Gansevoort Meatpacking

The pool

• 45-ft heated rooftop pool (84°F)
• Hudson + downtown skyline
• Year-round
• Guests & members only

Why it's on the list

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.

The stay

The Gansevoort is the Meatpacking original — the district's first luxury hotel when it opened in 2004, and still its anchor after a top-to-bottom renovation finished in 2021. The address is the win: the High Line, the Whitney, Chelsea Market, and Little Island are all a few minutes on foot, with the West Village directly south for dinner. At $$$ it's fair for the location and the year-round pool — the pick if you want downtown New York's gallery-and-dinner circuit at the door and a real swim above it; expect scene, not seclusion, on weekend evenings.