Das Blau

das blau is the municipal bath of St. Ingbert in Saarland, at Arthur-Kratzsch-Straße 6, with the Bäderbesitzgesellschaft St. Ingbert mbH responsible for the site. It has three parts: an indoor hall, an outdoor bath open in summer, and a sauna area. The indoor hall holds five pools. The sports pool is 25 m long with six lanes and starting blocks, 2.50 m deep, at 28 °C. The family pool is at 30 °C with a maximum depth of 1.30 m and carries a current channel, a 50-metre slide, a neck shower and a whirlpool. The teaching pool measures 16.6 m by 10 m, is 0.60 m to 1.35 m deep and is held at 30 °C. For small children there is a large pool at 34 °C, 10 to 40 cm deep, with a tall bathing duck, a tall artificial tree, a water-spouting frog, a pond tulip and a floor bubbler, its walls painted with animal and plant motifs by St. Ingbert artists, and a small pool at 34 °C, 0.25 m deep, with a children's slide and a little boat channel.

The water is plain heated fresh water. A keyword sweep of the home, indoor, sauna, outdoor, hours, contact and imprint pages found no occurrence of Sole, Therme, Mineral, Heilwasser or Quelle; the operator claims no spring, no brine and no mineral content, and publishes no source temperature, well depth or analysis. The only water figures given are the heated pool temperatures, which run from 25 °C in the outdoor sports and toddler pools up to 34 °C in the two indoor toddler pools.

Slides are the venue's main attraction set. The competition twin slide "Magic Twice" is 90 m long with a 12 % gradient and, by season, is entered from the indoor hall or the outdoor bath. The outdoor stainless-steel slide park holds a large water slide of 65.40 m at a height of 6.29 m (from age 7), a free-fall slide of 12.98 m at the same 6.29 m height (from age 12) and a broad-wave slide of 13.40 m, 3 m wide, at a height of 2.96 m (from age 7).

The outdoor bath has a diving pool at 26 °C, 12 by 10 m and 4 m deep, with 1 m and 3 m springboards and a 5 m platform; a sports pool at 25 °C, 30 by 25 m, with eight lanes and starting blocks, 2.10 m deep; a non-swimmers' pool 0.60 m to 1.30 m deep with an API wave ball, bubble loungers, a current channel 1.30 m deep, water spouts and bubble plates; and a toddler pool at 25 °C with a water channel, a water slide, spray nozzles, a water mushroom and a hedgehog, shaded by sun sails and with a sand playground alongside. There are also a volleyball court and table tennis.

The sauna area covers over 2,000 m² and is enumerated rather than totalled: a large Finnish sauna at 90 °C clad in birch from the Bliesgau biosphere, a Bio-Sauna at 60 °C with colour light, a Kelo outdoor sauna at 90 °C, a Biosphärensauna earth sauna at 90 °C built from Blieskastel birch and Niederwürzbach sandstone, a steam bath at 45 °C, and a small Finnish sauna at 80 °C with an automatic infusion system and a star ceiling. Cooling is by an ice grotto at around 0 °C with a crushed-ice fountain and cold plunge pools at 15 °C; there is also a warm outdoor plunge pool at 28 °C. Rest areas include a heated bench, a rest cave and a large rest room with a wood stove. Tuesday is a women's sauna day, except on public holidays, when Tuesday is mixed all day.

Indoor hall hours are Monday 7:30–14:00, Tuesday to Friday 7:30–22:00, Saturday 8:00–20:00 and Sundays and public holidays 8:00–20:00; from 14:00 on Monday the hall is given over to club swimming with no public bathing, school swimming blocks some lanes from 7:30 on weekdays, and bathing ends 15 minutes before closing. Sauna hours are Monday to Friday 11:00–22:00, Saturday 9:00–22:00 and Sundays and public holidays 9:00–20:00. The outdoor bath's own hours are contradictory on the operator's site and both versions are given below.