Swimming Pools in Sofia: Where I Swim in Summer and Winter

Sofia gets properly hot in July and August, and the city cools off in outdoor pools in the parks, in hot mineral water from the ground and on a rooftop or two. These are the swimming pools in Sofia I actually use, from 50-metre lanes in Dianabad to a 37°C mineral pool in Bankya, with the season, opening hours, rough prices and how I get to each.

Swimming pools in Sofia at a glance

All 18 pools in this table opened every day in summer 2026, at the hours below.

When Sofia's outdoor pools open and what they cost

The outdoor pools open in early June and shut again in early September. If a swim is the point of your trip, July and August are the best time to visit Sofia: afternoons average about 28°C, and every outdoor pool is open.

A classic sports pool costs about €8 to €15 to get in, and the price climbs to €25 to €40 or more at a rooftop lounge or a resort mineral pool on a weekend. A sunbed and umbrella usually come with the ticket when there's one free. Kitchen 59 and St Sofia Golf and Spa take sunbed reservations for busy summer weekends.

My favourite outdoor pools in the city

Diana Swimming Complex in Dianabad

Diana is the pool I'd send a strong swimmer to. It's at 1 Nikola Gabrovski Street in Dianabad, south-east of the centre, with 50-metre outdoor pools, diving boards and plenty of space to lie in the sun. In summer 2026 it opened every day from 8am to 7pm, an hour before most of the big outdoor pools.

The pool belongs to a complex with three hotels and tennis courts, and the metro gets you close: lines M1 and M4 stop at G. M. Dimitrov and Joliot-Curie, the two stations serving the district.

Vazrazhdane Park pools

Vazrazhdane is the city pool I'd pick with children. It sits in Vazrazhdane Park, west of the centre, with several outdoor pools and a mini waterpark, and in summer 2026 it opened every day from 9am to 7pm.

You can walk there from the old centre, so I slot it into a hot afternoon between sights.

Pulse Beach West Park

Pulse Beach is the big modern one, run by Pulse Fitness at 2 Nikola Mirchev Street in Lyulin, on the city's western side. It has cabanas, music and the feel of a beach club, and you'll also see it listed as Lyulin Beach. In summer 2026 it opened every day from 9am to 8pm.

I take a book to Pulse Beach and stay all afternoon. Varadero in Levski G has a large pool and a summer beach bar, and Hotel Montecito on Tsarigradsko Shose sets its outdoor pool in a quiet garden.

Pools for swimming lengths in Sofia

Diana's 50-metre pools are my summer choice for lengths, and the rest of the year I use Spartak.

Spartak by South Park

Spartak sits at 4 Arsenalski Boulevard in Lozenets, on the edge of South Park, with an indoor pool and an outdoor one, both set up for lap swimming. In summer 2026 it opened every day from 7am to 9pm, the longest hours on my list, so it fits round a sightseeing day at either end.

After an evening swim I walk into South Park, my favourite of the parks in Sofia at the end of a day, and sit on a bench with Vitosha in view.

For serious training, Akademik in the Geo Milev and Studentski Grad area is a plain sports pool for lengths and structured sessions. It opened from 7.30am to 8.30pm in summer 2026.

Rooftop pools in Sofia with a view

Kitchen 59 Rooftop

Kitchen 59 has the prettiest pool in Sofia. It's on the 9th floor at 59 Tsar Boris III Boulevard in Hipodruma, in a building with a hotel, a restaurant and co-working desks, and Vitosha fills the view. The pool isn't built for lengths, so I go for a late-afternoon drink beside it, and it's my favourite of the rooftop bars in Sofia in summer.

In summer 2026 the rooftop pool opened every day from 10am to 10pm.

Cabana Rooftop Beach Bar, at 133 Tsarigradsko Shose Boulevard, is a rooftop beach club with music and city views, open from 11am to 11pm.

Waterparks and slides near Sofia

With children, the slides are the point. The three waterparks on my list sit just outside the city, so you'll need a car or a taxi.

Paradise is the closest, with slides and plenty of lawn to spread out on. Windmills (Vyatarnite Melnitsi) has themed pools and slides, and Konza spreads out further, with several large pools and slides well away from the city traffic. On a summer trip to Sofia with kids, I'd pick Paradise, because it's only a 10 to 15 minute drive after a museum morning.

Mineral pools near Sofia

Sofia sits on hot springs, and you can swim in them at Pancharevo, Bankya and Ovcha Kupel, all outside the old centre.

Korali and Infinity Center in Pancharevo

Pancharevo sits about 15 km south-east of the centre, beside a lake in the hills. Two geothermal springs rise here at 48°C. The water is low in minerals, and so little sodium that it's considered fine for babies and small children to drink.

Korali is my pick. It's an outdoor mineral pool on Samokovsko Shose with views over the lake, and in summer 2026 it opened every day from 9am to 7pm. Infinity Center, also in Pancharevo, has thermal mineral water, loungers and forest around it, open from 10am to 8pm.

Leave time for the lake. Pancharevo Lake has the Sredets rowing base on its shore, built in 1968, and the world canoe and kayak championship came here in 1977. I walk along the water after a swim before I head back to the city.

The 1911 Public Mineral Bath in Bankya

Bankya is a spa town on Sofia's western edge, with trains from Sofia Central Station. Its Public Mineral Bath, also known as the Big Bath or the Royal Bath, was built between 1907 and 1911, and it's a listed monument that still runs as a bath.

The thermal zone has a round pool 6.30 metres across at 36.5 to 37°C, stone basins of mineral water, showers and warm stone beds. The wellness zone adds two steam rooms, a Finnish sauna, a herbal sauna, 2 hydromassage pools at 32°C and a children's pool at 30°C. Tickets are timed by zone, and the bath's price list gives 90 minutes in the thermal zone for €7.67, 120 minutes in the wellness zone for €12.78, and both for 210 minutes at €17.90.

Bankya is the quickest of my day trips from Sofia, and half a day covers it. Aqua Bankya, at 1 Varbitsa Street, has family pools of thermal mineral water, open from 9am to 7pm in summer 2026.

Resort mineral pools further out

Two resort pools are worth the drive when I want a long, slow day of it. St Sofia Golf and Spa in Ravno Pole, about 20 minutes' drive from the centre, has a quiet mineral pool beside the golf greens, open from 8.30am to 8pm in summer 2026. Belchinski Izvori, also called Belchin Garden, is a thermal spa resort near Samokov, about 40 minutes south, with mineral pools and mountain views, open from 9am to 8pm.

Closer in, Ovcha Kupel, 6 km from the centre on metro line M3, has a mineral beach with three pools beside its 1920s bath house, fed by a 32°C spring.

Where to swim in Sofia in winter

The outdoor pools stay shut from September until June, so from November to May I swim in one of three places:

• Bankya's Public Mineral Bath opens daily in winter too, and its main pool stays hot whatever the weather.
• Spartak by South Park has an indoor pool for lengths.
• A hotel pool, if you book the right hotel: the Grand Hotel Millennium on Vitosha Boulevard keeps its indoor pool heated.

A soak in Bankya after a cold morning on Vitosha is one of my favourite things to do in Sofia in winter.

Hotels in Sofia with a swimming pool

If a pool decides where you stay, these are the three hotels I'd look at.

At the Millennium the pool costs extra with standard rooms, and what's included changes with the room type, so ask the price for your room before you pay. The Millennium and the Hyatt are the two luxury hotels in Sofia I'd book for a pool and a spa.

How to get to Sofia's pools

A metro or tram ride costs €0.80, and tapping the same contactless card caps your fares at €2 a day, which makes getting around Sofia to the city pools cheap. For Pancharevo I take a cab: a typical day meter in Sofia's taxis runs €1.50 to start and €0.75 a km, so the 15 km ride comes to about €13.