Summer in Zurich begins: the eight most beautiful pools

Many may think that early summer is a bit reserved this year. But now the weather forecast looks good. On Saturday, when all Zurich’s summer pools open, it should be 24 degrees warm.

For the tough swimmers, it might be cold coffee. You may have already bathed in the Oberen Letten in the Limmat or somewhere on the lake shore in winter. Or they have been hopping from the “Utoquai” into Lake Zurich since mid-April, swimming in the Seebach outdoor pool or, since May 1, in the “Letzigraben”.

The question remains as to where to go. We have selected eight outdoor pools that represent Zurich’s pool diversity.

You can swim in many places on the lake promenade – you have to be able to afford to do so in a stylish ambience. Let the bargain hunters change their clothes on the Zürichhorn, with a terry towel around their waist, and return to the office without a shower!

Bad Utoquai was once a Moorish-style bathing palace with copper plate towers that were demolished to make way for sun terraces. It was built in 1890, making it one of Zurich’s oldest outdoor pools. Outside of a mixed area, people sunbathe and swim separately according to sex – although the once strict request not to mix in the lake was probably never really followed. The spa has a die-hard clientele, part of the area is occupied by a privately run wellness club. At least there, the initiates would have kept to themselves one way or the other.

The Allenmoos outdoor pool resembles a park. A Japanese pagoda and a Chinese sequoia, Persian ironwood, a tree of heaven, a bluebell tree thrive here. The hanging beech serves as a hiding place for children. And it is said that by the time the gate closed, the staff had to fetch lovers out from under the canopy of leaves.

The family pool was opened on the occasion of Landi 1939. The “Möösli” is Zurich’s first and oldest pool and, at 45,000 square meters, the largest facility of its kind. At that time, adults and children paid 30 and 15 centimes respectively for admission. Today you can only buy sweets at the kiosk, which is conveniently located between the children’s pools with a 72-metre slide.

Because the renovation was decades ago, the outdoor pool in Oerlikon radiates a pleasant patina. The self-service restaurant serves Wienerli with fries instead of vegan dishes. Nostalgics dine on the terrace overlooking the turfed hills, where the city foxes bid each other good night.

If there were a celebrity among the summer pools, it would have to be the Max-Frisch-Badi. A photograph has become iconic for the listed building. Shortly before the opening in 1949, it shows the architect and writer with Bertolt Brecht on the diving tower. Max Frisch was later to write in his diary: “Of all the people I have guided through the buildings to date, Brecht is by far the most grateful, inquisitive, and adept at asking questions.”

The Letzibadi, located in Albisrieden, is the brilliant counterpart to the “Allenmoos”. It was also built in the Landi style, and like the “Möösli”, Gustav Ammann designed the garden. But the author of the Letzibad is the world-renowned writer, who also worked as an architect. Frisch’s thoughts, which have become space, should be able to be experienced by all Badi guests for a long time to come. During the renovation in 2007, every detail was restored true to the original, down to the color of the garden chairs. The centerpiece is the pavilion with the filigree railing. Who would have guessed that the gallows were located here and that the last execution took place in 1810?

In Zurich in the 18th and early 19th centuries, women had no opportunity to bathe in the river or swim in the lake. Paradoxically, the women’s pool on the Stadthausquai is a reminder of this, which is also a symbol of this liberation. Because here, in the pretty bath with an oriental touch, women are still not allowed to crawl out into the river, no, that’s forbidden. They tend to have to swim short lengths in the pool that is embedded in the Limmat.

In 1887, however, when Arnold Geiser built the bath, the construction meant progress. Now the city dwellers had a spacious river pool near the Bauschänzli, where Zurich’s first “bathhouse for women” was built in 1837. The “Laubsägelibad”, where the women are still among themselves to this day, offers a refuge in the middle of the city. Men are allowed to stop by, but only in the evening when the Barfussbar opens its doors.

Swimming in a river that flows right through the city center? This is a matter of course in Zurich, but not at all in other cities around the world. Many a tourist might be surprised when he sees the heads in the water, which, together with their bodies, are floating in the canal above and below the Letten power plant. It is just as remarkable that leisure time has found its way into a hotspot of the open drug scene in the 1990s.

The space available in the upper Letten also takes some getting used to for some locals. On the swimming pool grate on the right bank of the river you lie as cramped as sausages on the grill. More than a hundred years ago, the limited space provided the impetus for the construction of the lower Letten: a family-friendly alternative with lawns and pools.

The writer admits to having neglected this outdoor pool for years. He didn’t know any better. After all, Zurich already has a seaside resort, the one on Mythenquai, the most popular and most visited in the city, with its own sandy beach on top of that. But the grass on the other side of the lake is a little greener, the water a little clearer – which has to do with the fact that there is no sand, which is more of a pandering to Mediterranean regions.

The pool is a microcosm: sun-seekers have their place on the terrace, the ping-pong tables seem to be occupied by the same people, the water slide that ends in the lake is firmly in the hands of children, and the soccer field belongs to the teenagers.

The deep well is well maintained. Everything seems well thought out, from the mosaic-lined fountains to the stair-like shore lined with boulders and concrete. And then there is the evening sun, which shines for you when the shadows have long since spread elsewhere.

Sometimes it doesn’t take much to become an attraction. In the case of the Heuried outdoor pool, the longest outdoor pool slide in the canton of Zurich at 132 meters is an unbeatable argument for a visit. With good reason, the slide was not touched during the renovation that was completed three years ago. The Heuried is a family pool through and through, and not just because of the slide.

There is a separate adventure area for small children, where drinking water in all imaginable forms emerges from the nozzles in the soft plastic, while the youngsters throw themselves screaming from the diving board. The Heuried belongs to a generation of swimming pools from the 1960s, which were intended to cater for various activities at the same time – in winter an ice rink is laid next to the sunbathing area, and while queuing for the slide you can sometimes watch the juniors play football.

It’s not easy to find this Zurich summer pool from the terminus of the 13 tram. After all, it is beyond the city limits in Oberengstringen. The name says it all: Between the woods. Anyone who finds their way here will be rewarded with a rural idyll surrounded by forest and vineyards. Several pools and paddling pools as well as large meadows offer something for every generation. The bistro, where the hosts cook Indian dishes, forms a charming contrast.

The “Hölzli”, which opened in 1966, is located in Oberengstringer municipal area, but is one of Zurich’s public swimming pools. The municipality ceded the 22,000 square meter site interest-free with building rights. The architectural highlight here is that even the cloakrooms and toilets have been lowered. No building should disturb the wandering view.