Indoor Pools in North Charleston Open to the Public
North Charleston has two indoor pools open to anyone, both run by the city and both $5 at the door: the North Charleston Aquatic Center on Patriot Blvd, home to the area's only 50-meter pool, and the North Charleston Sports Complex on Monitor Street, a 25-yard pool that opened in 2024. The other five pools here are a drive out, in Charleston, Mount Pleasant and Summerville.
Between the two city pools, the difference is mostly the clock. Beyond the city line, the difference is who runs the pool, which sets both the price and the rules: $10 a visit at the Mount Pleasant town pools and at St. Andrew's, $15 as a guest at the Summerville Family YMCA, and $25 at the MUSC Wellness Center, where day passes are for adults only.
Our picks
- Laps before work without leaving the city: North Charleston Aquatic Center. Doors open at 6 a.m. on weekdays, with ten 50-meter lanes and no membership needed for the $5 swim.
- A sauna and steam room after your swim: MUSC Wellness Center. The $25 day pass adds saunas, steam rooms, a rooftop track and pool exercise classes, for adults 18 and over.
At a glance
| Option | Adult Day Pass | Address | City | Pool Length | Run By |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $5source | 8610 Patriot Blvd, North Charleston, SCsource | North Charlestonsource | 50 metersource | City or town recreationsource | |
| $5source | 1455 Monitor Street, North Charleston, SCsource | North Charlestonsource | 25 yardsource | City or town recreationsource | |
| $10source | 1642 Sam Rittenberg Blvd, Charleston, SCsource | Charlestonsource | 25 metersource | Public recreation districtsource | |
| $25source | 45 Courtenay Drive, Charleston, SCsource | Charlestonsource | 25 metersource | Hospital or universitysource | |
| $10source | 391 Egypt Rd, Mount Pleasant, SCsource | Mount Pleasantsource | 25 yardsource | City or town recreationsource | |
| $10source | 1251 Park West Blvd, Mount Pleasant, SCsource | Mount Pleasantsource | City or town recreationsource | ||
| $15source | 208 W Doty Ave, Summerville, SCsource | Summervillesource | YMCAsource |
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Aquatic Center or Sports Complex
The Aquatic Center has the bigger pool: a 50-meter main pool plus a separate 25-yard therapeutic pool kept warmer for water aerobics and rehab. Its catch is that it hosts swim meets and team practice, so posted open-swim hours move around events and the monthly calendar is worth a look before you go.
The Sports Complex charges the same $5 for a 25-yard pool with open swim, lap swim and water aerobics. It opens at 8:30 a.m. and closes all day Sunday, so it fits a midday or evening swim better than an early one. It stands on the old Danny Jones Recreation Complex site, which it replaced.
Swimming in Mount Pleasant as a visitor
The Town of Mount Pleasant runs two indoor pools, the R.L. Jones Center Pool on Egypt Rd and Park West Pool on Park West Blvd, on one fee schedule. A North Charleston swimmer pays the non-resident rate of $10, double what residents pay. Ten-visit swim passes and yearly memberships bring the per-swim cost down, and one town aquatics membership covers both pools. R.L. Jones opens at 7 a.m. on weekdays and closes Sundays, Park West's hours shift with the season, and swimmers note that both get busy at peak lap-swim times.
Pools to call before you drive
St. Andrew's Family Fitness Plus in Charleston has the earliest posted lap swim on this list, 5 a.m. on weekdays, in a heated 25-meter saltwater pool for $10. But the district's home page says the pool is closed for maintenance with no reopening date, while its aquatics page still lists hours, so phone first.
The Summerville Family YMCA on West Doty Avenue is the only indoor pool in the Summerville area that non-members can use, about 20 minutes from most of North Charleston. It charges a guest fee rather than selling an open day pass, and it does not publish the current rate or how many guest visits it allows.
The options in detail
North Charleston Aquatic Center
The biggest indoor pool in the area and the only 50-meter one, with ten lanes plus a separate 25-yard therapeutic pool kept warmer for water aerobics and rehab work. It opens at 6 a.m. on weekdays, which makes it the practical choice for lap swimming before work. It also hosts swim meets and swim team practice, so posted open-swim hours shift around events and the monthly calendar is worth checking. Anyone can pay at the door: there is no membership requirement and no residency test.
North Charleston Sports Complex
The city's second indoor pool: a 25-yard competition pool inside the complex that replaced the old Danny Jones Recreation Complex on the same Monitor Street site and opened in 2024. Admission is priced identically to the Aquatic Center, but the hours are shorter, opening at 8:30 a.m. and closing entirely on Sundays, so it suits midday and evening swims better than early-morning laps. The pool runs open swim, lap swim and water aerobics alongside swim team practice. The rest of the building holds a gymnasium, tennis courts and a roller rink.
St. Andrew's Family Fitness Plus
A West Ashley fitness center run by St. Andrew's Parks & Playground, a public recreation district, built around an indoor heated saltwater pool with eight deep lanes for lap swimming and a shallow instructional area for lessons and water walking. Its posted 5 a.m. weekday lap-swim start is the earliest on this list, and a day pass costs less than half what the downtown health club charges. One caveat worth calling about first: the district's own home page currently states that the Family Fitness Center pool is closed for maintenance, with no reopening date announced.
MUSC Wellness Center
The Medical University's health club on the peninsula, open to the general public rather than only to patients or staff, with a recently renovated 25-meter indoor pool. It is by far the most expensive drop-in on this list at $25 a day, but it is also the most complete facility, adding saunas, steam rooms, a rooftop track and pool-based group exercise classes. Guest passes apply only to adults 18 and over, so it is not an option for a family swim. If you buy a day pass and join within a week, the fee comes off the enrollment cost.
R.L. Jones Center Pool
A 25-yard indoor heated pool run by the Town of Mount Pleasant, and one of only two indoor public pools east of the Cooper. Mount Pleasant charges non-residents double the resident rate, so a North Charleston swimmer pays $10 a visit at the door; ten-visit swim passes and yearly memberships bring the per-swim cost down and need no membership to buy. The pool opens at 7 a.m. on weekdays and closes Sundays. Swimmers locally note that this pool and Park West both get busy at peak lap-swim times.
Park West Pool
Mount Pleasant's second indoor pool, at the north end of town inside the Park West Recreation Complex and reopened after a recent renovation. It runs on the same town fee schedule as the R.L. Jones Center, and a town aquatics membership covers swimming at both, so the choice between them is really about which is closer. Building hours shift with the season, so it is worth calling ahead. The town does not publish the pool's length or lane count anywhere I could find.
Summerville Family YMCA
The downtown Summerville Y on West Doty Avenue holds the only indoor pool in the Summerville area that non-members can swim in; the Y's Oakbrook branch pool is outdoor and seasonal. It is roughly a 20-minute drive from most of North Charleston, and the pool runs lap swim, open swim and lessons. Two things to check before you go: the Y charges a guest fee rather than offering an unrestricted day pass, and it does not publish its current guest rate or its guest-visit limit online, so call ahead to confirm both.
How we researched this
The North Charleston answer comes from the city's own aquatics page, which lists the Aquatic Center and the Sports Complex as its indoor pools and Felix Pinckney, Northwoods and Collins Park as seasonal outdoor ones. From there the list takes in every indoor pool in the surrounding area that a member of the public can walk into, and the City column shows which two are in North Charleston itself. The Martin Luther King Jr. Pool in Charleston was left off because, although a 2018 news report described plans to enclose it, no current page says it is indoor. Also excluded: the W.L. Stephens Aquatic Center (closed for renovations), the Michael Brown Community Wellness Center (the city lists no pool there), the New Wave Aquatic Center at the Naval Weapons Station (Defense Department ID required), Charleston Southern University's pool (students, faculty and staff only), and the Cane Bay YMCA and Bees Landing, where we could not confirm the pool is indoor. Goose Creek and Hanahan have no indoor public pool.
Mount Pleasant prices are the non-resident rate; the North Charleston, MUSC and St. Andrew's prices have no residency test. Park West and the Summerville YMCA do not publish pool lengths, so those cells are empty. The Y posts no rates or pool details of its own, so its $15 guest price and indoor status come from a Charleston-area public pools guide, making it the least certain row here. Pool hours in the area shift with meets, seasons and maintenance, so check the operator's schedule for the day you plan to swim.