I'll be in Paris in July and again in Sept-October. For health reasons as well as recreation, I need to find a pool (summer pefer outdoors if possible) that is clean, not crowded, accessible to tourists, but not touristy. (I want it all!) Any suggestions? Sharon

I did the same research a few weeks ago, looking for pools for lap swimming.

check out: www.swimmersguide.com

Also the 2007 edition of 'TimeOut Paris' guide book, pg. 338, has quite a few listings.

Our hotel was able to recommend one too.

Public pools in European cities are not generally "touristy" at all; they are used by locals who swim for recreation, exercise, or competiton. Once you find a pool, check on the hours for adult lap swim, and go! Also check on their rules. . . we found one in Venice that required caps, even for men (they graciously provided one for my husband). And they may require shower sandals for walking from the locker room to the pool.

They have that Paris "plage" event in summer, but it depends when you will be there. I think it usually from just after Bastille Day for about a month. There was a floating pool on the Seine, but I think it burnt down or sank some years ago. Anyway, they did finish a new one last year (the Josephine Baker Pool) that is now the only floating one in Paris. They had some problems with it, but they have probably fixed them, and it should be open this summer. It's on the Seine in the 13th Arr. near the new S de Beauvoir bridge and the new library. I'm not actually sure if that is open-air or not, it may have a cover from the photos I've seen.

I wouldn't count on any open-air outdoors pool being open in the Fall. They aren't even open then where I live in the US, and it's a lot hotter than Paris. They list all the pools on the Paris TOurist Information website, go into the excursions, sports section or something like that

www.parisinfo.com

We went by the new pool near the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand. Looked very appealing. Busy but not mobbed. Very, very fit (and tanned) young folks in the skimpiest of bathing suits! There was more sun bathing than swimming.

You might try the new Piscine Josephine Baker , a pool that floats on the Seine!

http://www.frenchduck.com/2006/07/pa...n_the_sei.html

There is an underground shopping mall in downtown Paris that has a swimming pool. Unfortunately, I don't remember anything else. Help.

Montparnasse might be the place you're thinking of, although I seem to recall one or two other shopping centers with pools, too.

Just about all pools (including the one above) are enclosed in Paris because of the way the weather used to be.

Judith

I don't know if you will be going swimming with a male companion or not. If you are, and if he wears an American-style long baggy swim suit, you may want to know that my son went to a French pool attired as above and was not allowed in. Some (all?) pools in France require Speedo suits for men. No way you would catch my son on one of those!

Yes, ditto on the Speedo regs for men.

The Piscine Auteuil is a very nice pool out by the Hippodrome in the 16th arrond.
A good reference for pools in Paris is at:
http://www.paris.fr/portail/Sport/Po...t?page_id=5287

You can't even buy brief Speedo's in the United States, can you? I didn't see any in Macy's, Dillards, or Penny's.

I recall seeing a large indoor pool in the les Halles shopping center, below ground.

http://www.intransit-international.c...ing_pools.html

You get Speedos at sporting good stores, like Sports Authority. Also at swimmer's speciality stores like Aardvark.

At the Marche St.Germain there is an indoor pool. Check the hours though, it is often booked for swim clubs.

That reminds me when I went swimming in Berlin, Germany. I showed up at the pool and I said I wanted to go swimming. She (at the desk) said tonight? I said yes. She said "what about tomorrow." I said what about tonight? She held up a picture of a woman with no bathing suit on. I said is it women only tonight. She said, "no, it's nude night. You must swim nude tonight."

I was so happy that I didn't need to walk into a restaurant later that night carrying a wet bathing suit.

Do they do that in Paris?

Last fall I was trying to combine a language immersion program with a good lap pool for my competitive swimmer in the family. I used this URL as my main reference:

http://www.swimmersguide.com/query/D...fm?PoolID=5952

And in case you're wondering, I was unsuccessful. The hours of the language programs, pool lap swimming hours, and what was extremely important for a competitive swimmer, pool temperature, didn't mesh. But you may have better luck.

The underground mall Les Halles pool is one an average tourist can easily see.

This may be fictitious but I read Kate Muir's "Left Bank" about two weeks ago and in the book she mentions the characters swimming in "the wonderfully tiled Piscine Pontoise along Boulevard St Germain. The pool is described as old fashioned and close enough to a seminary to allow the young priests to take a plunge.

The weekly guide Pariscope (40 centimes) has a list of municipal swimming pools (piscines municipales), as well as some private ones (more expensive).

And there is always Aquaboulevard at metro Place Balard -- a giant indoor water park.

Tod: Piscine Pontoise exists. It is private and famous for its nude swimming evenings.