Avalon Rockpool sits under the southern headland of Avalon Beach, a short walk from one of the best village cafe strips on the peninsula. It's free, popular with early lap swimmers, and a safe spot for kids when Avalon's surf is running hard.
Key facts
- Type
- Rock pool
- Good to know
- Toilets, Change rooms, Parking, Cafe nearby
- Facilities and access
- Change rooms, toilets, pay-and-display parking (car park off Barrenjoey Road), playground, skate bowl, cafes in Avalon
- Managed by
- Northern Beaches Council
- Cost
- Free
- Lifeguards
- Not at the pool
- Parking
- Pay-and-display off Barrenjoey Road
- Best time to go
- Early morning; check the cleaning roster
- Water quality
- GoodAvalon Beach, 0.2 km away. Sampled 26 Oct. Data: NSW Beachwatch, CC BY 4.0.
- Cleaning
- Dated roster published through 2026-12-01Council roster entry: Fri 30 Oct 02:30AM to Fri 30 Oct 05:00PM. Times change with weather and tides.
- Town
- Avalon Beach, NSW
What it's like
From the pool you get the whole picture: the curve of the beach, the green headland and the surf rolling in beside you. It's a solid lap pool for locals, with a shallow area where small children can play while the waves do their thing a few metres away. The pool has grown in stages over a century. It began as a small rectangle cut into the rock shelf, was lengthened in 1922, when a ladies' dressing room was added, and has been widened and deepened several times since.
When to go
Lap swimmers own the early mornings, and families drift in mid-morning. The pool is out of use from about three hours before each published cleaning time until up to twelve hours after, depending on the seas. Check the roster before you head out.
Getting there and facilities
There's pay-and-display parking off Barrenjoey Road behind the beach. Change rooms and toilets are close by, along with a playground and a skate bowl, and Avalon village is a few minutes' walk for coffee and lunch. Buses from the city and Manly stop in Avalon.
Good to know
There are no lifeguards at the pool itself. In big swell, waves break over the outer wall.