Piscinas Municipais de Viseu

The Piscinas Municipais de Viseu are in the Complexo Desportivo do Fontelo, the city’s sports park in the Parque do Fontelo. The council runs them directly. They were fully rebuilt in 2006, and in 2020 the council added energy-saving measures.

It’s a working sports pool built for teaching and competition, with no slides or play features. What it does well for families is price and opening hours: children up to 9 swim free with an adult, and there’s public swimming seven days a week, including early mornings.

The regulations describe three indoor pools:

• Tank 3, the small learner pool (pequeno): 18 m by 8 m and 1 to 1.2 m deep.
• Tank 1, the mid-depth pool (intermédio or médio): 25 m by 12.5 m and 1.25 to 1.45 m deep.
• Tank 2, the competition pool: 25 m by 16.6 m and 2 to 2.1 m deep.

There’s no shallow toddler pool. Even the learner pool is a metre deep, so babies and toddlers need to be held, and young children who can’t swim need armbands or a float. The regulations say you need staff permission to bring your own floats or inflatables, so ask at reception first.

Around the pools are spectator stands for 300 people, changing rooms, a first-aid room, a hydromassage room, the reception desk and a café-bar. The regulations also list a lawn, which comes into its own in summer.

The pool opens Monday to Saturday from 8:15 to 21:40 and on Sundays from 8:15 to 12:00. Public swimming (natação livre, or utilização livre) is when anyone can come in without a class. The 2026/27 timetable gives these public-swim times:

Mid-depth pool (tank 1):

• Monday: 8:15 to 17:45 and 20:15 to 21:30
• Tuesday to Thursday: 8:15 to 17:00 and 20:05 to 21:30
• Friday: 8:15 to 17:00
• Saturday: 8:15 to 9:15 and 9:45 to 21:30
• Sunday: 8:15 to 12:00

Small learner pool (tank 3):

• Monday: 12:00 to 16:00 and 20:15 to 21:30
• Tuesday: 14:00 to 16:00 and 20:15 to 21:30
• Wednesday: 14:00 to 15:30
• Thursday: 14:00 to 16:00 and 20:15 to 21:30
• Friday: no public swimming
• Saturday: 13:05 to 14:45 and 19:30 to 21:30
• Sunday: 8:15 to 12:00

The competition pool (tank 2) is also open for lanes most of the day. Only 20 people at a time can use public swimming, with up to six per marked “Pista Livre” lane. On Sundays and public holidays all pools open to the full capacity, apart from the competition pool when clubs are training. The council notes the timetable can change.

For families with young children, the learner pool slots on Monday to Thursday afternoons and Sunday mornings are the ones to aim for.

From the council’s price table:

• Children up to 9: free, with an adult (up to two children per adult)
• Ages 10 to 17: €2 an hour, €8 for 5 sessions, €15 for 10
• Adults: €3 an hour, €12.50 for 5 sessions, €20 for 10

A session lasts an hour with 15 minutes’ leeway. Large families and holders of Viseu’s municipal youth and senior cards get 20% off.

In July and August the pool switches to summer hours, 8:30 to 19:30 (Sunday to 18:30), and sells a day ticket with no time limit: €2.50 for ages 10 to 17 and €3.50 for adults, still free for children up to 9 with an adult. Loungers (€1.50) and parasols (€1) are for hire.

You can buy a swim cap (€2.50), goggles (€4) and a locker padlock (€4) at reception.

From the pool’s regulations:

• Children under 12 can’t use public swimming without an adult who is responsible for watching them.
• You need a valid user card or a single-entry ticket to get through the turnstile.
• Wear proper swimwear that won’t run or affect the water.
• No jewellery, no chewing gum, and no eating or drinking around the pools. Food is allowed on the lawn away from the water, or at the bar.
• No running by the pools, and no balls or games that bother others, except in areas set aside for them.
• Floats, inflatable rings and airbeds only with staff permission.
• Flip-flops are recommended in the barefoot areas; outdoor shoes are banned there, and you walk through a footbath.
• Children up to 4 can use the changing room of the opposite sex with a parent. There are separate changing rooms for disabled swimmers, who may bring a helper of the same sex.

The regulations don’t state a swim cap rule, but reception sells caps. Take one to be safe, or ask when you arrive.

The council’s swimming school runs from 1 September to 30 June, in partnership with the Portuguese Swimming Federation’s Portugal a Nadar programme. You can enrol at reception at any point in the season. The levels:

• Baby swimming (natação para bebés) from 6 months, aimed at building a baby’s independence in water.
• Water confidence (adaptação ao meio aquático) from 5 years: breathing, moving on the front and back, and jumping in from the side.
• Introduction to strokes: front crawl and backstroke.
• Learning strokes: consolidating crawl and backstroke and starting breaststroke.
• Improving strokes: the first three strokes plus butterfly.
• Adult classes, aquafitness and one-to-one “PT H2O” sessions.

The swimming school price list gives monthly fees of €25 for one children’s class a week, €31 for two, €36 for three and €40 for four; baby swimming costs €24 or €30. The first registration costs €17 (€7 to renew). Each family member gets 10% off, and from the third child in a large family that child’s fee is halved.

Summer intensive course. In July the pool runs a month-long intensive course for children from 5, in water-confidence and stroke classes, Monday to Friday. Classes last 50 minutes, at 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning or 17:00, 18:00 or 19:00. Each group has 5 to 10 children, and your child can go up to five times a week. It costs from €30 a week to €60 for the month. Registration opens in May, and a place is only held once you’ve paid.

• Only 20 people can use public swimming at once, so at busy times you may have to wait.
• There’s no shallow splash pool; the learner pool starts at 1 metre.
• Weekday mornings are the best time for families not tied to school hours: the mid-depth pool is open for public swimming from 8:15.

The Fontelo sports park around the pool also has beach-sports courts and a free skate park with a bowl, next to a sand-floored playground in the woods: see our page on the Parque do Fontelo skate park and playground. For a day out in the Dão region, the Quinta da Estaca in Nelas and the Casa das Palmeiras farm in Mangualde are both within easy reach, and the Museu do Caramulo, with its classic cars, is a good rainy-day trip to the west.

Is it free for children at Viseu’s municipal pool?

Children up to 9 swim free when they come with an adult, with a limit of two children per adult. Ages 10 to 17 pay €2 an hour.

Is there a baby or toddler pool?

No splash pool. The smallest pool is 1 to 1.2 m deep, so toddlers must be held or wear a float, and floats need staff permission. Baby swimming classes start at 6 months.

Can my child go swimming alone?

From 12. Under-12s need an adult with them during public swimming.

Is the pool open in summer?

Yes. In July and August it opens daily with summer hours (8:30 to 19:30, Sunday to 18:30) and a day ticket, and you can use the lawn.

Do I need a swim cap?

The regulations don’t spell it out, but caps are sold at reception for €2.50. Bring one or ask on arrival.