, with the brightly painted brickwork and wooden deckchairs. The only thing that bothered me was the loud music being blasted unnecessarily, and the street noise from the PIE (perhaps the former is meant to block out the latter) which is very close.

The change rooms with hot showers and changing cubicles was clean and perfectly adequate for the two of us, but I can imagine during the weekends it gets pretty crowded in there.

In all, the facilities are good, but if you are seriously wanting to do some laps, I would suggest opting for one of the local swimming complexes. The Toa Payoh Swimming Complex, for instance, just a few hundred metres down the road has 2 beautiful 50
metre pool. This, by the way, is where the national team trains every morning.

Here is a list of Swimming Complexes with Wading Pools and Teaching pools:

1. Clementi S.C 520 Clementi Avenue 3, tel:6779 0577
2. Queenstown S.C 473 Stirling Road, tel: 6473 2555
3. Delta S.C 900 Tiong Bahru Road, tel: 6474 7573
4. Jalan Besar S.C 100 Tyrwhitt Road, tel: 62939058
5. School of Physical Education S.C 21 Evans Road, tel: 64688393. No paddling pool, just teaching pool.
6. Buona Vista S.C 76 Holland Road, tel: 67780244
7. Toa Payoh S.C 301 Toa Payoh, tel: 62594808
8. Katong S.C 111 Wilkinson Road, tel: 63449609
9. Bedok S.C 901 New Upper Changi Road, tel: 64435511
10. Tampines S.C 505 Tampines Avenue 5, tel: 67861151
11. Serangoon S.C 35-A Yio Chu Kang Road, tel: 62884606 No teaching pool
12. Yio Chu Kang S.C 202 Ang Mo Kio 9, tel: 64819054 Paddling pool to open soon
13. Ang Mo Kio S.C 1771 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1, tel: 64566821
14. Bishan S.C 1 Bishan Street, tel: 63536117
15. Jurong East S.C 21 East Jurong Street 31, tel: 65635052/65652297
16. Chuo Chu Kang S.C 1 Choa Chu Kang Street 53, tel: 67678606 No teaching pool
17. Woodlands S.C 3 woodlands Street13, tel: 62694192
18. Yishan S.C 351 Yishan Avenue 3, tel: 67525513

For more information on SAFRA, go to: http://www.safra.sg/