Swimming pool

Heated Swimming Pools In Lanzarote – Do You Need Them?

Part of the attraction of visiting Lanzarote is that you can enjoy a swim in a pool all year round. All the hotels and apartment complexes here have communal swimming pools, and most privately rented villas have their own pool.

Swimming pools in all cases are either unheated, have solar heating or full electric heating.

In the months from April to the end of October, you don’t really need to think about heating. But in the winter:

Unheated pools

Some of the hotels on the island have unheated pools, as do quite a few apartment complexes, but in most cases, they will have at least one pool that is heated for winter use. There are not many villas with private pools that have no heating.

Unheated pools can  drop to below 20 degrees in mid November, and may not increase above that temperature until late March.

You can still swim in them, but it will be chilly, and you might not want to laze around in them!

Solar heated pools

Some hotels have solar heated pools, as do many apartment complexes. The majority of private pools will have solar for the winter months.

Solar heated pools, as the name suggests, are warmed by the action of the sun on heating pads. That means that on a cloudy day, they will be cool, but given a couple of sunny days in a row, and they will be toasty warm.

It’s hard to give a guide as we can get weeks of sunshine through the winter, in which case, they will be fine, but solar pools can drop down to below 20 degrees with a week of cloud.

Electrically heated pools

Most hotels will have at least one electrically heated pool, as will a reasonable number of apartment complexes. Electric heating for private villa pools is now pretty common.

This is the way to guarantee the temperature. Hotels will tend to keep the temperature to around 24 degrees, but many villa pools will be heated to 26 or even 28 degrees. Whatever the outside temperature, or the amount of sunshine, these are fine for swimming all year round and even at night in mid winter.

Note that some villa owners charge extra to have the heating switched on – if you’re coming over between November and March, we’d recommend choosing that option.

How do you know?

Always ask the question! And don’t take “heated pool” as a guarantee it won’t be solar heated. Your travel agent will advise you about hotels, but also ask owners when you are booking a private villa, and ask if the heating is included in the price.

Pool covers

If you’re renting a villa with a pool, there will almost certainly be a pool cover. Get in the habit of pulling it across when you aren’t using the pool, and always do so at night – you’d be surprised how quickly the temperature can drop, especially if it’s windy.

You can see villas advertised by owners in this section: Holiday Lets.

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