The best hotel and rooftop pools in NYC

The Rockaway Hotel + Spa’s outdoor heated pool is officially open for the season. Surrounded by loungers and cabanas, the buzzy outdoor pool area features DJ spin sets, and craft cocktails complete with a full menu. For $75-100 for non-hotel guests, pool passes are available daily, 9am-1pm or 1pm-pm, and includes access to the infrared sauna, lounge spaces, towels, and robes. Cabanas are also available to rent daily, 10am-6pm, starting at $1,000 and come with a designated server. 

Hotel Indigo’s modern, open-air sun deck and stunning 70-foot, heated pool provide spectacular views of Brooklyn and the Manhattan skyline. Pool passes start at $160 for access on weekdays and $190 on weekends. This year, the pool lounge has reopened after a renovation as the Aliya Cocktail Den & Pool Club. The cocktail den is a speakeasy-inspired space that opens up to the panoramic pool deck.

The 1960s-themed hotel’s rooftop infinity pool and observation deck is an experience like no other as planes fly directly above you. This year, the rooftop Pool Bar has been styled to look like the 1960s surfing documentary The Endless Summer. The heated infinity pool is actually cooled down for the summer and purified every 30 minutes. You can swim daily from 11am to 11pm with reservations starting at $25 for adults and $10 for children. Of course, for New Yorkers traveling to the pool for the day or weekend, it’s best to book a room, which comes with free pool access.

Good news for Williamsburg residents who enjoy swimming, drinking and getting a tan in a luxurious setting: The William Vale boasts a 60-foot heated pool that is open to the public seven days a week during the summer (8am-8pm). Check out the picturesque setting for yourself by reserving a day pass (morning and afternoon day passes are $150). A loveseat sofa for two goes for $200, a pergola for two for $250. For three, you can book a daybed or lounge for $400, and groups up to six should spring for a cabana ($600). You can also get access to the hot tub or sauna for 45 minutes for $90.

This hotel glass-bottom pool setup resembles a Hamptons oasis, which is complete with sand imported from the popular vacation spot as well as private cabanas with flat-screen TVs. Relax in the lounge while sipping on a cold drink before floating on an inflatable unicorn. The pool deck is open starting at 11am, weather permitting. You can purchase a day pass ahead of time for two people and two chaise loungers for $160 (Monday-Wednesday), $200 (Thursday and Friday) or $300 (Saturday and Sunday). Cabana reservations can be made by emailing nydreamdtevents@taogroup.com (pricing available upon request).

At West 42nd between 11th and 12th streets, Life Time SkyDeck provides a breathtaking backdrop of the Manhattan skyline and music, libations and events all summer long. You can book a private cabana and enjoy bites and cocktails next to two beautiful, infinity-edge pools! Non-members can visit with a day pass to the club and SkyDeck pass, available for between $200 to $220, based on the day of the week/holiday.

The Arlo Williamsburg (formerly the Williamsburg Hotel) boasts a pool and high-top lounge offering unobstructed views of Manhattan’s skyline. When you need to relax after swimming laps, enjoy sipping martinis and champagne at ART Williamsburg—an elevated, sky-high drinkery. While the rooftop pool and lounge is open daily for hotel guests exclusively, it’s open to visitors with advance reservations. You can reserve your spot here for $185. Cabanas range in price from $230 to $300.

Make a splash in Long Island City at the Summer Club, formerly the Profundo Day Club, where DJs will be spinning tunes all season during special events as you float and drink in its 4-foot-deep, 50-foot-long pool. It’s open seven days a week noon-7pm, but with no entry after 6 pm. There are a variety of options for pool use from $75 general admission to $200 cabana reservations from noon to 5pm.

O.K., so technically this spot isn’t in NYC, but to experience the country’s largest and most accommodating Korean Spa, it’s worth the quick jaunt to Jersey. It’s unlikely that you’ll even cover the whopping eight floors of treatments that this relaxation arena offers, including nine pools (including an open-air hydrotherapy pool and rooftop infinity pool), seven sauna rooms, a restaurant and adjoining hotel, but we dare you to try. Among the highlights at this full-service facility are the spectacular rooftop infinity pool, which offers an untouchable view of the NYC skyline; Korean body scrubs; and a scorching charcoal sauna. In the summer months, the outdoor pools easily beat the sardine baths of the city. There’s really no reason to leave when you’re in the K-Spa equivalent of Disneyland. A daily pass, which includes use of the pool and saunas, begins at $115.

This luxury hotel by British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson opened in 2023 in the NoMad district with over 450 guest rooms, suites and penthouses, plus an outdoor pool club that you can get a day pass to, starting at $80 for a pool lounger resy. A daybed goes for $150 and a cabana is $200. It’s open daily from 8am to 8pm. Book it here.

Margaritaville is a party inside, from the heated pool and rooftop patio with the adjoining Landshark Bar & Grill to the stunning 360-degree views from the 31st and 32nd floors of the 5 o’Clock Somewhere Bar. If you don’t mind the Parrothead aesthetic, you can get a day pass for $100, a daybed for $250 and a cabana for $500. Get there early (it opens at 10am) though because it closes at 4pm.

A rooftop lounge, nightclub and rooftop pool, Somewhere Nowhere is perched on the 39th floor of Chelsea’s Renaissance Hotel. The club, which claims to be the tallest hotel rooftop with a pool in New York City offering an immersive escape, serves up 360-degree views of Manhattan that you can enjoy poolside (no swimming). Somewhere Nowhere will have daily programming from pool parties with world-renowned DJs to captivating live music or an immersive dinner experience with a magic show. Just be sure to make a reservation before you head over.