country guide

Swimming Travel Tips for United Kingdom

Local knowledge for planning where, when, and how to swim in United Kingdom.

Tips for all of United Kingdom

In Ireland and the United Kingdom, what Americans and Australians call "lap swimming" is called "lane swimming". While working on this note, we found a nice page on the loneswimmer.com website that explains the rules for lane swimming quite nicely; you can find it HERE. Note: In some UK pools, adjacent lanes circle-swim in opposite directions, clockwise/anti-clockwise/clockwise/etc., this avoids those painful finger-tip-taps that sometimes happen when the individual on the other side of the lane line is going in the opposite direction from you.

UK users of this site may be interested to know about the Hussle app and program. Using Hussle users may be able to purchase discounted day passes at commercially managed council-owned leisure centres and get access to private facilities that do not, as a rule, admit non-members on a casual basis. You have to register, provide a debit or credit card, and make your purchase through Hussle. Day passes are good for 30 days from the date of purchase. Monthly and annual memberships can be purchased through Hussle, as well.

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Regions in United Kingdom

2 of 6 regions have travel tips.

England

2 tips

An excellent directory of swimming pools in England can be found at Swim England's swimming.org Poolfinder. As far as we can tell, it lists every pool in England, irrespective of type (schools, hotels, and public pools are all listed), size, or seasonality. It's not infallable, however, so be sure to follow the site's "Website" links to be sure you're getting the most up-to-date information.

The NOWCA (National Open Water Coaches Association) website has a page that features open water (lake and river) venues HERE. NOWCA also has an app for wild swimming that can be downloaded from their website HERE.

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Check the tips above first. If one already covers it but is out of date, choose Suggest a change on that tip instead.

Scotland

12 tips

Aberdeenshire

The latest schedule and price information for all of Aberdeenshire's council swimming pools can be found on the Live Life Aberdenshire website HERE.

Aberdeenshire › Aberdeen

The latest schedule and price information for all of Aberdeen's municipal swimming pools can be found on the Aberdeen Aquatics website HERE.

Argyll and Bute

The latest schedule and price information for all of Argyll and Bute's council swimming pools can be found on the Live Argyll website HERE.

City of Edinburgh

The latest schedule and price information for all of the City of Edinburgh's council swimming pools can be found on the Live Argyll website HERE. (After the page comes up, use the menu to select "Swimming Venues" to show just the swimming pools.)

East Dunbartonshire

The latest schedule and price information for all of East Dunbartonshire's council swimming pools can be found on the ED Leisure + Culture website HERE.

East Lothian

The latest schedule and price information for all of the East Lothian council's swimming pools can be found on the East Lothian enjoyleisure website HERE.

East Renfrewshire

The latest schedule and price information for all of the East Renfrewshire council's swimming pools can be found on the East Renfrewshire Culture & Leisure website HERE.

Falkirk

The latest schedule and price information for all of the Falkirk council's swimming pools can be found on the Feel Falkirk website HERE. (In the "Filter by type" line, click on "pool".)

Fife

The latest schedule and price information for all of the Fife council's swimming pools can be found on the Fife Sports and Leisure Trust website HERE.

Glasgow City

The latest schedule and price information for all of the Glasgow City council's swimming pools can be found on the Glasgow Club website HERE.

Midlothian

The latest schedule and price information for all of the MIdlithian council's swimming pools can be found on the council website HERE.

Shetland

For information about all of the Shetland council's swimming pools (all but one of which are shorter than this site's mimimum listing requirement), see the Shetland Recreational Trust website HERE.