Review: AquaPalace

If you, your children, or most of all, your inner child bolt for the pool at the first sign of summer, you´ll be happy to know that the water park has grown up and is now more than a few creaky slides. Billed as the largest water park in central Europe, the newly opened AquaPalace (located in Čestlice, 6 km south of Prague) sports saunas, a spa complex, and a fitness center—as well as nine water slides—making it an attractive destination for summer and beyond. Although still in the breaking-in stages and a slight challenge for visitors with limited Czech, AquaPalace delivers a range of imaginative water thrills, including ones you might have only dreamed about, as a kid.

Last week, I went with swimsuit and towel in hand, to review the complex. AquaPalace´s marketing executive, Zdeňka Švecová, showed me around before I dove into the water park. Basic admission to Vodní svět (“water world”), the water park, entitles you to two hours and is registered for each visitor on an electronic-chip wristband worn even in the pool. (See the end of the article for information on admission fees.) Everything in the park works on the “chip” system: by scanning the chip wristband at electronic terminals, you can locate, lock, and unlock your locker; check the time left in your account; and—of special interest (or fury) to parents—automatically charge items at the restaurants, cafes, and the Algida ice cream bar.

· Relaxation Palace, with a lap pool at the center, plus “slow” and “fast” rivers, or swimming channels, looping around the perimeter. To my delight, when I slid into one of these channels, I discovered that one of the slow rivers leads directly to the fast river. It confirmed that the best feature, perhaps, of the water park is each section´s creative design and surprises. My first and lasting impression was of bouncing around in the imagination of designers and kids asked to create their dream water park.

· Treasure Palace, with a shipwreck, paddling pool, sea creature murals and sculptures, and a wave pool which generates 10 minutes of gentle waves every hour. The waves look more like a choppy day on the Vltava river than anything surfable—and kids over eight will probably abandon it quickly for the higher-octane Adventure Palace in the next room—but toddlers and parents looked happy. (The shallow kids´ pools are warmer than other parts of the park, whereas the swimming pool in the Relaxation Palace was suitably cooler for doing laps.)

AquaPalace also has spa and sauna wings which broaden the center´s appeal beyond families with kids, to adults looking for an escape from work for the afternoon or evening. From Rassoul to Hammam spa treatments, and Roman-style saunas (complete with Corinthian columns) to a Finnish kollo log-house sauna, the array of choices is a bit bewildering. In fact, AquaPalace seems to have thought of everything except the possibility of visitors not fluent in Czech. However, Ms. Švecová noted that each manager speaks English, and most of the younger staff speak English and/or German. In addition to Czech, I heard Russian, Vietnamese, and (in one case) English, while in the park.