Family Vacations: Venetian Pool

Florida’s Venetian Pool is an unusual and enormous swimming pool in Coral Gables. It’s reminiscent of a Venetian grotto and looks like a movie set from an old-fashioned Hollywood musical. Honored with a listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the pool dates from the 1920s and was constructed out of an old limestone quarry.

The free-form coral rock lagoon is bordered by lavish displays of blooming bougainvilleas, birds of paradise, palms, and vine-covered loggias, as well as three-story Spanish porticos with viewing areas at their top. The Venetian Pool features lovely cascading waterfalls, a cobblestone bridge, and even a sandy beach.

Children love to swim and play under the falls and around a palm-fringed island and explore a rocky cave grotto at the far end of the pool, all while lifeguards keep a watchful eye. A deeper section of the pool is roped off for older children and good swimmers.

During summer, the pool’s 800,000 gallons of water are drained and refilled nightly from an aquifer that flows beneath it.

Address: 2701 De Soto Blvd., Coral Gables, FL

Telephone: 305/460-5306

Admission: Adults, $10; children, $6.75

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Laura Sutherland is a widely acknowledged authority on family travel and has published several books on the topic, including Best Family Ski Vacations In North America and Tropical Family Vacations.

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