The Windsor Suites

The pool

• 24th-floor heated infinity pool
• Center City panorama
• May–October
• Day passes available

Why it's on the list

Twenty-four floors up on the Parkway, heated, with a water wall and a genuine panorama back across Center City. It is the best value-to-altitude ratio in the city by a wide margin — and it sells day passes, which the Four Seasons does not.

The stay

The Windsor is the value play, and an all-suite one — rooms come with kitchens, which makes it the obvious pick for a longer stay or a family that doesn't want to eat every meal out. It sits on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Logan Square, walking distance to the art museums and a straight shot into Center City. At $$ it's the best value-to-altitude ratio in Philadelphia, and the deck runs May through October — the longest season in town — so it's the pick if you're watching the budget or traveling outside high summer.