Les Bains des Docks - Credit: Philippe Ruault
The Yodi team includes fans of both swimming and architecture. That's why we've put together a list of the 5 most beautiful swimming pools in France.
It wasn't an easy choice, as the region boasts many fine achievements, but we've chosen the ones that stand out the most.
Piscine Lautrec - Toulouse
Toulouse's Piscine Lautrec is one of the many achievements of a vast national plan launched in the 1970s, known as the "1000 piscines" project, which continued until the early 1980s. The aim of this voluntary program was to make swimming accessible to all French citizens, by enabling municipalities to build standardized facilities at moderate cost. Several types were designed, but the "Tournesol" type was the most successful, with 183 models built.
Imp. Barthe, 31200 Toulouse
Les Bains des Docks - Le Havre
Designed by Jean Nouvel, one of France's leading contemporary architects, the aquatic complex is part of the urban renewal of Le Havre's southern districts that began with the transformation of the Vauban docks into a shopping center in 2009. The building is located close to other projects by renowned architects, demonstrating Le Havre's determination to continue embodying architectural modernity.
The Bains des Docks are surprisingly simple in their geometric language.
Quai de la Réunion, 76600 Le Havre
La butte aux cailles swimming pool - Paris
The swimming pool was designed by architect Louis Bonnier and built between 1922 and 1924 as an addition to the former baths and showers dating from 1908. Listed as a Monument Historique, it features an Art Deco style behind its curvaceous red-brick facade, bathed in soft natural light thanks to its large bay windows.
For the record, scenes from Gilles Lellouche's "Grand Bain" (2018) were filmed here, as well as numerous music videos and commercials.
5 Pl. Paul Verlaine, 75013 Paris
Léo Lagrange swimming pool - Nantes
The Léo Lagrange swimming pool opened in the summer of 1951. At the time, only the pool was completed, with temporary buildings serving as the entrance and changing rooms. The bare pool offered the public a unique opportunity to swim in the middle of a port whose activity was revitalized by Reconstruction. In 1973, the pool's expansion was launched: a second 50-meter pool was built and the facility was fully covered in 1974. The prestigious diving board, too high for the new roof, had to be demolished. It was replaced by a more conventional diving board.
Today, the Léo-Lagrange swimming pool is still in its original location, but the open-air pool has been covered, providing further evidence of the loss of use of the river and the evolution of sporting activities in the second half of the 20th century.
All. de l'Île Gloriette, 44000 Nantes
Josephine Baker swimming pool - Paris
The Josephine Baker pool opened in July 2006, following the creation of "Paris Plages". Like the Deligny pool, now sunk, the Josephine Baker pool is a floating pool, moored at the Port de la Gare, at the foot of the François-Mitterrand library, in the 13th arrondissement. The pool is a glass and steel structure designed by architect Robert de Busni. It is held afloat by twenty metal floats.
Quai François Mauriac, 75013 Paris
If you're visiting Toulouse, Le Havre, Paris or Nantes, grab your swimsuit and cap and head off for a splash in one of these magnificent baths.