Funny, I actually go frequently to one or two of these, since I live in Berlin. I pay 42% taxes and still these government pools are not only a bit pricy (no discount if you want to go regularly) but they have terrible, irregular opening times. They will spontaneously close down for a month, without notice on their site or google maps, only putting a sheet of paper on the door. They will rotate opening times randomly. Even worse, they are not open (only charlottenburg, which is small) for around 6 months in the summer. This is because youre supposed to go to the outdoor pools but I want to go at 6pm after work when they close and even if they are open they are too cold. On hot days they might be fun but then they are notoriously overrun but low education bracket people that get into fist fights so vehemently it was a big topic in berlin this summer. As a response there where then a bunch of police people hanging out at the pool and now you need to show your id before entering.
The article claims Berlin is one of the best places for public swimming and yet whenever I want to go it's literally impossible for me to find one that's open at a time I can go (i work a normal 40 hour week). I haven't been swimming in years because the situation is just useless.
If that makes you feel better, in Paris even the city acknowledges that we need 2.5x the number of lines that we have to support the demand, and there is no way we ever reach that given how the city is built. And yet we often have entire pools closed for associative activities such as diving, training for "high level" clubs, and whatnot.
I'm all for children activities and aquatic gym for the elderly but I really don't see the value of using public pools for guys who "train" 3 hours a day just because they are part of some subsidized group, especially knowing that 99% of those have never done anything at the elite level. If you want to train at a high level just finance it for yourself, I'm locked out of my couple hours per week to get my back healthy (and many others are).
I'm presently pre-registering for a private pool that's going to be 10x more expensive (and I'm still paying the taxes that finances not only the pool but also the training programs of the subsidized orgs that train in my city's public pool).
Just to provide some counterpoint to this: I regularly go with my kids in the winter weekends, and aside from the Wellenbad ("wave pool") in Görlitzer Park, which had a plumbing problem once when I went, I've never run across randomly closed pools. We didn't go much last winter since they'd lowered the temperatures because of the war in Ukraine and rationing of gas, but we went a lot the year before and a couple times already this year. They've never been painfully crowded -- in fact, usually the opposite, usually pretty empty. We've gone in Kreuzberg, Neukölln, Lichtenberg and Schöneberg.
I live very close to stadtbad mitte featured in the article. It's a very nice building with a spectacular glass roof. As the article mentioned, it took a direct hit from a bomb during WW II but it landed in the pool so the building survived.
It has a nice 50 meter pool. Unfortunately it gets very crowded and the water can be a bit dirty when too many people have been in it. But it's great when you manage to find the pool empty (try late at night). The last few times I was there I came out with irritated skin. That's the chlorine reacting with the nasty stuff in the water. So, those two things are kind of keeping me from swimming there regularly. It's a pity because it's just a 3 minute walk from my door and I could definitely use the exercise. I've also used one of the nearby outdoor pools. Much better quality water. But you need to go early before the big crowds show up. And of course they are only open in the summer. The water being cold is a feature. Once you get moving you stop noticing it.
The summer closures are a bit annoying but understandable. And the opening times shifting around through the year and week are also annoying. Makes it hard to plan when to go. They are usually pretty good at putting those on the website though. Basically, they adapt to the schools and holidays, which are heavy users of these pools. Lots of classes of kids learning to swim during the week.
> I pay 42% taxes and still these government pools are not only a bit pricy
You're eligible only for making a shopping at Lidl and Netto after work, and for paying Rundfunkbeitrag. As I had heard multiple times while on full time employment in Berlin and seeing over 40% cut off on my monthly payslip: "beggars can't be choosers".
Small consolidation, but there’s a public outdoor pool across the street from my house. It’s never open when I can use it. In fact, it’s been closed for 3 years now, first because they couldn’t find lifeguards to staff it, then because it needed major overhaul. But, prior to that, it was open weekdays from noon-6pm. By the time I got home from work, walked the dog, and went for a jog, the pool was closed. Shame, it would be perfect for a summer evening dip. Oh well.
With your large earnings you will have no problem paying for membership of a nice spa club of which there are many in Berlin. These places are not overrun with 'low education bracket people' as you put it but sadly however a scourge of a different sort, namely what I would describe as 'clueless ignorant pricks'....
Would that apply to the https://www.tropical-islands.de/ too? I mean all of it, opening times, pricing, people, whatnot. Only catch would be the distance.
Opening hours of these pools are usually terrible. Many of them are closed on Sunday. Most of them are closed in the summer. If you are working 9-5 during the week you will have a hard time finding a pool close by where you can actually go swimming. E.g. in the article they write Berlin has 60 indoor pools. But at the moment only 28 are open: https://www.berlinerbaeder.de/aktuelles/detail/geoeffnete-ha...
And don't go there with family and small kids. Changing rooms are much too small for families. And most of these old indoor pools have no kids area to speak of.
These pools are just good for nice photos on Instagram or some blogs about architecture of the past.
The opening hours are actually quite good. I haven't found any on the list that are closed on Sundays. All of them are actually open from at least 10 am to 5 pm. And during the week there are also some that are open until 10.30am.
Strangely the outdoor swimming pools in Berlin are unique for a completely different reason. The one or two of them I visited were unique in that the patrons were frisked for weapons on the way in!
There was a series of brawls in some of the outdoor pools this summer, which together with the eternal fear of immigrants caused a media frenzy. (Berlin's pools where suddenly national news)
This is probably the reaction to those events.
We used to have lots of these in the UK, but their ownership was largely in the hands of borough councils, and as a consequence most have been torn down and replaced with a Tesco Express.
It's sad when this happens, but I've lived in various random places in England over the last 2 decades and one of the first things I do when moving to a new area is find one of these little swimming baths for my evening swim. I have to say, outside of city centers we don't seem to be doing too bad still. I think at least 3 of the 5 I've frequented were Victorian era or at least 100 or so years old.
E: just did a quick search and apparently of the 116 listed bath buildings, most of which were constructed before 1936, only 52 remain operational or are in the process of being operational. So perhaps you're right. Real shame, these places are often so valuable for the community, especially smaller/poorer ones.
(Shout out to Withington baths[1] which was my favourite place in the world back when I was a student)
Yeah. One thing I have said a few times is that if we still had the same relationship with local government we had in the past a lot of what are now subscription gyms would probably be owned by the taxpayer, for good or bad.
Build a council swimming pool, don't maintain it correctly for 30+ years, conclude it's beyond repairs and tear it down (But in fairness those 60s buildings were crap).
At least where I am they are building a replacement. But they have "awarded" management to a private company for some reason.
Why they don't put the Tesco over them? In Turkey, there's this tradition(?) of renting part of the public infrastructure to businesses. Mosques are especially popular, many mosques have a shopping centre or a supermarket at the ground floor.
Coming from Wroclaw, Poland, those pools look very similar to this one [0] which turns out to be German-built in late 1800s (Wroclaw used to be a German city before WWII).
> Perhaps more than anywhere else, this is where travellers can experience Germany's "textile-free" culture head on.
Understatement of the century. I visited here about 7-8 years ago. The big dome pool pictured has a unique acoustic property of transferring sound from one side of the giant pool to the other. You can expect to hear the heavy breathing of amorous couples from about 20-30m away as if they were next to you. That said, aside from the inappropriateness that seems to be common nowadays in these high-end spas, it was a beautiful venue.
Any kind of inappropriateness or sexual activity is usually both forbidden and frowned upon in textile-free spas - even staring is considered extremely rude. That said, sure those things happen, but by any means are they not representative nor to be expected.
If you go to a sauna, enjoy being allowed to just be for once, without any need to hide something. I promise you it’s transformative to see hundreds of other naked people at once, and realise your body is perfectly normal and okay.
The dome pool is also the one part where you are required to wear a swimsuit. I'm pretty sure the reason is that if you didn't, let's put it like this, that water would become a health hazard pretty quick.
These are nice pools, but I wonder how power efficient these old buildings are...
The Bauhaus one reminded me of the (at the time only) public swimming pool in a small town in Nort-East Poland built in a brutalist style I learned to swim in, in early 90-s. These windows, the lanes, the area surrounding the pool, the walls, were very similar, but the ceiling was concrete, and absolutely no plants of course.
Ozone works pretty well I think. Also enforcing shower with soap, I saw this during covid and was relieved they would do that. Unfortunately they stopped doing it.
No mentions of Tropical Islands? Not in the city limits, but basically Berlin. Technically indoor, at least mostly. Pretty amazing if you ask me. I’ve never seen anything like it.
I only saw one picture with lane ropes. I assume this means these pools are just places for kids to play and not actual exercise (swimming laps) pools?
Most of the pools have the option to put ropes in. However, for some pools they're only installed some days of the week so you can pick a day based on whether you want to play with your kids or swim laps.
Some seem to go. Was in Berlin this week and visited the Schwimmhalle in the Velodrom and it was pretty crowded. Don’t think all swimmers were tourists.
Kinda weird to have lane markers on the bottom when the wall is cut out for the stairs in the Stadtbad Neukölln banner pic. I'm guessing the outside lines are more popular in this pool.
[+] [-] Treegarden|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sharperguy|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bionsystem|2 years ago|reply
I'm all for children activities and aquatic gym for the elderly but I really don't see the value of using public pools for guys who "train" 3 hours a day just because they are part of some subsidized group, especially knowing that 99% of those have never done anything at the elite level. If you want to train at a high level just finance it for yourself, I'm locked out of my couple hours per week to get my back healthy (and many others are).
I'm presently pre-registering for a private pool that's going to be 10x more expensive (and I'm still paying the taxes that finances not only the pool but also the training programs of the subsidized orgs that train in my city's public pool).
[+] [-] wheels|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jillesvangurp|2 years ago|reply
It has a nice 50 meter pool. Unfortunately it gets very crowded and the water can be a bit dirty when too many people have been in it. But it's great when you manage to find the pool empty (try late at night). The last few times I was there I came out with irritated skin. That's the chlorine reacting with the nasty stuff in the water. So, those two things are kind of keeping me from swimming there regularly. It's a pity because it's just a 3 minute walk from my door and I could definitely use the exercise. I've also used one of the nearby outdoor pools. Much better quality water. But you need to go early before the big crowds show up. And of course they are only open in the summer. The water being cold is a feature. Once you get moving you stop noticing it.
The summer closures are a bit annoying but understandable. And the opening times shifting around through the year and week are also annoying. Makes it hard to plan when to go. They are usually pretty good at putting those on the website though. Basically, they adapt to the schools and holidays, which are heavy users of these pools. Lots of classes of kids learning to swim during the week.
[+] [-] expertentipp|2 years ago|reply
You're eligible only for making a shopping at Lidl and Netto after work, and for paying Rundfunkbeitrag. As I had heard multiple times while on full time employment in Berlin and seeing over 40% cut off on my monthly payslip: "beggars can't be choosers".
[+] [-] lm28469|2 years ago|reply
no, your highest bracket is 42%, what's under that threshold is less taxed
[+] [-] herbst|2 years ago|reply
No idea why Berlin should be special in that regard.
[+] [-] alistairSH|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thesaintlives|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LargoLasskhyfv|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yunohn|2 years ago|reply
I don’t understand the need to make this elitist statement? In fact, why is shutting up and complaining on HN your preferred solution?
[+] [-] amai|2 years ago|reply
And don't go there with family and small kids. Changing rooms are much too small for families. And most of these old indoor pools have no kids area to speak of. These pools are just good for nice photos on Instagram or some blogs about architecture of the past.
[+] [-] oritsnile|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Simon_ORourke|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xg15|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] FirmwareBurner|2 years ago|reply
I wonder what changed in German society?
[+] [-] seper8|2 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] b800h|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ceuk|2 years ago|reply
E: just did a quick search and apparently of the 116 listed bath buildings, most of which were constructed before 1936, only 52 remain operational or are in the process of being operational. So perhaps you're right. Real shame, these places are often so valuable for the community, especially smaller/poorer ones.
(Shout out to Withington baths[1] which was my favourite place in the world back when I was a student)
[1] https://maps.app.goo.gl/Lze2wgCF9QtisdmPA
[+] [-] mhh__|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mytailorisrich|2 years ago|reply
At least where I am they are building a replacement. But they have "awarded" management to a private company for some reason.
[+] [-] mrtksn|2 years ago|reply
Like this: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ftmq3tw4oDDKJwWt7
The downside is that it's ugly AF and they obviously don't sell alcohol in these, however it doesn't have to be ugly.
[+] [-] blackhaz|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chefkoch|2 years ago|reply
This one is in the center of munich.
https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCllersches_Volksbad
[+] [-] jakub_g|2 years ago|reply
[0] https://www.yelp.com/biz/wroc%C5%82awskie-centrum-spa-basen-...
[+] [-] deanc|2 years ago|reply
> Perhaps more than anywhere else, this is where travellers can experience Germany's "textile-free" culture head on.
Understatement of the century. I visited here about 7-8 years ago. The big dome pool pictured has a unique acoustic property of transferring sound from one side of the giant pool to the other. You can expect to hear the heavy breathing of amorous couples from about 20-30m away as if they were next to you. That said, aside from the inappropriateness that seems to be common nowadays in these high-end spas, it was a beautiful venue.
[+] [-] 9dev|2 years ago|reply
If you go to a sauna, enjoy being allowed to just be for once, without any need to hide something. I promise you it’s transformative to see hundreds of other naked people at once, and realise your body is perfectly normal and okay.
[+] [-] FFP999|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] croisillon|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] poseid|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kzrdude|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Roark66|2 years ago|reply
The Bauhaus one reminded me of the (at the time only) public swimming pool in a small town in Nort-East Poland built in a brutalist style I learned to swim in, in early 90-s. These windows, the lanes, the area surrounding the pool, the walls, were very similar, but the ceiling was concrete, and absolutely no plants of course.
[+] [-] Beijinger|2 years ago|reply
Because of the windows? Probably they have triple-paned windows.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulated_glazing
[+] [-] simonebrunozzi|2 years ago|reply
I was reading about copper ionization [0], but there's not much online [1] to see if it's really effective or not.
[0]: https://www.intec-america.com/pools/copper-ionization/
[1]: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/epdf/10.1021/acs.est.0c06287
[+] [-] bionsystem|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] oh_sigh|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Horffupolde|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] my12parsecs|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gloosx|2 years ago|reply
He probably visited a Berlin pool like this during his bureau work and dreamt of owning one alike.
his pool: https://image.stern.de/31558812/t/bI/v2/w960/r0/-/pool-putin...
[+] [-] solids|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lispm|2 years ago|reply
https://www.baederland.de/alsterschwimmhalle/das-wirds/
[+] [-] StimDeck|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] irrational|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] clausecker|2 years ago|reply
Other pools have the ropes always installed.
[+] [-] junon|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nafest|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tedunangst|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] user_named|2 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] j_maffe|2 years ago|reply