Update: after yet another encounter with a super rude employee who works at their register counter,…read moreI cannot recommend this pool anymore. Just go anywhere else if you can.
The super rude employee told me their website was very clear on opening times and what pools are available when, but it is still a very bloated and confusing website that primarily focuses on their webshop and signing people up for their newsletter. Actual helpful information is very difficult to find. This resulted in me being refused entry with my 3 year old who was very much looking forward to swimming, even though the pool was open and there were adults and kids inside, but I wasn't part of a class so I couldn't go in at all, not to the hot tub, not even to the small pool downstairs that was empty. She then scoffed at me about how she has to repeat herself so many times to stupid people like me, when I was clearly panicking and figuring out what I was going to tell my child so she didn't start to cry. I had to scramble to find someplace else to swim. I wish I had saved myself the hassle and just gone somewhere else in the first place. The slight convenience of the location isn't worth it.
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This is the closest pool to my house so it's not the best out there, but it is decent. I go here with my toddler for infant and toddler swimming 'lessons'. They aren't lessons as much as they are a teacher leading all the kids and their parents to sing in a circle and do hand or leg kicking motions together.
The lessons take place in a warm shallow pool on the ground floor, so it's nice that we don't have to battle freezing water. There is also a bigger full size pool upstairs as well with lockers and changing rooms closer to the pool. The downstairs pool has dedicated locker rooms for men and women to change your clothes and store your stuff. You need a euro or 50 cents for the lockers, I forget which.
In the smaller pool, or instructiebad, they have floating plastic toys available, so the kids can play with stuff and you don't have to bring your own. The only bad experiences I've had are with a certain instructor. Some have been nice but one has been very mean and unprofessional. The first time I was there I was the last adult in the pool with my toddler, and when the instructor was done teaching the senior aerobics class that takes place after the children's classes, she asked me to pick up all the pool toys and put them in the milk crate at the side of the pool. At first I was confused and just said yes, and then after I started picking the toys up I realized that this was a lifeguard who just asked me to leave my child's side in the water to pick up toys, so I could do her job for her! Not leaving your child's side is the #1 rule of child water safety, so that made me all full of WTF. On subsequent occasions she has told me that I should take my toddler to the classes for 2.5 year olds in the big pool upstairs, even though my child is not 2.5 years old yet. So I don't know what her beef is, but she's annoying. Every time I go there I hope I don't have to deal with her.
More tips:
- If you take your child here I recommend getting them some water shoes or something to give their feet some grip, because the floors can be slippery by the instructiebad.
- You can spend all morning in the instructiebad, so if you come for a half hour lesson you can easily stay for 2.5 hours. It helps you feel like you're getting your money's worth.
- Also you can get a free 'proefles' or try-out lesson if you check out their website and fill out a form. Otherwise it costs 6 euros per visit.
- They also have a loyalty card where you get one stamp per visit, and after 10 visits you get some kiddie floaties or something equally cheap and silly.
- They have a snack bar which I haven't tried, but they advertise low-fat fries and other healthy things.
- If you want to take your child to the upstairs/main pool, they require that they wear arm floaties, even though that is not recommended by modern pool safety standards.
