Best Pickleball courts in El Cerrito, Contra Costa County for 2025

Summary / Description

6 dedicated pickleball courts in Castro Park. In good condition with benches. No shade. Key required for the restroom. 2 tennis courts resurfaced and converted to 6 pickleball courts in July 2025.

Open Play at Castro Park in El Cerrito Wednesday 4:00 to 6:00. $5 drop in fee, excess goes toward the permanent court fund.

Six new state-of-the-art pickleball courts opened Tuesday on the former tennis courts in Castro Park, to the delight of local pickleball players. What’s more, because the new reservation system for the courts was not up on July 8, play was free all day for everyone.

The reservation system is expected to open by Monday, July 14, on the city of El Cerrito website.

What’s unique is that each court is defined by individual fencing, which prevents other players’ balls from rolling into the next court.

Another unusual feature of the Castro pickleball courts is that they have an eight-foot perimeter around each court, so they give players more room before they would hit the fence.

Opening July 8 without a reservation system simply means that “people need to be considerate and nice to each other” and observe the 30-minute limit for court occupancy during non-open play hours.

Players will wait outside the outer fencing of the courts until there is an open court for them.

Revenue from Reservations

Once the online reservation system opens, it will cost $8 per hour for El Cerrito residents and $10 per hour for non-residents to reserve a court.

All courts will be available for open play, which is free, for 16 hours each week. Open play hours are 9 to noon Saturday and Sunday, 10 to noon Monday and Tuesday; and 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.