Kids in Prague

Aquadream Aquapark with Water Slides, Prague 5

Swimming Activities on 04 July 2009 by Darina

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With the weather finally turning to summer the hunt begins for good swimming venues around town. Aquadream is a top spot but please be warned they do not allow children under 1 year into their pools despite having a paddling pool for younger ones! This is the only venue we’ve covered that does not allow little ones in. Unfortunately for one of our readers she found this out when visiting (see comments). Beside this disappointment, Darina’s experience back in winter was positive.

The Indoor and Outdoor Swimming Centre also features water slides. When approaching the centre you cannot miss it, the water slides are coming out of the walls of the building and attract the attention of anyone passing by. It is the classic swimming pool set up you will find all over Europe these days. A reception, locker room, single and family changing rooms. Inside is a warm wading pool with a mini switchback and mini spouts, a big 25m swimming pool for regular swimmers (with NO JUMPING signs everywhere), whirlpool, massage jets and waterspouts, massage beds with masseuse as well as a wild river with artificial flow.

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There are 2 water slides, the red one is 115 m long and the blue one is 62 m long. We enjoyed the red one better, not only because it is longer but because the blue one is much wider and it was hard for me to keep my balance holding Marcus between my legs. At least twice I thought we would tip so had adrenalin coming out of my ears. They suggest to go down the blue one on two-seat inflatable crafts, but there weren’t any around. Kids probably don’t mind that much, but when we went there last winter, and it was -3C outside I nearly froze to the slide, because both of slides start and end inside, but the whole length of the ride is exposed to the outside. Brrrrrr. Nobody could get me out of the jacuzzi for the next 15 min.

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It is usually quite crowded on weekends, but last time I went on a Wednesday morning, there were just few people there. Therefore I strongly suggest morning hours and also because there is a big discount on entry till 11:30 each day (see price list below). Although every discount has a catch. At the time of limited service (before 11.30am), the switch backs and the water spouts are switched off and only one lane of the 25m swimming pool, a whirlpool, the wild river, a recreational pool, kids pool, 4 steam rooms, massage beds and the water club are in service.

You can borrow inflatable swimming gear for your children at the reception for a small fee. I was hoping to buy a swimming ring for Marcus, but they dont sell them. They only had swimming boards and other small items. Last winter I forgot my swimming costume at home and had to buy one in their shop. The costume cost 280 CZK and it was a granny style costume that I would normally not touch with a broom stick. However, I had to swallow my pride and stayed under water for most of our stay.

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A big disappointment was the Gourmet Food Court because the whole thing was closed. Just as well I was prepared with some baby food in case we hit this scenario. I was surprised though, wouldn’t you expect a fully operational kiosk in such modern establishment? There is a small food shop right next to the reception, but that is outside of the swimming area where you can’t get to unless you hand in your key-chip in and pay. Eventually we noted a sign in Czech that said: “For service ring the bell”. An unpleasant lady appeared from the restaurant within the Food Court and offered us a few fried meals and drinks if we were interested. YES, we were very much interested, because unlike me, my cousin had 2 boys with her and had not bought any food along for them. The service from this lady was not pleasant and she nearly told off my cousin when she ordered extra portion of chips. We’ve since been told that no-one really knows how the Food Court operates. Possibly it only fully operates in summer and outside of that time the restaurant offers to serve the hungry swimmer a limited choice. Weird set-up.

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I managed to take several pictures of the outside area through the window, that is open in summer. It must be nice, but I don’t have a desire to try it out. As it is right next to one of the busiest roads in Czech republic with about 80% of the traffic trucks passing by - the air must be thick with fumes. I think in summer I would rather take the kids to Zlute Lazne or Petynka.

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I should also mention that the swim centre offer to host birthday parties, but I am not sure how their English or other languages are, since they don’t have a multilingual version of their website. You can give it a try through one of these contacts who are appointed especially to organise the birthday parties: ph. 777 107 735 or email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
On their website they have a rich photo gallery and it looks like they do organise all kinds of events, competitions, kids programmes but there isn’t any official events list anywhere to be found. So you might get lucky and when you do visit there might be Santa greeting the kids and distributing presents.

Entrance Fees:
Kids under 3 years free

100 minutes:
Adults 129 CZK
Students, Pensioners 89 CZK
Children under 15 years 89 CZK

190 min.
adults 240 CZK
students, pensioners 160 CZK
children under 15 years 160 CZK

Limited Service (till 11:30am on working days)
All visitors 79 CZK for 90 minutes.

Additional charge for every 15 minutes over is 20 CZK.

OPEN: Indoor Pool: Monday 09:00 - 22:00, Tuesday to Friday 06:00 - 22:00, Saturday and Sunday 08:00 - 22:00

Outdoor Pool: Monday to Friday 10:00 - 21:00, Saturday and Sunday 08:00 - 21:00 (only in summer season, or good weather conditions)

ADDRESS: Sidliste Barrandov, Wassermanova street, Praha 5 (Hlubocepy)

DIRECTIONS: Best by car, take the ring road K Barrandovu. If going towards Plzen it will be on your right. If going towards Barrandovsky bridge, on your left. By Tram take 12, 13, 14 or 20 to final tram stop: Sidliste Barrandov. Walk up the hill towards the block of flats.

FURTHER INFORMATION: see http://www.aquadream.cz/ in czech only