According to a recent survey the number of open air swimming pools in different parts of Spain is rather interesting. According to Cadastral / Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas, the province with the most pools is Comunidad de Madrid with 145,881.
[Photo courtesy of Trip Advisor]
Second is Alicante province with 130,813 and third is Barcelona province with 106,681.
Given that Alicante and Barcelona are on the Mediterranean coast, this is somewhat surprising.
Malaga province comes in fifth with 82,559 open air pools, despite having a lengthy coastline (Costa del Sol).
Preamble
One of the pools in Malaga province is mine. I live in inland Ronda, over an hour's drive to the nearest beach, so my pool is a "must".
With the high summer temperatures I am in and out of the pool all day, in an effort to keep cool.
My pool [Photo: A1 Inmobiliaria]
Pools by municipality
Madrid city comes out top with 14,757 pools. Located in the geographical centre of Spain this is hardly surprising. It's a long way to the coast in any direction!
Second is Cordoba, which surprises me. There are 12,053 pools there. Another surprise is Murcia City, which has 10,852, despite being on the coast. Fourth on the list is Chiclana de la Frontera (Cadiz), also on the coast (Costa de la Luz - Atlantic).
Madrid [Photo: Time Out]
Pools in Malaga Province
Marbella is number one with 11,296 despite being right on the coast. Number 2 is Mijas with 8.770. Malaga City is third with 6,549, also on the coast.
Ronda apparently has 1,729, of which one is mine (see above).
Benahavis, a well-to-do town, has 2,181 pools, and Frigiliana, also an expensive village inland from Nerja, has 1,048.
Marbella [Colliers]
Endword
I am the only British ex-teacher I know who has a pool. Then, most British ex-teachers live in the UK. Who needs an open air pool there?
My first property in Spain, Piso Blanco purchased in 2001, had a shared pool in a comunidad de propietarios of 12 dwellings.
My second, Casa Blanca, didn't, nor did my fourth, Casa Real. But we survived.
The pool at Piso Blanco [Photo: Trip Advisor]
I have to say, however, that a swimming pool is a "must".
© Paul Whitelock
Photos:
A1 Inmobiliaria, Colliers, Karl Smallman, Paul Whitelock, Time Out, Trip Advisor
Tags:
A1 Inmobiliaria, Alicante, Barcelona, Benahavis, Cadastral, Casa Blanca, Casa Real, Chiclana de la Frontera, Colliers, Cordoba, Cristina Vallejo, Diario Sur, Frigiliana, INE, Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas, Karl Smallman, Madrid, Marbella, Mijas, Murcia, Nerja, Paul Whitelock, Piso Blanco, SUR in English, swimming pool, Time Out, Trip Advisor