Recently, I helped a friend search for swim schools and I thought I’d share the results of my findings.
First, Swimsports.ch is a great site that lists swim schools in Zurich kanton and all over Switzerland. The schools listed as “Aquality” use the same standard swim levels, as displayed in the icons above.
I’m familiar with two swim schools near Zurich. Although my kids haven’t taken lessons there, I’ve heard positive reviews from several friends on both schools. Both locations have separate baby pools and shallow pools where your other children can swim while you wait for the class to finish.
– Aqua-fit swim school in Adliswil, about 16CHF/lesson, plus pool entrance for 6+ years old. Parents can view class behind glass without entering pool area (i.e. no fee and no swimsuit for you).
– Zollikuda swim school in Zollikon/Fohrbach, about 25CHF/lesson, which includes pool entrance. Parent must accompany child into pool area, which means you must pay your own pool entrance fee and wear a swimsuit.
Every year in March, there is a swim competition for children (12 and under) called Zürifisch. Any child living in Zurich city can participate. It’s free and you don’t have to register beforehand. You simply show up to the one of the pools listed on their site for the qualifying round. The kids have to swim 50 meters. The fastest kids in each age group qualify for the finals held on April 14. My son has participated for 4 years and has had a great experience.
Lastly, all pools in Zurich kanton (and all Switzerland) are listed on badi-info.ch. You can choose to view outdoor pools (Freibad) or Hallenbad (indoor heated pools).
If you’ve had a good experience with a swim school in Zurich, please leave a comment!
2 responses
Helpful to read about the two schools at this time, I will check them out.
I just had a very bad experience with enrolling my son in the Schwimmschule Zuri-Oberland. It costs 288 Chf for a trimester and when you sign up in the beginning you do it for the entire period. After the first class i noticed the quality was nowhere near what they advertise (the hygiene rules were not enforced, the trainer completely lacked any skills in handling the kids) and I asked them to break the contract (the course was not fully booked so my kid had not taken the place of another potential student) and only pay for the first lesson. They did not even consider my feedback regarding quality, they asked for the full price to be paid.
thanks!
I’ve very sorry to hear about your negative experience. Perhaps in the future ask if you can do a “Schnupper” to try out the lesson once free before paying. This is often done in sport clubs. We’ve done that for squash, tennis, water polo, swim and others. In a couple cases, we didn’t have a good experience so we didn’t sign up for the semester course. But it can be difficult with language and cultural barriers. Hope you find a swim school you like better.