A zillion years ago someone convinced me to go to the Winterbad at Dantebad. An outdoor warm pool complex that is open when it is freezing, like snow on the ground freezing.
As a native of Los Angeles I found the suggestion preposterous, but like so many of my first experiences in Munich, swimming outside in sub-zero temperatures turned out to be awesome.
So here I am a decade and some change later, sitting in my bathing suit at the Westbad in the middle of January, but this time inside (for the most part). A mom pal suggested we go there since they are one of the few indoor pools that has a planschbecken for the kiddos.
Great idea. It’s a bit of a hike out to Pasing (she has a car, which I confess, made it really nice in the cold weather) but worth it. It’s a huge indoor swimming complex, with an outdoor pool that you can swim into from inside.
I witnessed one game young man jump out of the outdoor pool, roll around in the snow and jump back in. Gut for the Kreislauf as the Germans like to say.
The main pool has a giant slide and you can enter the main pool by a kind of side lane with a current which is fun. Apparently there is a great Saunabereich too, but since we each had a toddler in tow, we couldn’t check it out. Next time we’ll bring the dads.
It felt so nice and gemutlich to feel pleasantly drained from spending so much time in the water, then get dry and warm and then step into the brisk snowy outdoors afterwards.
This is definitely one more place to add to your list of places to go with (or without!) kids in Munich when it rains (or is just really damn cold outside).
wahlmuenchnerin.com 