Lido di Milano

One sweltering hot day last week, my friend J and I finally made it to the Lido di Milano, which is at Piazza Lotto on the red metro line. After you pay at the gate, you walk through changing rooms which reminded me ominously of school swimming lessons in the 1980s, but you come outside to trees, flowers and an enormous outdoor pool. (It looks at least Olympic-sized, although it's a bit of a funny shape. There's a bar and picnic area and water chutes and games for kids, and you can hire a sun lounger for 4 euros or pay 11 euros to sit in the VIP area and be gently sprayed with cold water, but we just sat at the edge of the pool on our towels, along with most other people, and went in for a swim every time it got too hot. Highly recommended, and much more spacious than the My Island “beach”!