International Swimming Hall of Fame and Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center Visitor Guide 2026

Not the museum: the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale lists its east museum as closed for construction and its west museum as closed for construction with reopening to be determined at a later date (ISHOF).

What is open on the Hall of Fame peninsula is the pool. The Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center, a city owned and operated pool at 501 Seabreeze Boulevard on the same property as the Hall of Fame (City of Fort Lauderdale history page), runs public lap swim through the construction (City of Fort Lauderdale). ISHOF itself says the aquatic center opened in late 2022 after construction to revitalize it and sends visitors to the aquatic center for hours (ISHOF museum page).

A practical warning before driving to Fort Lauderdale Beach for the exhibits: the ISHOF pages disagree with each other in October 2026. The museum page says the east museum is partially open, while the hours line on the same page reads closed for construction (ISHOF). ISHOF's capital improvements page says the old museum building will be replaced by the new one (ISHOF capital improvements). The ISHOF museum and pro shop line, 954-462-6536, is the place to confirm before a trip (ISHOF).

Fall 2026 lap swim at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center runs every morning and on weekday evenings from August 11 to December 6, 2026, with the earliest start at 6:30 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (City of Fort Lauderdale).

The city schedule for the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center: Sunday 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Monday, Wednesday and Friday 6:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Evening lap swim is 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and 5 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday (City of Fort Lauderdale).

Several fall dates change at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center. From October 12 to 17, lap swim runs 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The pool is affected from October 28 to November 1 by the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, closes for the SFTL Masters Fall Classic from November 13 to 15, closes for Thanksgiving on November 26 and opens 8 a.m. to noon on November 27 (City of Fort Lauderdale). The city warns that Hall of Fame construction may bring periodic, unexpected changes to schedules and areas of the facility.

A day of lap swimming at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center costs $6 for a non resident adult and $5 for a city resident adult, plus tax, with card or phone payment only (City of Fort Lauderdale).

The Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center prices children, students, seniors and military at $5 a day for non residents and $4 for residents. Multi day passes cost $30 and $25 for 7 days and $110 and $75 for 30 days for non residents, and $25 and $15 for 7 days and $80 and $50 for 30 days for residents (City of Fort Lauderdale).

The city takes Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, Apple Pay and Google Pay at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center, adds tax and a 3 percent card service charge, and accepts no cash or checks (City of Fort Lauderdale). Children under 12 must be with an adult 18 or older, and children 5 and under swim free. Dive tower platforms from 5 to 27 meters require safety certification and specialized training, and the city points anyone interested in going higher to the Fort Lauderdale Dive Team. Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center page of the City of Fort Lauderdale website.

Parking at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center is paid separately through the Pay by Phone app, at $4 an hour for non residents and $1.50 an hour for City of Fort Lauderdale residents (City of Fort Lauderdale).

Construction has taken parking space on the Hall of Fame peninsula. A city note of November 25, 2025 said seawall piling would start December 1, 2025, with a large crane taking a handful of spaces; on December 1 the city said the crane needed less space than first planned, but traffic in and out of the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center lot runs one lane, so drivers must yield (City of Fort Lauderdale). ISHOF adds that the crane is moving from the north part of the peninsula parking lot to the west and then south areas, and asks visitors to allow extra time to park (ISHOF peninsula updates).

The city points Fort Lauderdale Beach visitors who cannot find a space to its Discover FTL Beach website for other parking locations (City of Fort Lauderdale). The aquatic center address for navigation is 501 Seabreeze Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316, and its phone numbers are (954) 828-4580 and (954) 828-4588.

Fort Lauderdale built the first Olympic size pool in Florida, the Casino Pool, on the beach in 1928, and that swimming legacy led to the Hall of Fame (City of Fort Lauderdale history page).

The city history page says the Casino Pool stood at what is now D.C. Alexander Park, just south of Las Olas Boulevard, cost $150,000 and filled twice a week with Atlantic seawater (City of Fort Lauderdale). Its star was Katherine Rawls, a Fort Lauderdale High alumna who ruled American swimming and diving in the 1930s; the city ties her era to the start of the College Swim Forum in 1935. In 1937 the Associated Press named her the top female athlete of the year, the city page notes, and the city dates the Casino Pool, home to the nation's top swimmers for decades, from 1928 to 1966.

ISHOF says the city created the Swimming Hall of Fame nonprofit in the early 1960s and gives 1965 as the year it was established, while the city history page dates the International Swimming Hall of Fame to 1964; ISHOF also says that in 1965 a 50 meter pool, a 25 yard diving well and the original museum were completed on the Fort Lauderdale Beach site (ISHOF). The city and ISHOF then built the west museum building, which opened in December 1968. The city says ten world records have been set in the pool, which hosts an average of 50 events a year over about 100 days (City of Fort Lauderdale).

The Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Complex today holds two 50 meter Olympic size pools, a diving pool, a teaching pool and a spa, and the city describes it as open 365 days a year (City of Fort Lauderdale). The city lists its past meets as including the Annual College Swim Forum, U.S. National Swimming Championships, U.S. Masters National Swimming Championships and NCAA National Water Polo Championships. It is one of six aquatic facilities the City of Fort Lauderdale runs, alongside neighborhood pools such as Bass Park, Carter Park and Riverland Park (City of Fort Lauderdale aquatics).

ISHOF calls the rebuild of its Fort Lauderdale campus a $218 million revitalization project, and its media alert set the groundbreaking for Wednesday, October 16, 2024, at 1 Hall of Fame Drive (ISHOF media alert).

The city says construction around the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center resumed in May 2025 and the site is in phase 1 of the International Swimming Hall of Fame project (City of Fort Lauderdale). That follows the pool work the city paid for first: ISHOF says the city committed $46 million in 2020 to renovate the aquatic center and approved replacing the south administration building and locker rooms and building a 27 meter high dive tower (ISHOF). ISHOF also says that by 1985 the Hall of Fame was estimated to bring $20 million a year in economic impact to Fort Lauderdale, which it says encouraged an expansion of the museum.

The finished Hall of Fame building is planned to hold a modern aquatics history display, an aquarium, event spaces with 360 degree views of the Intracoastal, the aquatic center and the Atlantic Ocean, a cafe, a restaurant, a teaching pool, a welcome center and on site parking (ISHOF capital improvements). ISHOF's peninsula page lists the future tenants as ISHOF, the aquatic center, a Fort Lauderdale aquarium, a restaurant, a cafe, office space and a public dock and promenade (ISHOF). No opening date is posted on the ISHOF or city pages as of October 15, 2026.