Claire and I went to hydromania last Tuesday. It’s been a while since I’ve last been to an open pool, but I’ve had to much fun that I didn’t feel any sunburn till hours later.
Hydromania is a large water park in Rome with several pools like a semi-Olympic sized pool, a wave pool, a massaging pool, kiddy sized pool and all surrounded by different rides.
To get here, it’s pretty easy. Despite what the website suggested, we found an even easier route to follow. First, you take the Metro A line and make a stop at the Cornelia station.
From here, you should be able to see an open bus interchange. Walk towards that direction but don’t stop there. Instead cross to the road and find this bus stop – Cornelia / Caprara.
Take the bus number 906 and simply exit the bus as soon as you see the hydromania tower on the left hand side.
We reached there at about 1 pm and while at the ticket counter, initially, I thought that I could get a half day pass for 11 euro. But it was valid for only 9 am – 2 pm. It wouldn’t make much sense to be inside for only an hour.
The fortunate thing was that at this point of writing, there is a promotion going on that if you showed your metro/bus ticket, you could buy a full day ticket and your friend enters for just 1 euro.
17.50 euro instead of 33 for two people!
There were ample changing stations there where you could change although I think one needs to be extremely vigil as there are openings at the top where anyone could just climb up and take a peek)
For another 2.50 euro you can leave your stuff with the “armadio” guy for safekeeping and have no limit in asking him to retrieve or keep the bags. The only thing I was thinking that could be improved is that, instead of giving us paper receipts, they should use a stretchy wrist band with a number instead so you could swim, have all your valuables safe and not worry about risking the paper receipts getting soggy or stolen. Plus, with the wrist band, it can be re-used again and again which is more environmentally friendly 🙂
After giving our items to the baggage station, Claire and I jumped in the the wave pool. It’s been such a long time since we’ve last been to an open pool. But as soon as we dipped ourselves in, the water was so cold! Almost ice cold! It was such a sharp contrast to the super hot afternoon that we were experiencing.
It was interesting to see so many women wearing bikinis and Claire and I were practically the few who wore one piece swim suits. The guys on the other hand, most of them wore board shorts. And I don’t think I saw anyone wearing speedos.
By this time, I was feeling rather hungry since it was lunch time. Luckily, I packed a meatball sandwich and a bottle of water as I was afraid that the prices here could be touristy expensive.
But I was relieved to find the prices at hydromania while slightly more expensive, was still reasonable.
Two slices of pizza, french fries and a can of drink of 8 euro
Like a cup of grattachecca, was 3 euro and a pair of nice slippers would cost around 10 euro. Not the cheapest, but definitely not a rip off.
While we were soaking, I was puzzled at first as to why the rides were empty, but Claire said that they are possibly starting only after lunch. And precisely as what she said, at about 2.30 ish, water streamed down the rides and people started to queue up.
One that I tried was this blue slide, but honestly, it was a little mild for me.
And then I thought that I’d give the tobbogan a whirl, but there were so many people queuing up here. The lines didn’t go fast because the safety personnel had to check that everyone went down at the exit safe before the next batch enters.
Which is good because I do have fear about getting stuck in the tube and then another person comes sliding down fast and kicking me into a concussion. Moreover, I’ve already experienced this in Fantasy Island, Singapore before, so it wasn’t really anything new to me.
Nevertheless, the long queue turned me off so I sat in a hydro-massage pool for a while and then looked around me. I saw this in front of me.
This ride looks intimidating. This is like what? Four or five storey tall with a 40 degree slope.
But then slowly I thought to myself, we’ve travelled all the way here and I saw a grandpa looking man doing it, so if he can do it, I can do it too.
And so I climbed up the stairs. There weren’t that many people up there. And when it was finally my turn, I was still feeling confident. It was only till the split second when I felt the inclination was when I thought to myself, “WTF ARE YOU DOING TO YOURSELF MARINA!” and as I descended, I gasped and my heart stopped for a moment.
Luckily it was over soon and I was in one piece. But it was such a thrill that I had a head rush for a full hour and had to sit down on the deck chairs to rest a while.
By this time, it was 4 pm and more and more guests trickled in, and more activities started. It was so festive in there! There was a foam party!
Oh, and if you notice this lady in the green top in the above picture, she’s one of the official photographer and I could be wrong, but I think she goes around snapping pictures for best swimsuit etc.
And towards the end of our stay, there was this couple of dancers doing some samba-pool-dance. It looked so much fun, and still from my rush, I was keen to jump in the water and dance a long too.
But we were both nervous to be stuck in the after work traffic, and reluctantly, we had to leave. Next time I’d like to spend more time in there because I think very worth it
And remember wear more sunblock the next time 🙂
Related links :
Hydromania Water Park – Vicolo del Casale Lumbroso, 200
official website | facebook page
Sidenote : By the way, if you want to shower at the end, you need to have thick skin. Just like the pool near my house, there is a communal shower. This means that there are no dividing walls and no curtains either. Everything is in the open.
