We’ve all been there, we go on holiday with our family and the hotel pool is crap for actually swimming in….. Most holiday hotels have odd shaped pools, with no lines on the bottom to follow, and often curved corners between the pool floor and the wall so you cannot even see to spot your turn. The worst have steps along the entire end so there is literally no way you can turn at all. It gets worse with people doing widths etc so you feel under pressure to be straight in when the pool opens when it’s (hopefully) emptier….Terrible…
So I thought it may be helpful to have thread which lists holiday accommodation (as opposed to specialised training venues) which have pools in which one can actually train in ?
My recommendation is the Plaza Azul in Puerto de la Carmen (Lanzarote). It’s a real pool with an oblong shape, 20m long with lane lines on the bottom for the end two “lanes” and right angle corners between the pool floor and end wall. They appear to let you swim any time you want, including when the life guard has gone home (that’s a BIG positive BTW !). Contrary to some of the reports it was not salt water when we were there.
It is not perfect, unlike many of the online pics of it the management do NOT usually put the two lane ropes in (and it has no back stroke flags ! ) but the pool was usually reasonably empty whilst we were there so it wasn’t a huge problem. It is possible if the pool was fuller (and people were doing widths etc) you could get the management to put the two lanes ropes in ?
Personally, I haven’t encountered that many pools anywhere in Lanzarote where they actually have life guards. You sure is unlucky when it comes to pool safety!!
Does open water count? No lane ropes or lines, but so nice to swim uninterrupted and arguably better training for races. Anywhere in the north east of Mallorca has been great when I’ve been there, relatively calm, clear water, fish to look at, and can swim for miles not far off shore if you go to Alcudia or Pollenca. Tons of hotels to pick from.
I lucked out one year at Playitas, was on Fuerta, had an issue where we was so drove and found a nice hotel that hadn’t been open long, went inside booked a room then found the pool
Stayed here last year, nice hotel, good breakfast, a gym, padel and 25m pool!
oh and 5 minutes from beach with an OW route to take you across 3 beaches! within swimming buoys! hour from Girona, 90 minutes from Barca, lovely area, no chav English
