Salztal Paradies rink in Bad Sachsa, Germany (year round!)

[AlbaNY]

This is one of my most important reviews to make, because this rink in Bad Sachsa is one of the few open all year in Germany.  It also does NOT appear if you search on Google Maps for rinks. 
Finding out about it, by word of mouth, was a huge deal for me.  It changed my outlook greatly after moving and discovering the rinks close for as much as half the year.
https://www.salztal-paradies.de/eislaufhalle.html


This rink is very relaxed and fun.  It is part of an indoor waterpark and sauna.  It wasn’t so easy to locate from the parking structure, being through some doors, down a long wooden corridor, and then even out through another building too. 
You pay, a reasonable 6.50 euros at the cashier area of the water park for several hours of public skate.  Exit that building and find the Eislaufhalle up some more stairs.  They have a token system to enter through tall (NY subway style) turnstiles.  It’s a tough squeeze with my gear!

Inside are bathrooms, small locker room, vending machines, and skate rentals. 
Outside they have a food truck, including beer (it’s Germany lol,) and there is a beer garden for bored non-skaters dragged along.

The ice is nothing to write home about, especially after a few hours, but it is there and welcomed all summer by skaters from hours away. 
Sometimes they resurface halfway through, (but definitely not often enough to meet the standards of some girls I skated with in NY.   )
The rink is undersized at 30x45m.   
It is cheerful with colourful banners and often unusually good music.  (The farewell song to clear the ice is another matter!    ) 

Summer hours are limited to 16:00-19:00 Tuesday-Thursday, but in the season Friday is 14:00-19:00 along other weekend hours beginning at noon and Saturday ice disco sessions.
There is no freestyle, only public, but they allow figure skating and other tricks done by “freestyle” skaters in the German sense of it (looking like breakdancing and rollerblade stuff.)  I saw my coach with a girl doing doubles or maybe triples.  My eye can never catch it to be sure. 
They also have various skate camps. 

[Bill_S]

That's an interesting looking rink! It looks like a good find.

[AlbaNY]

That's an interesting looking rink! It looks like a good find.

Thanks for commenting, Bill.  It is definitely a good find.  If I had photos from the water park I’d have included one or two, because it is nice.  They had a small but very strong wave pool and a nice lazy river for the time the rink ended up not being open (and I luckily had worn a leotard and skirt.)  Also a big raft slide etc.

I suppose my next Rink Roundup should be the other new year round rink.  They have more of a web presence to be found, but I really wonder how many others may be open all year here but not easily searched for?  There have to be some more.  I’d been told only Oberstdorf had summer ice, but then I found Willingen, eventually this Bad Sachsa rink, and the other new one in Wabern.  On my visit back to NY a girl I know from the rink who is a show skater told me she’d be near Stuttgart for a pairs camp soon, so unless she meant Oberstdorf there is at least one more out there.
I do know Berlin is not longer a summer option.  They go to Bad Sachsa now despite the trek.

[LunarSkater]

Alba, that is a great discovery. I'm glad you have it!

[AlbaNY]

Alba, that is a great discovery. I'm glad you have it!

Thanks!  Me too! 

[Query]

Assuming you are back in Germany now, and that you are looking for more rinks...

Go to
  maps.google.com
Search for Germany, and click on it. Then search for "ice rink". 20 ice rinks pop up Are any of them new to you?

You should also search in German.

Of course, Google might only list rinks that pay Google, and a lot of Google is always out of date...

And if you are willing to drive a bit out of Germany, there must be others in nearby countries.

Another idea: From a list of ice skate boot and blade manufacturers, call them all, and ask for the contact info of German pro shops. Contact them all and ask for the names or contact info for ice rinks near them.

Another idea: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_hockey_in_Germany provides a links to German hockey organizations. Look at their websites, and see if they have lists of rinks. Likewise there seems to be an ice skating organization at www.eislauf-union.de. Maybe they have a list of affiliated rinks too.

Another idea, come winter: Find a quiet flat place in a park in Northern Europe. Put down a liner, and add water. A few hours later, you hopefully have a private ice rink.

If where you live has a flat private driveway, you could spray water over it.

I admit some of these ideas have minor flaws. 

[AlbaNY]

Query, I used google maps to search all of Germany and some neighbouring countries in desperation more than a year ago.  The review of this rink was important since it does not show up when searching for rinks. 
There are only a few open in the summer in all the country, and the closest countries also do not while still being hours away from my location.  I did hear of one more possibility in a city that is a few hours away, but I am lucky to have this one and another within an hour and a half drive.  The bigger problem is limited hours and new rules.

It doesn’t get cold enough to make a backyard rink worthwhile, and we have no good flat area.  We live on a hill, so despite a huge driveway and decent yard it isn’t suitable.  Thankfully if the weather does cooperate I have some good field-pond options right outside of town. 

In a few weeks I’ll be in Norway for a bit and hope to skate there.  I see that some rinks seem to be open and some are even 24 hour!

I must update this rink roundup due to the new rules made two weeks ago. 

[AlbaNY]

So, I need to update this Roundup.

As I mentioned in the last comment here, they have new management and new rules.  Unfortunately many things are now banned on the public sessions: spirals, camel spins, and jumps.  The rule was strict at first, but it is more relaxed now.  I’ve seen people jump more recently including a kid doing back flips.  Basically, when the session is clearing out to just a couple people left you might be able to push the boundaries.  I hope the new management understands the value they have in allowing skaters from all over Germany to train in the summer.  They are missing an opportunity if they don’t continue to allow that.

They do have a club, and adults are welcome to the freestyle sessions Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  If I remember correctly it’s at 19:00 and lasts an hour and a half.  It’s pricey for Germany, but you can skate without being a member which is a bit rare here.  I’ll report back with the prices at some point.  Coach Smiley is at the freestyle/club session and gives a bit of coaching.  In my personal opinion she is quite helpful and good.  She has a camp here for a week in the summer with Paul Fentz also coaching it, and it was fantastic.  I had a blast and also learned several new things that I did not expect to work on.  I forget the price but found it extremely reasonable.  It was something like 100€ a day, or less?
Basically this rink is a treasure in a country without much support for adults or year round skating.

[Query]

Breakdancing on ice sounds like fun...

[AlbaNY]

Breakdancing on ice sounds like fun...

They do make it look fun.  I’d make it look as nice as Raygun.