Friday, May 30
Financial constraints leave Berlin public pools unheated, attendance plummets
Attendance drops by more than half as Berliners opt to stay dry. Cold water, unheated pools, and a reluctant summer might be to blame.
The start of Berlin’s outdoor pool season has been unusually quiet. By the end of May, just 43,541 people had visited one of the city’s Freibäder which is less than half the number recorded by the same time last year (112,096).
The Berliner Bäder-Betriebe (BBB), which runs the city’s public pools, points to the weather. In May 2024, Berlin had ten days over 25°C. This year, it’s had just two. Temperatures have hovered under 20°C for most of the month – conditions better suited for soup than swimming.
This isn’t the first cool May in recent memory. 2023 was also chilly, but still drew over 65,000 pool-goers. The difference? This year, only four outdoor pools are being heated. The BBB says that due to financial constraints, just four pools (Kreuzberg’s Prinzenbad, Wilmersdorf, and Wedding’s Sommerbad Seestrasse) have been warmed to 22°C using fossil fuels. The rest rely on solar heating, often via black plastic hoses snaking across lawns. On cloudy days, the effect is minimal.
The BBB also introduced new ticket prices this year, but says it’s too early to tell if that has affected turnout. Traditionally, just 6% of all summer visits take place in May, and discounts remain available for families and early bookers.
Tickets are once again being sold primarily online, with real-time capacity updates available on hot days, should one ever arrive.
