Leisure time Many Swiss outdoor pools open for the new season this weekend
Just in time for the expected sunny weekend, outdoor pools are opening in many Swiss cities. In some places, the new season begins with stricter rules, ranging from bans to clothing regulations.
07.05.2026, 09:02
SDA
The weather outlook is favorable for the start of the new swimming season: MeteoSwiss is forecasting plenty of sunshine and temperatures of around 23 degrees throughout Switzerland for the weekend.
Only the temperatures of the open waters could still throw a spanner in the works for bathing enthusiasts: as of mid-week, the Rhine near Basel (15.2 degrees), the Aare near Bern (12.2 degrees), Lake Zurich near Tiefenbrunnen (16 degrees), Lake Constance near Romanshorn (15 degrees) and Lake Lucerne near Hergiswil (14 degrees) are not exactly inviting you to splash around, according to the wiewarm.ch website.
Season starts in many places
In St. Gallen, all municipal outdoor pools open their gates on Saturday. In Bern, the Lorraine, Wyler and Weyermannshaus outdoor pools start the season on the same date. Bern's Aarebad Marzili will only open gradually from May 23 due to renovation work. Initially, it will only be possible to swim in the Aare, with the new pools expected to follow in mid-June. The Ka-We-De will remain closed for renovation until fall 2026.
In Zurich, Seebad Utoquai, Freibar in Seebach and Freibad Letzigraben already opened in mid-April and early May. However, the season also starts at the weekend at most facilities. Exceptions are the Schanzengraben men's pool and the Dolder outdoor pool, which is expected to reopen at the beginning of June following repair work.
In Lucerne, the Lido and Tribschen lidos will open their doors on Saturday, while the Horw lido will wait until Ascension Day. In Basel, the season starts on Saturday for the St. Jakob and Bachgraben garden pools, and a week later for the Eglisee garden pool.
The cities of Chur and Geneva also start the outdoor pool season on Saturday, while the Bellerive pool in Lausanne traditionally does not open until May 14. In many other cantons, the starting shot was fired on May 1st. This was the case for most facilities in the cantons of Aargau, Schaffhausen, Thurgau and Valais.
New rules in Basel, Pruntrut and Geneva
Parallel to the opening of the season, some locations have tightened their regulations. In Basel, staff can now issue and hand out bans directly on site in the event of rule violations, as the Department of Education (ED) announced in mid-April. Previously, this was done by post.
Depending on the severity of the offense, a reprimand of 72 hours or a ban of up to one year can be issued after a warning. The ED also announced more security staff on peak days and extended de-escalation training for staff.
In Pruntrut JU, the municipal parliament gave the municipal government the authority to impose new access restrictions for the outdoor pool. This came after a controversy last summer when guests from France were refused entry due to repeated inappropriate behavior. The pool is due to open on May 23.
For its part, the canton of Geneva created a new legal basis for swimwear in public pools in March. This stipulates that only swimsuits or swimming trunks that reach no higher than above the knees and leave the arms uncovered are permitted in the pools. This regulation effectively rules out the wearing of burkinis.
