ModernHaus SoHo

The pool

• 18 storeys above SoHo
• Hotel guests only
• Memorial Day–Labor Day
• 21+ after 5pm

Why it's on the list

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 stay

ModernHaus is the James reborn — the onetime James New York tower at Grand and Thompson closed in March 2020 and reopened in 2021 rebuilt around a serious art collection (Calder, Condo, and KAWS among them), with Selene doing modern Greek under a retractable roof and Jimmy running the 18th-floor deck. SoHo from here means the gallery-and-boutique grid at the door, with Tribeca a short walk south for dinner reservations. At $$$, book it knowing the deal: the pool is guests-only — the rare Manhattan scene pool you can only swim in by sleeping over — and that exclusivity is exactly what keeps the deck usable on a hot Saturday.