D M.
Yelp
This large outdoor pool is OK for lap swimmers and great for families with kids as it is a truly huge swimming pool -- 137 metres -- and the water is kept "clean" (ha-ha, what can you expect with a large public bathing pool) with salt water instead of nasty smelly chlorine. It is located grassy park along the shoreline so the location is very popular with sunbathers and others who like to read, relax and hang out.
Pool hours were listed as 7:00am - 8:45pm weekdays and 8:00am - 8:45am weekends, but as the pool is summer-only, it's best to check the website at http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/kitsilano-pool-schedule.aspx
This pool's very long distance of 137 metres indicates it is an older pool, built in the days of English measurements as a roughly 150-yard pool.
If you are a lap swimmer you have to let go of enjoying the usual lap-lane courtesies that exist in a pool which has swim lane dividers and a regular circular flow. Random swimmers do some times disrupt the flow of traffic and there are lots of kids of course, but even they tend to see that there are a huge number of "lap swimmers" going in a circle and they thus tend to stay out of the way. But not to worry, the pool is plenty wide so there is lots of room for those who just want to soak, frolic, play, or just float, especially if they are doing it off to one side, to avoid the lap-swim traffic if it gets heavy.
Two nearby pools compete for attention of swimmers, both across the bay from Kitsilano: Second Beach Pool, also outdoor and thus seasonal, and the Vancouver Aquatic Centre, both of a more conventional size for a public pool.
Second Beach Pool is more concrete-y and definitely more devoted to lap swimmers, though there is room for everyone and a completely separate area for non-lap swim activities; the water, for some reason, has a huge "current" so as you swim laps there is a strong chance of being drifted over into the hard plastic swim lanes, and swimming one direction will be falsely easy and in the opposite direction you are swimming against the current. The water seems to be kept quite fresh and clean.
VAC pool -- right by the Burrard St. Bridge -- is made for lap swimmers and also has a gym and hot co-ed jacuzzi. Open 11 months of the year it is very popular but its water "quality" is, let's say, harder to maintain due to heavy daily usage.