My main workout before the pandemic was swimming, while my husband also swam regularly in addition to his gym sessions. Not being able to swim for exercise forced me to do only indoor HIIT exercises and I often hurt my joints in doing so.
The pool in our neighborhood has reopened this year, since swimming is allowed in GCQ, but it’s quite difficult to reserve a slot. Sometimes the slots are 3 weeks away. When we search for a list of open public swimming pools in Metro Manila while in GCQ, we can’t find anything. So here, I’ll try to gather a list myself.
Do note that these are not public pools where anyone may swim. You either need membership or need to stay as a hotel guest. I know it’s a hassle. We swim in hotels in time for our socially distant event celebrations (just me and the hubby staycationing while avoiding everyone else). I know almost everyone else are tired of being socially distant. We are too, but we believe that avoiding gatherings is still the right thing to do. So yeah. Too bad the public pool at Makati Aqua Sports Arena is still closed.
List of swimming pools in Metro Manila that are open during GCQ:
Joy Nostalg Hotel
We have personally tried checking in at Joy Nostalg and swimming in their 20-meter 4 ft. 6 in. pool. Only 3 people are allowed in the pool (covid-19 health safety protocols!) so it feels safe. Their swimming pool is temperature-controlled so you won’t feel cold even if it’s indoors and you swim in the morning or evening. Plus: there’s a jacuzzi too! They have a pool locker room, shower with shower gel and shampoo, and towels you can borrow for free. The pool also has an underwater sound system. How cool is that? The only problem we encountered was that they lost one of our pool reservations for unknown reasons. Upon arrival to the pool area on our scheduled slot, someone else was swimming. They made up for it by extending our stay for free until 4PM. By the way, not swimming related, but the food at the hotel tastes amazing, especially their croissants and other pastries. We had them delivered in our hotel room.
Fitness First RCBC Makati
The pool at Fitness First is open during GCQ but it needs membership. We haven’t tried it because they are so difficult to contact! What if we need to schedule a swim session but we can’t reach Fitness First?
Aruga Hotel by Rockwell
We booked a room here for an isolated birthday celeb, but they ran out of slots for the pool so we canceled and switched back to Joy Nostalg. Their slots fill up easily because the swimming pool is shared with residents.
If you know of a pool that we can access during GCQ in Metro Manila, please let us know!
