Swimming, Bathing & Outdoor Pools

From wild bathing lakes to 50-meter pools. Popup tells you whether there's a lifeguard, the price, and dog policy.

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Bathing lake / swim area Outdoor pool Indoor pool Tap a marker for details and directions.

Summer classic

This map combines three worlds: official swimming areas in natural waters (supervised or not), classic outdoor pools with lanes and diving boards, and year-round indoor pools. Watch the supervised tag in the popup — wild swimming is legal but the risk is entirely yours. For lakes in peak summer, also check the water temperature and algae warnings from local authorities.

The map collects all important swimming-related OSM tags: public swimming pools, outdoor and indoor pools, lakes with designated swim areas, plus water parks and aquaparks. POI popups show — where mapped — entrance fees, opening hours, supervision status (lifeguard), and whether dogs are allowed. Find the right spot without navigating city websites.

Swimming safety

  • Never swim alone — especially at unguarded spots or in current.
  • Don't jump into unknown water — hidden rocks and shallow spots are the most common cause of accidents.
  • If lightning approaches, get out of the water immediately — lightning strikes open surfaces preferentially.
  • Parents watch out: never leave kids unsupervised near water — drowning happens fast and silently. Floaties don't replace supervision.

Data source: OpenStreetMap

The map queries OpenStreetMap live (Overpass API). These OSM tags are evaluated:

  • leisure=swimming_pool — swimming pool — outdoor or indoor, lifeguard-supervised
  • leisure=swimming_area — designated swim area on a lake or river
  • leisure=water_park — water park / aquapark with slides and play features
  • natural=water + sport=swimming — natural water body explicitly tagged as a bathing lake
  • natural=beach — beach — coastal or lakeside, may include nudist sections

Water quality: use the EU bathing water portal

Especially during peak summer, the quality of bathing lakes can change quickly: heat, cyanobacteria blooms, bird droppings, or heavy rain can lead to short-term closures. In the EU, official bathing waters are regularly tested via the EU Bathing Water Portal (EEA) — typically every two to four weeks.

Especially during heat waves and after heavy rain, a quick check before driving over is worth it. Local health agencies often issue warnings on the municipal website.

When do I need this map?

  • Summer heat in the city: quickly find the nearest bathing lake with lawn and shade.
  • Family day trip: water parks and lido beaches with supervision and kids' play.
  • Lap swimming in winter: when the outdoor season ends, filter for indoor pools with lap lanes.
  • Vacation planning: mark beaches and lakes at your destination, check dog policy and nudist areas.

Frequently asked questions

Which OSM tags are used?
leisure=swimming_pool, leisure=swimming_area, leisure=water_park, and natural=water combined with sport=swimming. Additionally, supervised, access, fee, charge, nudism, dog, and opening_hours are read.
Are all bathing lakes free?
No. Lidos, nudist beaches, and supervised facilities often charge entry (€2-8). The popup shows fee=yes/no and charge if available. Freely accessible natural lakes are usually free in Germany and Scandinavia.
What does supervised=yes mean?
Lifeguard supervision is present, typically during the season and opening hours. supervised=no means no supervision — swim at your own risk. If the tag is missing, either could be true.
Is the data current outside Europe?
OSM data is worldwide, but density varies. Central Europe, Northern Europe, Australia, and Japan are very well-covered. In remote regions or developing countries there can be bigger gaps — the community welcomes additional POIs.

Privacy

This map runs entirely in your browser. Your location is never sent to our servers — it's only used to center the map. Map data comes from OpenStreetMap.

Data source

All points come from OpenStreetMap and are fetched live via the Overpass API. Something missing or wrong? Anyone can fix it directly on OpenStreetMap — the map will reflect the change shortly after.

From bathing lake to indoor pool: what the map really shows

We rely exclusively on OpenStreetMap and combine multiple OSM keys to surface three cleanly separated categories: swimming pools (leisure=swimming_pool, further split by swimming_pool=indoor or indoor=yes), water parks (leisure=water_park), and natural bathing waters (leisure=swimming_area or natural=water with sport=swimming). When you click a point we also read supervised (lifeguarded — a safety indicator), access, fee, charge, nudism, dog and opening_hours. That way the map distinguishes between "large, paid, lifeguarded" and "small, free, unsupervised" — essential information when you travel with kids or plan an early-morning lap swim alone.

From a water-quality angle this map is not the final source: supervised=yes means a lifeguard is on duty, but says nothing about microbial load. For official EU bathing-water data, the EEA database is the source (water.europa.eu/bathing-water), which publishes samples each season. This map helps you find a supervised lake within a short drive — whether it is currently safe to swim is best confirmed via the regional environmental portal.

From an urban-planning angle the map is a good indicator of recreational density: neighbourhoods with no indoor pool within a 4 km radius are socially disadvantaged on hot summers. To dig deeper, the map on calcsi.com can serve as a research base and be combined with the playground map and the drinking-water map to paint a picture of summer infrastructure.

Concrete use cases

The map is built for every moment when you need to know fast — and without an app login — where you can swim today:

  • Heatwave, spontaneous cool-down: 32 C, you want to leave town. Zoom to your region, look for swimming_area or natural=water+sport=swimming — the nearest bathing lakes appear with one-click "Directions".
  • Winter training in an indoor pool: mentally filter to indoor pools, read opening_hours — getting up early only makes sense if 6:30 is genuinely open. Very useful for triathletes and dedicated lap swimmers.
  • Family day at the lake: watch out for supervised=yes and (if relevant) dog=yes. A supervised lake beach with a marked kids' zone is a safer call than a remote forest pond — even if the latter looks more romantic.
  • Naturists / nudism: some OSM entries mark nudism=yes as permissible. Anyone who wants to bathe without swimwear can find suitable spots discreetly and in advance — without trawling shady forums.
  • Holiday planning abroad: Bavaria, the south of France, Italy — the map works wherever OSM mappers have logged bathing spots. Especially on Mediterranean beaches, check whether the beach icon (natural=beach) overlaps with a lifeguard indicator.

Data source, ODbL and contributing

All location data come from OpenStreetMap and are loaded live from the visible map via the Overpass API. The OSM database is published under the Open Database License (ODbL) — free to use, as long as the source is credited. If you know of a new bathing area, a swimming zone on a lake or a new indoor pool that is not yet mapped, contribute: account on openstreetmap.org, iD editor, drop a point, follow the tag schema (e.g. leisure=swimming_area, supervised, fee, opening_hours) — done. Your contribution flows into the global OSM database and is visible far beyond this map.

Limits: where OSM and water quality diverge

OSM data say nothing about current water quality. A spot marked supervised=yes may be temporarily closed for cyanobacterial bloom — that information lives on EU, state or municipal environmental portals. Indoor pools also shut for summer maintenance; that shows up in opening_hours only if a mapper updates it. Coverage outside Central Europe in rural regions is patchy. Safety rule of thumb: in uncertain conditions, choose an officially supervised pool or beach — and never swim alone in unknown waters.

More questions

Are all displayed lakes officially approved for swimming?
No. The map shows spots tagged leisure=swimming_area or sport=swimming. That is a mapper assessment, not an official authorisation. For officially approved EU bathing waters, the EEA database is the right source.
Can I use the map on my phone without internet?
Partly. Map tiles load into the browser cache on first visit, but new areas or POIs cannot be fetched offline. So plan the route ahead of time with mobile data on if possible.
How do I tell open-air pools from indoor pools apart?
From the legend: teal = open-air pool, green = indoor pool, blue = natural water body. It is based on the OSM tags swimming_pool=indoor or indoor=yes; if that tag is missing, we conservatively treat the facility as open-air.

Related maps

  • Camping map — Campsites near your favorite swimming lake.
  • AED map — Defibrillators near water — often installed at lifeguard stations.
  • Kids map — Playgrounds and changing tables near your beach or pool.
  • Drinking water map — Public drinking fountains along the way to the pool — essential in high summer.
  • Climbing map — Climbing crags for outdoor sport — naturally pairs with a swimming-pool stop afterwards.