92NY May Center Pool: Swimming on the Upper East Side

The pool at 92NY is a heated, ozone-cleaned 25-yard pool in the May Center for Health, Fitness & Sport, 1395 Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street. On Monday and Wednesday nights adult lap swim runs until 10 PM. First-timers can test it with a free 3-Day Pass, and a private 30-minute lesson costs $99. If you want a swimming club near me with a 50-year-old competitive team in the same building, start here.

The Young Men's Hebrew Association behind 92NY was founded in 1874. Banker Jacob Schiff paid for its first home at 92nd and Lexington, designed by Arnold W. Brunner and opened in 1900, and the current building was finished in 1930. The organization shortened its name to 92NY in 2022, ahead of a $200 million renovation campaign. Today the same building hosts concerts, lectures and a full gym, with the pool below.

The swim program's best-known product is the 92NY Flying Dolphins, a competitive youth team founded in 1973 whose swimmers have represented Team USA at the World Maccabiah Games. Iliana Bitis, the interim aquatics director, also serves as head age-group coach. Charles Halapin runs the swim school and certification courses, so lifeguard training happens in this same water.

Take the 4, 5 or 6 to 86th Street and walk about five blocks north on Lexington. The M101, M102 and M103 buses run south on Lexington and north on Third Avenue, and the M86 and M96 crosstown buses link the West Side. The main entrance at 92nd and Lexington has a ramp. Drivers can use the garage at 230 East 92nd Street, between Second and Third Avenues, for 15 percent off with validation from the 92NY lobby.

Adult hours in the May Center are 6 AM to 10 PM Monday to Thursday, 6 AM to 8 PM on Friday and 8 AM to 8 PM on weekends. Teens have their own, shorter hours starting at 2 PM on weekdays. The building closes for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and runs 8 AM to 3 PM on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day, with an early 4 PM close on December 24 and 31.

The October 2026 pool schedule shows four lap lanes from 6 to 8 AM Monday to Thursday and until 7:45 AM on Friday. On Monday and Wednesday the late block runs 8:30 to 10 PM. The windows to avoid are 10:30 to 11:45 AM on weekdays, when aqua fitness classes hold the water, and 3 PM to 7:30 PM, when children's classes and teen lap swim take over. On Fridays there is no adult lap swim from 3 PM until the 8 PM close.

Weekends are the weakest time for adults. Saturday has no adult lap swim from 9 AM to noon or from 1 to 5:30 PM, and Sunday is closed to laps from 9 AM to noon and 1 to 4 PM. If your schedule allows, take the Monday or Wednesday late block, which has the full four lanes until 10 PM. Lap lanes do not need a booking, but aqua classes do.

The etiquette sheet updated September 30, 2026 is short and firm. Shower before entering the pool or the Endless Pools, wear a cap, and let the lifeguard decide your lane. Everyone circle-swims during lap swim. Tapping someone's feet is not allowed, so if you want to pass, wait and do it at the wall. When the whistle blows, stop and listen. Foul language is also on the banned list.

Lanes are shared with classes more than at a dedicated club pool. The schedule often splits the water into two lanes for a children's class or three lanes for stationary work, so arriving at a split time can leave you sharing one of only two or three lanes. Look at which blocks say four lanes before you pack your bag. The Endless Pools on site give stroke-work students a second place to swim.

Adults who would rather train with a group than swim laps alone have three aqua classes this fall. Aqua Pump meets Monday at 8 AM and Friday at 7:45 AM, Interval Aqua runs Wednesday at 8 AM, and Aquacise fills the pool Tuesday to Thursday at 11:45 AM. All of them have to be reserved in the 92NY app, and missing an Aquacise class without cancelling an hour ahead costs a $15 no-show fee.

Lessons are for adults too. A private 30-minute lesson is $99, five cost $485 and ten cost $940. Semi-private lessons are $85 per person for one session, $410 for five or $800 for ten. Small groups top out at four students per instructor, and adults are grouped with swimmers of similar ability.

Sunday Family Swim from 3 to 4 PM is the easiest way in for non-members. It is free for May Center members, and non-members can buy a $35 day pass at the front desk, with children 12 and under swimming free. The aquatics page links that pass to Family Swim, so a parent planning a solo lap session should ask at the desk before paying. The free 3-Day Pass for newcomers is the better trial for adults.

Ask how dues compare with the Y's lesson packages, because a family with a swimmer on the Flying Dolphins will spend a lot of time in this building. Swim-school classes follow a term calendar. The spring 2026 term, for example, ran January 25 to June 13 with a break for Passover.

Central Park's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir runs from 86th to 96th Streets, three avenues west of the May Center. The 1.58-mile Shuman Running Track circles it, and an easy loop is a good cool-down after an early swim. Come out of the pool at 8 AM, walk west on 92nd Street to Fifth Avenue, and enter the park at the 90th Street gate to reach the track.

Bring a cap and towel, since no towel or locker details are published for guests. Skip the Saturday and Sunday midday visits if you only want laps, and favor the early or late weekday blocks. If every lane is split by classes when you arrive, the reservoir track is a five-minute walk away, so keep running shoes in your bag.