The heat wave that hit Poland in late June 2026 will soon begin to subside, but another heat wave is already on the horizon, set to reach our country in the second week of July. How can you protect yourself from extremely high temperatures in the city? In search of relief from the heat, residents are flocking to recreational areas with access to water—beach areas, as well as outdoor swimming pools. As it happens, in Kraków—a city with an estimated population of over one million—there is only one open-air swimming pool. Will the list of places in Kraków where people can swim under the open sky grow in the coming years?
In the past, Kraków had at least a few open-air swimming areas, which residents eagerly used during the hottest spells. Unfortunately, in recent years, Kraków’s outdoor pools have been gradually closed. One of the first was the pool in Krakowski Park, which operated during the interwar period. It was filled in during the expansion of Adam Mickiewicz Avenue in 1938.
Swimming pool in Krakowski Park, 1934 — Water polo match between Cracovia Sports Club and the Jewish Sports Club “Makkabi” Kraków
© National Digital Archives
However, Cracovia’s swimming pool began operations that same year:
[...] And here’s one more addition: just beyond the line of trees along the avenue and Jordan Park, at the municipal stadium, a swimming pool that serves as a substitute for the seaside or riverside beaches for the people of Kraków. Perfectly organized swimming and sunbathing facilities, enjoyed by thousands of people on holidays and frequented by regulars even on weekdays.
— reported one of Kraków’s magazines of the time.
The Cracovia Pool survived the war and served faithfully for several decades afterward, but it could not withstand the transition—at the turn of the 1990s and 2000s, the Cracovia Pool was closed, and in 2015, its remains were filled in.
The “Cracovia” Sports Club Swimming Pool
© National Digital Archives
one swimming pool per million residents
The communist era saw a boom in open-air swimming pools in Kraków. Almost next door, the Wisła swimming pool on Władysława Reymonta Street had been in operation since 1964. That one was also closed, though a bit later, in 2010.
“Given the weather conditions we have here, operating an outdoor pool isn’t profitable. Every year, we had to subsidize it,”
— said Ludwik Miętta-Mikołajewicz, president of the Wisła Sports Association, in 2013.
The June heat wave shows just how quickly those words became outdated. A similar fate befell the OSIR Krakowianka in Borek Fałęcki, which operated from the 1960s until 2010, as well as the Polfa swimming pool, which operated on Eisenberga Street since the 1970s and closed in 2009.
Today, there is only one outdoor swimming pool in Kraków— Wandzianka, located in Nowa Huta at 39 Bulwarowa Street. Residents have access to one lap pool there, combined with a slightly smaller recreational pool. That’s not much for a city of one million people. Will new outdoor swimming pools be built in Kraków?
Przystań Sports and Recreation Center on Eisenberga Street
Photo: M. Sobolewski © ZIS in Kraków
A slip-up on Eisenberga
One of Kraków’s outdoor pools was supposed to have been built some time ago— on the site of the Polfa pool on Eisenberga Street in the Oficerskie Housing Estate. Currently, swimming is possible there, but only under the roof of the indoor pool, known to residents as the “Przystań” Sports and Recreation Center on Eisenberga Street. This indoor pool opened in 2021 based on a concept developed by ProjektyGotowe.pl. The City of Kraków, acting as the investor, signed an agreement with the operator at that time, under which the new facility manager committed, among other things, to building an outdoor pool on the vacant eastern portion of the lot.
Przystań Sports and Recreation Center on Eisenberga
Photo: M. Sobolewski © ZIS in Kraków
On July 9 of this year, a meeting took place at the headquarters of the Sports Infrastructure Authority in Kraków between representatives of ZIS and the lessee of the property located at 4 Eisenberga Street—Agata Stelnik, who operates a business under the name “Agata Stelnik. Deliver Services.” During the meeting, an indefinite-term lease agreement was signed covering the operation of the swimming pool, wellness area, and gym, as well as the implementation of the second phase of the project—which includes the construction of an outdoor pool along with accompanying infrastructure—and the continued operation of the facility after completion.
— explained Michał Sobolewski, spokesperson for the Sports Infrastructure Management Board, at the time.
The Uncertain “Przystań”
The deadline for beginning construction of the new outdoor swimming pool on Eisenberga Street (designed by ARP Manecki) was March 2026. Although another deadline was set—April 20, 2026—at the time of writing this article, at the turn of June and July 2026, little has changed. The site designated for the outdoor pool on Eisenberga Street remains an empty lawn, and there are no signs of work starting anytime soon. As the city reported this past spring, this situation could serve as grounds for terminating the contract with the operator and imposing contractual penalties. And what about the pool? A new solution for building the pool at this location will have to be sought, so the opening will be postponed for several more years.
Outdoor pool in northern Kraków
The situation is similar for the second new swimming pool in Kraków, which will offer open-air swimming. This refers to the complex on land owned by the “Clepardia” Sports Club on Mackiewicza Street in Prądnik Biały. Just a few years ago, an outdoor pool with two pools was in operation here, but the city closed the site in 2022, announcing the construction of Nowa Clepardia—a multifunctional sports complex that, in addition to an indoor swimming pool with a movable floor, squash and tennis courts, a bowling alley, and a roller skating rink, the two open-air pools will also return.
Construction is currently underway on the multifunctional hall, designed by the ARP Manecki architectural firm, with completion scheduled for March 2027. According to the latest announcement from the Kraków Sports Infrastructure Authority, work is proceeding according to schedule, and adjustable floors are currently being installed in the swimming pools to allow for water depth adjustment.
Nowa Clepardia Will Not Have Outdoor Pools for Now
The development of the area surrounding the Nowa Clepardia facility—including two outdoor pools, a skatepark, and an amphitheater—is planned for the second phase. The city has not yet disclosed a timeline for this phase of the project, focusing instead on completing the hall’s construction. Just as with the outdoor pool on Eisenberga Street, Kraków residents know only that the pools on Mackiewicza Street will be built; they have no idea when.
The dilapidated OSIR “Krakowianka” swimming pool on Borek Fałęcki
photo: Dwxn © CC SA 4.0 | Wikimedia Commons
Will the pool return to Borek Fałęcki?
A third outdoor pool could be built on Borek Fałęcki. In 2025, the City took over the site of the former “Krakowianka” complex on Żywiecka Boczna Street, and Kraków Deputy Mayor Łukasz Sęk told the lovekraków.pl website that a recreational complex featuring an open-air swimming pool could be built there. However, these plans are even less concrete than those for the two previously mentioned projects. Is this all that Kraków residents can hope for when it comes to outdoor swimming pools?
Swimming area in Zakrzówek, Kraków
Photo: Wiktor Bochenek
It would be unfair not to mention the large, natural swimming areas available in Kraków. There are three of them— Przylasek Rusiecki in Nowa Huta, Bagry in Płaszów, and the swimming area in Zakrzówek, which opened in June 2023. Although Zakrzówek’s first few years of operation were not without their challenges, today the swimming area is a source of pride for Kraków and reliably attracts hundreds of residents every day during the summer season. But are one outdoor pool and three swimming areas located far from the city center really enough for a city of one million people? It’s hard to say yes, and Kraków’s plans—modest and rather uncertain—do not inspire optimism on this matter.
