MADRID – There is little as nice as cooling off on a scorching hot day in the Spanish summer with a dip in a swimming pool. Fortunately, the density of swimming pools in Spain is very high. So that cool-down option is available to just about anyone.
At least, for the moment, it still is. However, given the increasing number of municipalities imposing water restrictions due to the drought, that may end at some point soon. This is because people are no longer allowed to refill their swimming pools with tap water.
Related: Half a million swimming pools in Spain threatened by drought
Many ‘urbanisations’ or apartment buildings in Spain have a communal swimming pool. Then there are the public swimming pools that can be found in almost every municipality. This is where people who do not have their own private swimming pool can go.
1.29 million swimming pools in Spain
Spain has a total of 1.29 million swimming pools, according to statistics from the Directorate General of Land Registry, which falls under the Ministry of Finance and Public Functions. It provides data for the entire national territory except Navarre and the Basque Country.
This means that in Spain there is one swimming pool for every 35 inhabitants, according to Newtral.es calculations. This is based on the 2023 land register statistics and the 2022 National Institute of Statistics (INE) register.
Most swimming pools in Madrid
In some cities, it is easier to find a swimming pool than in others. In absolute numbers, Madrid is at the top of the number of swimming pools with a total of 14,521 swimming pools. 97.3% of them are open air and the remaining 2.7% are indoor pools. However, in terms of the number of swimming pools per capita, the situation is different in the capital. Elsewhere, it is less than one (0.44) swimming pool available per 100 inhabitants.
The top three municipalities with the most swimming pools are completed by Córdoba, with 11,704 swimming pools, of which 11,683 are open air and 21 are covered. There are 3.66 swimming pools available per 100 inhabitants. Marbella (Málaga) has 10,850 swimming pools, which is 7.2 swimming pools per 100 inhabitants.
Taking into account the population in each municipality, the highest ratio of swimming pools per inhabitant in Spain is recorded in Valderrebollo (Guadalajara). There are 30 swimming pools for only 23 inhabitants. However, here it is mainly holiday homes from Madrilenians.
At the other end is Badia del Vallès, in Barcelona, which has only three swimming pools for 13,163 people, which is 0.02 swimming pools per 100 inhabitants.
Newtral put together a map of Spain on which you can see exactly how many swimming pools there are in your (holiday) municipality.
Related: What you need to know before having a swimming pool built in Spain