Sky & Swim · NY
Manhattan on one side, Brooklyn on the other, the East River between them — every rooftop pool in this city has an opinion about which view is worth more.
4 picks · Manhattan & Brooklyn
Our top pick is starred. The rest are ordered by how often we'd choose them given a free afternoon and a willing companion.
A 60-foot rooftop pool hovering over North Brooklyn, with the Manhattan skyline laid out across the water like it owes you something. The views change character with the light — blinding at noon, cinematic at dusk.
Compact but capable — the rooftop pool is on the smaller side but is rarely crowded at the right hours. Good for an afternoon session, especially mid-week; the operator programmes weekend DJ sets and Sunday day parties, so that is when the deck turns.
Manhattan's most reliably fun rooftop pool — the Jimmy rooftop, atop what's now ModernHaus SoHo (formerly The James) — where the scene is the point and it delivers on sunny weekends. Eighteen storeys up, the panorama runs from the Hudson round to Midtown and the East River bridges. Note the bar is open to the public but the pool is not.
The rooftop pool that helped invent the Meatpacking scene — 45 feet of water held at 84°F so it stays swimmable while the district hums below. The Hudson sits to the west, the skyline to the east, and the crowd is exactly as seen-and-be-seen as the neighborhood promises. Guests and members only, which keeps it from tipping over.