Margaritaville Resort Times Square

The pool

• 60-ft 6th-floor rooftop pool
• Heated, open all seasons
• One-direction street view
• Daily 8am–8pm
• Guests + limited day passes
• Cabanas from $500

Why it's on the list

A genuine lap pool running the length of a narrow 6th-floor deck in Midtown, cabanas down one side, open 8am to 8pm to guests and a few day passes. The view is one direction only — down the street corridor, buildings tight on both long sides — so come for the water, not the outlook. Heated in all seasons, rare enough here to be the point.

The stay

Margaritaville Times Square is the one you can actually swim in during January. New York's rooftop pools are overwhelmingly summer — the Vale, the Arlo and ModernHaus all shut after Labor Day, and the Gansevoort's year-round deck is guests-and-members-only — which leaves this 6th-floor pool as the city's most available winter swim. Be clear about what you are buying: it is a Jimmy Buffett resort dropped into Midtown, the LandShark Bar & Grill is right on the deck with its neon lit and tables full, and the outlook is a single sightline down a Midtown street rather than a panorama. At $$$ that is a fair trade if you want a heated pool and a Broadway address in the same block — and a bad one if you came for quiet.