Nettebad

The Nettebad is a large indoor and outdoor bathing complex in the Nette valley on the northern edge of Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, operated by the municipal utility Stadtwerke Osnabrück. It is divided into three separate parts: an Erlebniswelt holding the slides and leisure water, a Sportwelt built around a 50 m pool, and the Loma-Sauna, a sauna landscape with an attached day spa. A textile sauna village, Klein Finnland, sits inside the Erlebniswelt so that sauna use in swimwear is possible without a Loma ticket, while Loma visitors may also use the pools and slides of the other two sections.

The first municipal bathing place on the Nette dates from 1908, but the present institution begins with the indoor and outdoor bath that opened under the name Nettebad on 27 May 1973 after fifteen months of construction, on a site the city council settled on in 1965. Twenty successful years were followed by wear and by changing expectations, and a programme called Bäderkonzept 2000plus laid the ground for a comprehensive rebuild; after nearly five years of planning and construction the new Nettebad opened on 18 March 2005 as the sport and leisure facility it is today.

The slide park is the main draw, and the operator advertises it as the largest in northern Germany, with seven water slides reaching speeds of up to 50 km/h. The most unusual is the Sloop, a free-fall slide entered through a glass capsule whose floor opens underfoot, dropping riders almost in free fall through 94 metres. The Twist is an interactive funnel slide of 68 metres ending in an eight-metre bowl, the Crazy River a family raft slide, the Black Hole an enclosed tube ridden in darkness, and the Stand Line a 30-metre slide ridden standing up. An indoor slide and a six-metre children's broad slide in the outdoor area serve younger visitors. Around them the Erlebniswelt holds an adventure pool with water walls, massage jets and floor bubblers, a 33 m pool carrying a Ninjacross hanging course, two hot whirlpools, whirlpool loungers, a current channel with cascade showers, a year-round outdoor pool, and a small-children's area and course pool both at 31 °C. Outdoors there are a shaded lawn, a shallow area for the inexperienced and a water spray park.

The Loma-Sauna, whose name is Finnish for holiday, contains nine themed saunas with a rest house and sauna garden, an event sauna called Tapahtuma used for show pours, a baby sauna session twice a month, garden courses in tai chi, qigong and yoga, and a spa and beauty department taking bookings online. The water is ordinary treated municipal supply: the operator claims no thermal, healing, brine, spring or mineral water, and the venue is presented throughout as a sport and leisure bath rather than a spa. The Erlebniswelt opens daily from 09:00 to 22:00, with individual attractions on their own hours, and the cash desk closing 45 minutes before the end.