Review of the Germantown Indoor Swim Center
February 9, 2010
by Kim Engstrom

South Germantown Recreational Park
18000 Central Park Circle
Boyds, Maryland 20841
240.777.6830
Google Map

The Germantown Indoor Swim Center is the most recent addition (2005) to the indoor pools run by Montgomery County. The swim center is an affordable, fun alternative to private indoor water parks and is a great place to burn off some energy with or without your kids.

The swim center has three separate pool areas, a gym area, a party room, and large men’s and women’s locker rooms with showers and saunas in each. The competition pool includes a lane area and a diving well with 4 boards and 3 platforms. The recreation pool is used mostly for water exercise classes and has several lanes and the leisure pool is a kid-friendly haven.

The lagoon style leisure pool has 4 water slides set in a rock formation. Two of the slides are side by side, one is a tube slide and one an open slide with a gentle slope. The depth of the pool ranges from zero entry to two and a half feet. Life jackets are allowed and there are three lifeguard stands surrounding the pool. Other features of the leisure pool include a large water umbrella and tumble buckets. The day we visited was a MCPS professional day and there were many families with school age kids. My girls had plenty of room to swim and little to no wait to get on any water slides.

Another great kid friendly feature of this swim complex is an enclosed 6 inch depth pool with water spouts for play. An adult only (14 years old and up with adult supervision) hot tub is located adjacent to this area so you can have your children play in the fountains while you enjoy a quick soak!

For older kids (and adults) there are two giant tube slides suspended 36 feet above the pool deck. “Pipeline” and “Scrambler” twist and turn their way along the ceilings of the huge complex, spitting you out into the pool below 230 feet after you began. All this for only a few dollars each?!

Open swim prices for county residents are $6 for adults, $4 for children under 17. Non-residents pay $7.50 per adult and $6.50 per child. Parking is free and abundant and there are open swim times offered at least twice daily. Check here for specific hours http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/rec/pools/giscpooluse.pdf

Things to know before you go:

  • Children 6 and up must use the appropriate gender locker room or you can request to use the special needs changing area.
  • All non-potty trained children are required to wear plastic pants in addition to a swim diaper. These are for sale at the front desk.
  • Locker rooms are large and have many lockers available for use. You must bring your own locks. There are individual showers (not the big “shower room”) and three separate changing tables for babies.

Our Kids Reader Comments

  • "We recently discovered this treasure and plan to use it frequently to banish the winter blahs!!! My boys (7 and 4.5) had more fun than should be legal, and it was great that we could easily keep an eye on both of them because the area is big enough for all to enjoy, but not so big you lose track of the kids. Highly recommend!" - Karen S.

Have you been to the Germantown Indoor Swim Center? What's your opinion? Just drop us a note and Our Kids will add your comments to this review.