Monterey Sports Center

Don't miss your workout when vacationing in Monterey!

There are so many things to be thankful for this time of year (like just living on the glorious Monterey Peninsula, for instance).

But whenever we count our blessings, we always include the Monterey Sports Center.

How do we love thee? Let us count the ways:

Sparkling clean, flooded with natural light from pyramid skylights and clerestory windows, the 72,000 square foot facility has a cafe and a pro shop, huge rooms full of exercise machines and weights, enormous workout spaces with polished floors, a gigantic natatorium (two pools, a 112′ water slide and a sun deck), and a humungous three court gymnasium.

(Sorry, we have to use a lot of superlatives when describing this place: it takes up a whole city block.)

Reasonable fees make it accessible to everyone, and there are over 100 classes scheduled each week—from bosu ball to ballet barre. They offer childcare in the “Kids Zone”—and they’ve just added “ZumbaAtomics” for kids 4-7 and 7-12.

You can put the Sports Center up head to head with any private workout facility in the country. Built by the city of Monterey, with help from many generous benefactors, it’s a shining example of the the public sector doing something right.