Swimming in Paris?

Great tips! (although... when I saw a new post here I thought it was the OP who had just returned from his 2-month trip to Paris to tell us his/her swimming experience there.:) I once watched through glass window a swimming pool in the basement of Centre Pompidou, Les Halles on a weekend and was appalled by how crowded it was. Totally impossible for a serious swimmer. Ha! Good point :) Hopefully all of these tips will serve other swimmers who are going to head out to conquer the Parisian swimming pools. The pool you saw must have been the Suzanne Berlioux pool. Believe it or not, it is less crowded than most others - but not a great place to be in the evening/nighttime hours. One of my favorite pools, despite the crowds, was the "Emile Anthoine" pool near the Bir Hakeim metro stop. All glass windows and an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower.

The pool you saw must have been the Suzanne Berlioux pool. Believe it or not, it is less crowded than most others. The one time I swam in this pool, it was indeed less crowded than others I have swum in. Perhaps that's because the depth of the shallow end is perhaps one foot, and therefore it's impossible to do flip turns (much less not drag your fingertips along the bottom as you approach the wall). And this is certainly one of the newer pools in Paris. (Also has the coed showers, but weirdly, gender-separated changing rooms with female attendants in men's as well as women's.) I'm sure the original poster has probably found his preferred pool by now, but if not, my favorite is the Piscine Pontoise, in the latin quarter. It's about a 10 minute walk from the Marais, crossing the Seine and the Isle St. Louis, with wonderful views of Notre Dame. I did it every morning for a week at Christmas at 6:30 in the morning, just as the city was waking up. Magical! As for the swimming, it wasn't too bad for the first hour or so, and then got progressively busier.

Thanks for more information! Do most Paris pools allow drop-ins/guess pass on a daily basis without a membership?

Yes they definitely do! Its of course cheaper to buy an "abonnement" which can be a book of 10 passes, or a monthly subscription, but you can go in on a daily basis and they charge you a set fee.

Yes they definitely do! Its of course cheaper to buy an "abonnement" which can be a book of 10 passes, or a monthly subscription, but you can go in on a daily basis and they charge you a set fee. Merci beaucoup! :)

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who found the Paris swimming scene a challenge! I swam at the Pompidou Center pool a number of times. As a petite female, I found it rather like a rugby match, but I was still swimming. The real treat was the neighborhood pool in the 4me arrondissement. It was a 25m pool with 6 lanes. Each lane had a minimum of 20 bodies in it. Swimming was never an option. It was an education in the culture. When in Paris......hope you enjoyed the other many wonders of The City of Lights!

I have returned from my two months in Paris. This thread was immensely useful, because accurate. I found a pool near my apartment early on: Piscine Pontoise, in the Latin Quarter, just off Boulevard St. Germain. On my first visit I was stunned to find that there were something like 75 people in this pool trying to swim laps. There was one “fast” lane, but it had seventeen people in it, and most of them were slow. It was a constant negotiation to time my departure and pass other swimmers in the middle third of the lane, keeping an eye peeled for somebody trying to pass coming the other direction. On my third swim I had about a dozen in my lane. It seemed like more due a total lack of lane etiquette. On my home planet if you reach the far end of the pool and someone is on your toes, you simply stop for a moment and let them go ahead. Mais non. I nearly killed somebody that day as I came into the wall passing one flailing backstroker and another, directly ahead of her, reached the end of the pool on the extreme right side of the lane, and pushed, blindly, across my prow in the center. We only smacked hands: a miracle. She stopped and looked at me like I had assaulted her person. “Pardon,” I said, as she looked away, pushing off into the waves like a seaborne filing cabinet. I bought a pack of ten passes, but didn’t quite use them all. It got to be too frustrating. So now I’m home and working my way back into training. It was a lovely time–truly, an inexhaustible city–but I can hardly express how happy I am to be back in my home pool!

For future reference, the 50 m. pool I swam at last year, Piscine Blomet in the 15th, has a master's team that meets at 7 a.m., when the pool first opens, several mornings a week. They have their own lane and a coach on deck. The language of instruction is French, but the team has a number of expats who speak English. Not sure if they accept drop-ins, but it wouldn't hurt to inquire. The whole experience seemed pretty much what you'd expect here at home. I was very jealous, swimming in the next lane with all the usual suspects.

ddl, yes he was most definitely French! Red60, I know - people become almost like robots in the pools! I think most frustrating for me was the practice of pushing off the wall as you approach, despite the fact that you're obviously way faster than they are. And the breaststroke kick that made it impossible to pass without getting a sharp kick in the ribs. Definitely made me super appreciative of getting back home to a comparatively nearly empty pool!! But like I said, I enjoyed living in France apart from the swimming situation :)

On my home planet if you reach the far end of the pool Were you on Mars or Venus? :rolleyes: Each lane had a minimum of 20 bodies in it. :eek: Swimspire, re the ferocious swimmer that tried to grab your ankle, was he French (if you could tell by any chance)? Just curious.