In the 1930s, the complex was built by Petr Veselík’s great-grandfather, who runs the swimming pool today. Although confiscated by the Communists, they let the family manage the facility. You will know that this is a family business right at the entrance, where his father and mother take turns.

“Originally there was a pond, there was a drive in the place of the pools. My great-grandfather and my brother also built a restaurant here from the old mill, just below the swimming pool area. It was basically connected, “says Veselík. The restaurant still stands in its place, but the Veselí family no longer own it.

The swimming pool has a capacity of seven hundred people. “Attendance of course depends on the weather. When the sun shines, people come. It’s not so much about the temperature, I’d rather say that when it’s hot for so long, people don’t want to be here so much. After all, they have to walk more than a kilometer, and if they were to be at the swimming pool every day, it would be more expensive for them, ”says Veselík.

Swimming under the rocks

In the area you will find two swimming pools next to each other, in the first the water has twenty-three degrees, in the second three less. The pools are slightly downhill, so the depth in them varies in different places, but they reach a maximum of a meter and a half. Operators avoid using chemistry to maintain water quality, the source is a natural spring.

Water changes according to needs depending on the weather and its transparency. Visitors can spread blankets and sunbeds on the grass under the trees or on a slope on which the sun does not shine in the morning.

Children can ride in one of the pools on a small water slide, the smallest ones play in the paddling pool. The owners have a new children’s climbing frame and two trampolines on which children can have fun.

They don’t plan any more water slides yet. “We want to be an oasis of calm, if there were more water attractions, noise would probably increase. They still don’t want what we have, it’s said to be too small for them, “laughs Petr Veselík.

Older visitors have the opportunity to play ping-pong, badminton or volleyball. There is also an older basketball hoop on the court. The vision for the future is to expand the sports facilities. “It’s my dream to have a tennis court and a renovated playground,” says Veselík.

Foreign visitors in particular have learned to relax under the hands of a masseur who has a gazebo built next to the playground. There is a snack bar in the complex, one dispensing window points to the road, the other to the background of the swimming pool. But don’t expect a healthy diet. Refresh yourself with sausage, potato pancake or crawfish. You can quench your thirst on a hot day with a beer that costs thirty crowns.

The spirit of the First Republic

The equipment of the swimming pool is gradually being modernized so that the original appearance is preserved as much as possible. Until recently, the main weaknesses were the toilets, which the owners saved for a long time. “We have such an old lesson that the company should make money on itself. So we waited a long time to fix the exits. ”

New and clean toilets are right next to the changing room. This can be a problem. It is one room with wooden benches and a curtain. You can change into a swimsuit in one of the fifty-five lockable cabins available on the premises. You can rent it for 40 crowns a day. The operators will lend you the cabin for the whole season, together with the entrances you will subscribe for it for two thousand crowns.

“I have had a permanent pass for eight years now,” says retired Alena, who has been at the swimming pool daily since May. “We always move things here at the beginning of the season and take them home in about mid-September,” adds her friend Zuzana. “We swim in beautiful nature, we can also walk. We will swim in the morning and then we can walk through the valley. In addition, we think there is the cleanest water in Prague, ”says Alena.

You can’t get to Divoká Šárka by car, you would have to park it at McDonald’s on Evropská street. The most convenient way is by metro to the Nádraží Veleslavín station and from there by bus or tram to the Divoká Šárka stop. From here, you can walk a 15-minute walk across the valley along the red hiking trail.

The swimming pool opens at nine o’clock in the morning, you can sunbathe until 7 pm. The all-day entrance fee costs 80 adults.