DIANABAD SWIMMING POOLS
Address: Dianabad Complex, 1 N Garbovski Str
Tel: 962 01 01
Opening hours: daily, 8.00 to 20.00

As someone who was born on the Black Sea coast, the idea of going to swimming pools in the summer, while everybody is at the seaside, has never seemed attractive. After all, who needs a swimming pool when Bulgaria has several hundred kilometres of sandy shore?

Unfortunately, as every working person knows, one has some limitations to how much time can be spent on the beach. In this case, the only option in Sofia in August and early September is the pool.

As much as I did not like the idea of substituting my precious sea with a concrete “lake”, the heat did its work and one weekend I headed to one of Sofia’s most popular swimming complexes. It bears the name of a woman: Dianabad Swimming Pools.

The name is the same as the neighbourhood in which the swimming pool is, so it is not difficult to find it on a map. If it sounds German, it is. The legend goes that when Bulgaria sided with Nazi Germany in World War 2 and German troops were stationed in Sofia, the German soldiers gave the area the name. Rumour has it that the swimming pool was named after a famous swimming pool complex in Vienna, where next to the pool there was a dancing platform where people could waltz. Well, you will not be able to dance the waltz at Sofia’s Dianabad, but you can definitely spend a pleasant day.

My doubts about the swimming pool had their reasons in the fact that the swimming pool was built in the years when Bulgaria was a communist state, which did not promise much of a clean and pleasant experience.

I was proven wrong. Indeed, at first sight, the facility does not look very fashionable. The swimming pool is not in the shape of a kidney, and there are no in-pool bars.

However, you will see not one, not two, but three square swimming pools. The first two pools are bigger than the standard Olympic size of 25m.

My biggest surprise was that the water was clean. There were neither leaves nor any other objects floating around, and most of all, it did not smell heavily of chlorine, as most swimming pools do. The first two pools are not that deep and one of them is suitable for children.

The real excitement is the third pool. It has the shape of a square and it is more than 10m deep, like a big hole that is just waiting to be explored. The depth is because of the diving tower that is 15m high. Anyone is welcome to test their courage and jump from the platform. I did not.

Because I went there at the weekend, I expected half of Sofia to be present. It was not far from the truth. If you are smart or experienced enough, you will sit next to the deep swimming pool because the crowd there is not that noticeable.

Yes, the swimming pool offers umbrellas and chaises longues. As it is at the seaside, the best thing to do when going there during weekends is to arrive no later than 10am You will be able to pick your parking space, which, by the way, becomes a problem after noon. The same applies for the chaises longues as well.

Drinks and food are not a concern. There are three bars offering everything you need. Toilets are relatively clean, but do not expect much in the way of modern equipment.

Spending time at Dianabad during the weekends is a little more expensive than going there in the course of the working week. For the weekends, the price to enter goes up to four leva and the chaise longue will cost you three leva. Children under 12 pay one lev to enter. The entrance fee between Monday to Friday is three leva a person. The fee for renting a chaise longue is two leva.

Dianabad opens early, at 8am. This is a great chance to go there right after you wake up and use the facility with no one else around.

Apart from a lack of sufficient parking space, Dianabad has another downside. Enjoying the sun under the umbrella, you will not be able to miss the nearby construction site. But do not worry, it is not that close to the swimming pool and there was no noise or dust coming from it.

In general, if you are stuck in Sofia, away from the sea, Dianabad is not the worst place you could be during a hot weekend. Quite the opposite. It is probably the among the best places in Sofia.