Bregtalbad

The Bregtalbad is the outdoor swimming bath of Furtwangen in the Black Forest, and since 2011 it has been kept going by its own supporters' association rather than by the town alone. The Bregtalbad Furtwangen e.V. was founded on 22 March 2011 at the Gasthaus Bad in Furtwangen in front of sixty interested residents, who elected a board at the same meeting; membership still costs 20 euros a year for an individual and 35 for a family, and the association's news pages read like a running account of volunteer shifts - setting the site up in spring, covering the children's pool and clearing the benches, loungers and sports pitches at the end of the season.

The bathing itself is straightforward and aimed squarely at families. The main basin is a solar-heated 50-metre pool with a partitioned non-swimmer section and a slide, so lane swimming and splashing share the same body of water. A fenced-off toddler area alongside has its own paddling pool with a water channel to play in, a water hedgehog and three spray bars, and is shaded, with loungers set out beside it. A kiosk with a seating lounge handles food and drink. There is no sauna, no indoor hall and no thermal water: the pool is heated by the sun, which is also why the association publishes a live water-temperature reading on its front page and, since a recent upgrade, shows the children's pool separately from the main basin.

The 2026 season ran from Friday 22 May, the Whitsun weekend, to Sunday 6 September, with the bath open daily from 10:00 to 19:00 and a bad-weather timetable of 10:00 to 13:00 and 16:30 to 19:00 when conditions are poor; longer cold spells are announced in the local paper and on the site. Admission is 5 euros for adults, 10 for a family ticket, 4 per head for groups of ten or more and 2 euros after 18:00, with children under four, kiosk-only visitors and holders of the Hochschwarzwald Card admitted free; a season ticket costs 70 euros for an adult and 100 for a family with two adults. The bath is now in its winter break, and the association has called for helpers to close it down for the year.