Whittier Lap Swim: YMCA Fees and Where to Swim This Fall

For 32 years, Susana Guerrero's YMCA of Greater Whittier membership included the pool. Her swim circle of friends in their 50s through 90s met in the water most mornings. As of this summer, that access costs extra on top of the $58 monthly dues.

The swimmers' dispute with the Y is still open, and the Whittier Daily News has covered both sides. This post is about a practical result for anyone in Whittier who swims laps. Once every swim has a price, the Y's pool falls into the same cost range as the public pools a short drive away. Price stops deciding where you swim. Your schedule and the kind of water you need decide it.

What changed at the Y, in order

The timeline moved fast and the prices changed more than once, so here it is in sequence:

1. April 2026. The Y announced it had contracted with Premier Aquatics to run its pools. An April 30 email told members there would be no additional charges for aqua classes or open swim hours.
2. July 1. A Premier Aquatics customer service manager wrote in an email that open swim would be discontinued starting that day.
3. July 8. Members heard about a $5 daily fee for the lap and warm water pools, with an optional $50 annual add-on, or $100 for 20 visits.
4. September 10. Supervisor Janice Hahn, Rep. Linda Sánchez, state Sen. Bob Archuleta, and Assemblymember Lisa Calderon wrote to YMCA of the USA. They noted that the Whittier Y had turned down Hahn's offer of a $25,000 grant for temporary relief.
5. September 14. The YMCA of Greater Whittier replied in writing. It defended the Premier Aquatics contract as a sustainable measure that has expanded aquatic access for more of the Whittier community. The same day, Premier Aquatics founder Dan Berzansky announced new pricing.
6. September 21. Current Y pool pricing took effect: $5 for one visit, $40 for 10, or $60 for 20. The 20-visit pass works out to $3 a swim.

That last number is the one to compare against everything else. With open swim gone and the lap and warm water pools now charged per visit, the Y's lane became one more per-visit purchase in the area.

Priced per swim, the options sit within about a dollar of each other

Here is what one lap swim costs at each nearby pool, using the rates each operator currently posts. Cerritos comes with an access rule, covered below.

The Splash! 16-visit adult pass comes to about $3.56 a swim, and the senior pass to about $2.88. The County's 30-entry pass is about $2.67 a swim. Every option falls between roughly $2.50 and $5. The Y's best rate also requires the $58 membership, though that membership still covers other things, including three one-hour classes at the East Whittier YMCA.

None of these schedules list start or end dates. Call ahead before you plan a season around any of them.

Palm Park is the closest heated lane, if you book ahead

Palm Park Aquatic Center is the city's pool. Recreation swim is closed until 2027, but the city keeps the pool heated off-season for lap swim. The fall lap schedule has three blocks:

• Mornings: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 7 to 8 a.m.
• Midday: Monday through Saturday, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. on weekdays only, then 11:35 a.m. to 12:35 p.m. and 12:40 to 1:40 p.m.
• Evenings: Monday through Thursday, 7 to 8 p.m. and 8:05 to 9:05 p.m.

There are a few things to know before you go. Reservations are required. Swimmers must be 18 or older. If you walk up, you can reserve an open lane on your phone at the pool, but a lane isn't guaranteed without a reservation. Lap swim also closes on Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and the Friday after it, and Christmas Eve and Day. Questions go to (562) 567-9495.

Palm Park also offers water aerobics on a Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday track, at 10:30 to 11:25 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. to 12:25 p.m. Participants bring their own pool noodle and two foam bells. Before the change, the Y's open swim ran from 7 to 9 a.m. daily. That two-hour daily window is the one thing Palm Park's mostly one-hour slots don't replace.

Splash! La Mirada covers the hours Palm Park doesn't

If you want to swim before 7 a.m. or on a weekend morning, Splash! has the longest adult lap hours nearby. Weekdays run from 5:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and again from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Weekends run from 7 a.m. to noon. The center has a 50-meter competition pool, a 25-yard teaching and recreation pool, and a spa.

For water exercise, Splash! runs shallow-water classes for ages 14 and up. They meet Monday and Wednesday at 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday at 8 a.m., and Friday and Saturday at 9 a.m. Deep-water exercise runs Tuesday and Thursday at 7 p.m. Classes cost $5 each, $44 for 10, or $88 for 20. The spa costs $4 on its own and comes with the lap swim and water exercise fees. Recreation swim is free on Saturdays and Sundays from 12:30 to 5 p.m., while the Buccaneer Bay water park is closed for the season.

Cerritos has low prices and a door policy to check first

The Cerritos Olympic Swim and Fitness Center is an enclosed 50-meter pool. Adult lap swim costs $3, or $2.50 for swimmers 60 and older. It runs weekdays from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and weekends from 7 a.m. to noon, and the Tuesday and Thursday session from 7 to 9 p.m. is for Cerritos residents only. A 20-ticket booklet costs $60 for adults and $50 for seniors.

The catch is admission. The city says the center is open to Cerritos residents, their accompanied guests, and adults who work in Cerritos with a business ID. Residents may bring guests only during recreational swim. If you live in Whittier and don't work in Cerritos, call the center before you count on a lane there. The Cerritos page doesn't list a water exercise schedule.

The County pool on Pioneer Boulevard is cheap per entry and hard to schedule

The Greater Whittier Regional Aquatic Center sits on Pioneer Boulevard in the West Whittier-Los Nietos area. Los Angeles County runs it, and it has a 50-meter by 25-yard competition pool and a 25-yard practice pool. The County lists its hours as weekdays 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The County's registration system sells a 30-entry lap swim pass for $80, which works out to about $2.67 a swim. No single-visit price is posted.

The most recent lap schedule we found ran March 17 to June 5, 2026. During that season, lap swim was weekdays 6 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 8 p.m., plus Saturdays 8 to 10 a.m. That schedule has ended, and the pool's old website now shows a notice pointing visitors to the Hilda L. Solis Aquatic Center site. Confirm fall lap times with the County before you buy a 30-entry pass.

What none of these pools replace

Every option above prices a swim within a dollar or two of the Y, and several offer more hours. The gap is the type of pool. The Y's pass covers both its lap pool and its warm water pool. Members who left told the Whittier Daily News they've been swimming at Splash! in La Mirada, the Cerritos Olympic pool, the Fullerton YMCA, and other pools in Whittier. They also said none of those are therapeutic pools. Palm Park's off-season water is heated for lap swim, Splash! has a spa, and neither operator describes its facility as a warm-water therapy pool.

If you swim for fitness, Whittier now has several lanes at roughly the same price, so pick the one whose hours fit your week. If you do prescribed therapy in warm water, the Y's warm water pool is still the only one in this comparison, now at $3 to $5 a visit on top of dues. The lawmakers' letter noted that many members have their Y dues paid by medical insurance, but those plans don't cover the swim fees.

When a local routine like a morning swim changes, it affects how a neighborhood feels day to day. Celeste keeps track of those changes for the Whittier families she works with. If you're thinking about what your Whittier home is worth, Celeste Castillo can walk you through it in English or Spanish. Start with your instant home valuation.