In a city of over two million people, where health and sports are constant public talking points, swimming infrastructure remains alarmingly underdeveloped. Bucharest has a handful of modern facilities, but the overall picture is fragmented: a few functional islands in a sea of broken promises, stalled projects, and pools closed for years.

Swimming: an elite sport in a city without water

Bucharest counts around 40–45 swimming pools in total, but only a small fraction are public, and even fewer are consistently accessible. Most belong to schools, private clubs, or military bases, with restricted entry. For a European capital of this size, the numbers are absurdly low.

The best conditions can be found in a few private clubs – World Class, Stejarii Country Club, Aqua Life – yet the prices are prohibitive. In the public system, the most functional examples are the pool of School 190 in Sector 4 and the partially renovated one at the Olimpia complex. The rest? Aging spaces, limited schedules, and minimal maintenance.

The Lia Manoliu case – a mirror of administrative paralysis

Nothing illustrates the stagnation better than the Lia Manoliu swimming complex. Built in the 1960s, it was once a landmark of Romanian swimming. Today, it operates under a temporary inflatable dome so that athletes can continue training through winter. The promised modernization, announced nearly a decade ago, has yet to move past the bureaucratic phase.

In the absence of a fully functional Olympic-size pool, even world champions like David Popovici train under improvised conditions. Romania, as a whole, has only a handful of 50-meter pools meeting international standards – and Bucharest, the supposed flagship of national sports infrastructure, has none that truly qualify.

Promises and projects frozen in time

In 2022, the University of Bucharest announced a €6 million covered swimming pool project. The land exists, the financing could be secured, but the project still sits in a drawer. Other investments announced by the Ministry of Development – in Tineretului Park, Rahova, and Colentina – have never progressed beyond the “intention” stage.

Nationwide, roughly €160 million were pledged for new pools, yet not a single cubic meter of concrete has been poured in the capital.

Public access – a privilege, not a right

Even where pools are technically open, public access remains difficult. In many cases, free-swim hours are limited to two or three per day, early in the morning or late at night. Elsewhere, entry depends on waiting lists or mandatory lesson packages. For a parent who simply wants to teach their child to swim in a proper facility, the realistic options are few and expensive.

Swimming – which should be a basic form of physical education – has become a privilege reserved for those who can afford monthly fees of 400–600 lei.

What’s really missing

The issue isn’t just the lack of construction but the lack of vision. Bucharest has no updated map of existing pools, no coherent maintenance strategy, and no long-term plan for equitable distribution across sectors. Investments are made sporadically, usually tied to political campaigns.

A serious European capital should have at least one fully functional Olympic pool, one semi-Olympic per district, and a network of school pools accessible to the public outside class hours. Instead, Bucharest has promises, feasibility studies, and construction sites that never begin.

Bucharest doesn’t suffer from a lack of ideas – it suffers from a lack of execution. Swimming remains a niche sport in a city that has never built a genuine relationship with water. Until local authorities understand that a pool is not an urban luxury but a matter of public health, the residents of this city will keep searching, in a capital without a sea or clean rivers, for a decent place to swim.