Tepid Baths

Located off Auckland’s CBD near the viaduct harbour, and (not so) fresh from a reopening in 2012 after a rennovation in 2010, Tepid Baths has a great location that is easy to visit (there is a parking lot nearby too) and has affordable prices (free for children under 16, $ 6.70 for adults 17 and older, $ 5.30 for seniors aged 65+, community service card users, disability access owners, and adults with an infant) Tepid Baths is a great place to spend your weekend or enjoy your morning/​afternoon while working out. It’s said that there is a café on site but I haven’t visited it so I can’t confirm that. The service is okay, the lifeguards watch over the swimmers well — kindly reminding them to change lanes if they are too slow/​fast for that lane.
I mainly go to their swimming pools, but they also have a gym that has a partial glass floor that overlooks the children’s swimming pool below. They have a clean facility (although I suggest that they clean their floors and lower row of lockers more often) and a main pool with differed rows from aqua jogging/​kids play area and a slow, medium, to fast speed for accommodate all sorts of swimmers. They also have a pool used for learners and kids (which is usually used for swim school to 1pm on weekends) and most excitingly, they have a spa (mind you, it’s really hot) a sauna and a steaming facility (wooohoooo!)
They have free lockable lockers that you can access in the bathrooms (it’s BYO… lock) and they are conservative with water since they use timed showers (the ones that you have to press to turn on and then it turns off after a certain time, and you can press again until you are finished using the shower) and for the ladies they have two ghd hairdryers and straighteners that can be used anytime (yay no more bad hair days after swimming!)

When I was much younger, I had harped on at my parents for months and months about wanting a pool in the backyard, true to form they did not capitulate to my desires so I dug a hole and filled it with water and was rather happy with my mud bath. To this day, I still love swimming, though I prefer a slightly more clean option than mud.
The tepid baths complex fulfills this desire for me. This indoor pool was originally built in 1914 and still retains that historical feel, whilst allowing for more modern facilities. It is a rather lovely combination of the old and the new.
The 7 lane, 25 meter lap pool is great for hard core swimmers and for those that just like to float lazily like myself. There are also a sauna, spa pool and a gym located on site. The tepid baths really does cater to everyone

If your life exists within the confines of Auckland CBD (like mine has in the past), you work in the city, you rent a place in the city, you do all your shopping in the city, you might be slowly going crazy (like I have in the past). Despite the fact that it is regularly crowded I found the Tepid Baths to be a great escape. There is just something about swimming which is therapeutic, do not quote me here but I think swimming has been scientifically proven to be an psychological catharsis — perfect if you live in the city. Sometimes the crowds are a little bit much, I think they would do well to have a lower limit on the amount of memberships they allow. They also have a gym which offers a very competitive monthly rate, one of the cheapest gym that I could find in the area.

A fabulous renovation of a classic building in central Auckland provides a beautiful setting for swimming. The pool is clean, modern and rarely too busy for productive lane swimming. They offer a range of payment options from single passes to annual membership. I like to spread the swimming love so utilise their good value ’10 swim’ pass. A small swimming retail outfit at the reception desk can be useful if you forget any essentials. The gym looks really classy too, and when the weather turns towards the middle of the year I am sure it will start to pack out and get much busier. I would certainly consider it as an alternative to some of the more well known gym franchises.
5 stars for the pool