You will hear the expression — “hace calor!” nearly everyday in summer. Your local shopkeeper will tell you this, a stranger standing at the lights with you will comment the same way and invariably your portero will utter this expression at least once a day. Your correct response should be — “mucho!” spoken with much enthusiasm and gusto!
Yes, it is HOT in Madrid at the moment and it’s this time of year where I miss the lovely sea breeze and beaches of Sydney!
If you are like me and live in the city, you most likely won’t have easy access to a pool. Some of you lucky people, I know, have a pool attached to your apartment complex but as I’m in an older, very central building, I don’t have this summer luxury. So I thought this week that I’d do a little investigation and list some of the local pools and water parks where we can go to cool off and take some much-needed respite from the Madrid heat. You can find information about all of these locations on the Internet but for ease of reference I’d thought I’d list some them here.
PUBLIC POOLS
Centro Deportivo Municpal Casa de Campo
(Located in Casa de Campo/Moncloa-Aravaca)
Centro Deportivo Muncipal Francos Rodríguez
(Located in Ciudad Universitaria / Moncloa-Aravaca)
Centro Deportivo Municipal Peñuelas
(Located in Acacias/Arganzuela)
Remember that these pools do get busy and don’t open until 1100.
NATURAL POOLS
The natural pools, I’ve discovered are pools that use natural water from nearby springs or rivers. These are located outside the city in the mountains and are large, have extensive grassy areas and shade and would make an interesting day trip out of the city.
There are quite a few of these located all over Spain but I’m listing the three closest to Madrid.
Piscinas naturalas de Cercedilla
This is probably the closest to Madrid but apparently there is quite a walk from the train station.
(Located in Cercedilla)
Piscinas naturalas Buitrago del Lozoya
(Located in Buitrago del Lozoya)
Piscinas naturalas Rascafría (Las Presillas)
(Located in Rascafría)
WATERPARKS
Aquópolis San Fernando de Henares
This is the closest waterpark to Madrid.
Aquópolis de Villanueva de la Cañada
The above pools and parks are just to give you some ideas. Why not take a day trip this weekend and hit some of the lovely natural pools that the region has to offer!