blu Sport- und Freizeitbad

The blu stands on the Brauhausberg in Potsdam and is run by Stadtwerke Potsdam. German Wikipedia records that the bath opened on 7 June 2017 under the name blu, replacing the older Bad am Brauhausberg swimming hall nearby, and that it was designed by Gerkan, Marg und Partner. The operator divides it into three separately ticketed areas: blu sport, blu familie and blu sauna. Despite the 'Sport-' in the name, only one of those three is a competition pool; the other two are a leisure hall with slides and a rooftop sauna world.

In blu sport the centrepiece is a 50-metre pool with ten lanes each two metres wide, convertible to a 20 by 25 metre layout. The operator gives its depth as 2.05 metres in the shallow part and 3.75 metres under the diving platform, states that it is DSV-certified to FINA standard C for swimming and water polo, and names a 1-metre springboard and a 3-metre platform, open Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00. A grandstand seats around 400 with wheelchair places. Alongside it is a teaching pool, the Variobecken, with a movable floor from 90 cm to 1.80 metres, normally set to 90 cm and raised or lowered to 1.30 or 1.80 metres for courses. Schools and clubs hold reserved times, and the operator warns that when the Variobecken is fully booked, non-swimmers cannot be admitted to the sports area at all; on competition days the sports pool closes while the family and sauna areas stay open.

In blu familie on the ground floor the operator lists a leisure pool 1.35 metres deep with a current channel, waterfall, mushroom fountain and bubble loungers, a climbing wall over the water, a paddling pool with a boat channel and other water games, indoor play equipment, and an outdoor area with lawns, a table-tennis table and climbing frames. Two slides are named: a tube slide of 114 metres with fakes, jumps, touchpoints and three animation programmes, ridden on single or double rings or a mat, and a broad corrugated Rainbow wave slide measured at 9 by 4 metres. The operator's key-figures panel for this area gives 32 C beside the paddling pool. The water is plain heated tap water: nowhere on the site is it described as brine, mineral or thermal, and no spring, well depth or mineralisation figure is published.

blu sauna occupies the roof, on over 2,700 square metres according to the operator, and holds several sauna cabins, a steam bath, an oriental hamam, rest areas and a large roof garden. The individual descriptions give the Mental-Sauna at about 60 C with 50 per cent humidity, a panorama view west and two barrier-free places; the Eventsauna at 90 C with themed infusions and light and sound effects; the Kelo-Sauna at about 100 C with comparatively dry air and regular infusion ceremonies; the Caldarium at 35 to 40 C with 55 per cent humidity; and the steam bath at about 50 C with 80 to 100 per cent humidity. In the hamam up to two people can take a Goebek-Tasi treatment on a heated navel stone. Also listed are an outdoor swim-out pool with bubble loungers and massage jets, an ice fountain, a plunge pool, experience showers, a foot-experience path, a fireplace lounge with a wood stove, a meditation garden and a sauna bar. The sauna area is reserved for women from 10:00 to 22:00 on the second Tuesday of each month.

The operator publishes daily hours in tables that are loaded by script rather than written into the page, so no timetable is recorded here; the same page states that on public holidays the bath keeps Sunday hours, and that last admission is 60 minutes before closing for blu sport, 90 minutes for blu familie and 120 minutes for blu sauna. Admission is by area and by time: blu sport 6.50 euro for an adult two-hour single ticket, 4.50 euro reduced and 2.50 euro for children and pupils, with a family and small-group ticket at 14.50 euro; blu familie 18.00 euro for an adult three-hour ticket and 26.00 euro for a day ticket, 10.00 and 14.00 euro for children, with morning and evening two-hour tickets at 16.00 euro; blu sauna 30.00 euro for an adult four-hour ticket and 35.00 euro for a day ticket. Overstaying is charged at 1.00 euro per started 30 minutes. No total pool count and no total sauna count are published by the operator, so neither is given here.