Baths shut as temperatures sore

Vienna has notched up the hottest April on record and in the inner city on Saturday temperatures reached 29.4°C. The hot weather lured many people outside but anybody hoping for a dip in the capital would be disappointed – as regardless of the weather the city always keeps the pools closed until second of May.

Hottest place in the country was Waidhofen an der Ybbs in Lower Austria which notched up a temperature of 32°C.

The previous hottest day in Vienna had been in 1968 on 24 April when the thermometer measured 28.8°C.

The swimming pools opening on 2 May are likely to see a flood of people despite the fact that there has been an increase in ticket prices this year.

Vienna city officials justified taking the time about opening the swimming pools by saying that there were a total of 60 pools that needed 30,000,000 litres of water.

Swimming pool boss  Hubert Teubenbacher said: “We start working on it in mid April and we barely enough time to get it completed. It’s a lot of work to coordinate.”

The ticket price for a day ticket is now five euros instead of €4.70, children pay 1.70 instead of €1.60, and the monthly card is increased from 17.70 to €18.70 for adults, and from 6.30 to 6.70 for children. 

However there are more events and activities being organised at the pools – and there is the free to use swimming pool shuttle as well from 26th May to 2 September to the Gänsehäufel pool (http://www.gaensehaeufel.at/wien) from the U1 Kaisermühlen station. The bus travels every 10 min.