🏊 SwimMcMenamins North Shore Lagoon
4.3Bothell, WA
Ages 0–18About this program
The North Shore Lagoon is the indoor pool at McMenamins Anderson School, a converted 1931 junior high in downtown Bothell. It is a 112-foot tiki-themed saltwater lagoon kept at 88-90 degrees, warm and shallow enough that McMenamins runs its own Learn to Swim program there alongside hourly public open-swim sessions. Group lessons run in two-week weekday morning sessions over the summer with free swim assessments beforehand to place swimmers, and private lessons are also offered. Hotel guests and Bothell residents with ID swim free during open hours; everyone else pays a small per-session fee.
Families call it a hidden gem: a warm, shallow, tropical-feeling pool with hourly open-swim sessions every day, free loaner life vests, goggles and balls, a big parking lot and staff repeatedly described as kind and hardworking. The ceiling cutouts, live plants and saltwater filtration draw specific praise.
Most reviews cover open swim rather than the lesson program. Common complaints are the rigid on-the-hour entry with wristbands sold only 30 minutes ahead, which can cost latecomers a full hour, and at least one visit spoiled by sand in the pool from a filter backup. The sharpest lesson-specific complaint comes from a parent who prepaid for a four-week course, had two sessions cancelled with no notice and was refused makeups or a refund.