Chicago Hotels With an Indoor Pool, Ranked for a Winter Stay

By Matt Spaulding · October 30, 2026

Photo: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Peninsula Chicago has the best winter pool we found. The pool is 25 meters long and the water averages 82 to 84 degrees Fahrenheit. It's on the 19th floor, with an indoor hot tub, and it stays open until 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday. In December it's dark by about 4:30 p.m., so an evening swim is a swim in the dark, and the closing time decides how long you get. Three ranked hotels stay open an hour later, until 10, but the Peninsula's is the longest pool that gives a length and the only one that says how warm the water is.

We ranked from each hotel's own pool page, read on 30 October 2026. The fees, and a few details from the hotels' own sites, come from our reads on 21 October. We didn't swim in any of them. The order is our judgment from what the pages say about length, closing time, water temperature, what sits beside the pool and who can use it when. The Park Hyatt isn't ranked because its own pages wouldn't load for us.

1. The Peninsula Chicago

Half Olympic size, the hotel says: 83 feet long and 3.5 to 4 feet deep. Floor-to-ceiling windows surround it, and there's an outdoor Sun Terrace too. It opens at 6 a.m. every day and closes an hour early on Sunday, at 8. The hotel suggests families come from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 3 to 7 p.m. The pool is for hotel and spa guests. The booking screen added only room tax to the rate. The hotel is a 3-minute walk (0.12 mi) from the Water Tower, in our Magnificent Mile and Streeterville area.

2. Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago

At 75 feet, the heated chlorine pool at the Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago is 8 feet shorter than the Peninsula's. It's on Level 14M and open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. There's no lifeguard. No hot tub either, the health club page says, but the locker rooms have a dry heat sauna and a eucalyptus steam room. Guests under 16 must be with an adult 18 or older.

3. InterContinental Chicago Magnificent Mile

The pool at the InterContinental Chicago Magnificent Mile is 14 stories above Michigan Avenue and as old as the building, which was once the Medinah Athletic Club. It still has its 1920s Spanish Majolica tiles and a terra cotta Neptune fountain. It's open 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., the longest day of the seven, with dedicated swimming lanes. The hotel calls it junior Olympic size and gives no length in feet. Its $29.81/night amenity fee plus tax pays, among other things, for pool movies and refreshments on Fridays and Saturdays.

4. The Langham, Chicago

A hydrotherapy hot tub, a steam room, a Himalayan salt sauna and an herbal sauna share Level 4 with the 67-foot pool at The Langham, Chicago. The Trump and the Ritz-Carlton name a sauna and a steam room, but in the locker rooms. It closes at 8 every night, though, the only ranked pool that does. That's about three and a half hours after dark, two fewer than at the Trump or the InterContinental, which is why it sits below them. The page says the recliners are heated and never says the water is. Children must be with an adult 18 or older.

5. The Ritz-Carlton, Chicago

A glass atrium covers the 52-foot heated lap pool at The Ritz-Carlton, Chicago, and the hotel says the glass gives it natural light all year. It ranks below the Langham because the pool is 15 feet shorter and the page names no hot tub. Swimming runs 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, and kids can swim from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The hours either side, 6 to 8 a.m. and 8 to 10 p.m., are adults only. Both locker rooms have dry cedar saunas and aromatherapy steam rooms.

6. Four Seasons Hotel Chicago

The Four Seasons Hotel Chicago puts its heated 44-foot pool inside the spa, under a glass dome, with an infinity edge. At 44 feet it's the shortest pool here that gives a length. Hotel guests swim free, and the spa's whirlpool and steam room come with it. Hours are 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., and to 9 on Friday and Saturday, when it's adults only from 7. For a family in December it lists more than any other ranked hotel: a Kids' Room with arcade games, and on Saturdays from 28 November to 2 January, holiday movie screenings at the pool with a kid-friendly dinner buffet, doors at 6 p.m. The page doesn't say how the movies fit with the adults-only hours on the same night.

7. Palmer House, a Hilton Hotel

The heated pool at Palmer House, a Hilton Hotel is in the 8th-floor fitness center. The hotel calls it new. It's free to registered guests and open 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the gym runs 24 hours on a room key. The page never gives the pool's length and says nothing about a lifeguard or an age limit. Palmer House adds a $25.00/night mandatory charge, plus tax. Cloud Gate is an 8-minute walk.

Other pools, with less to go on

The St. Regis Chicago, in the Loop, has a heated indoor pool in its fitness facility and an outdoor pool sundeck. We found no hours or length for it. The JW Marriott Chicago, also in the Loop, has one heated pool and a whirlpool, open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and to 10 on Friday and Saturday. There's a $30/night destination fee, plus tax.

The Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk has a heated pool with floor-to-ceiling windows. There's a sauna and a sun deck, and no length or hours on the page we read. It adds a $30/night destination fee plus tax ($35.67 with 18.9% tax).

Nobu Hotel Chicago, in the West Loop, calls its pool the Tranquility Pool, and it has daybeds. It's open daily 5 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., the latest close in this guide. Its pages don't say whether the pool is indoors or out, so check before you count on it in January. The pool and the steam rooms come with the $25/night destination fee plus tax, whether you swim or not.

Hilton's list, unranked

Hilton's own list of Chicago hotels with an indoor pool names these eight and says nothing else about their pools. We haven't read the hotels' own pool pages yet. One is in River North and one is on the Magnificent Mile: the Embassy Suites by Hilton Chicago Downtown River North and the Embassy Suites by Hilton Chicago Downtown Magnificent Mile. Two share a building in the West Loop: the Hampton Inn Chicago West Loop Fulton Market Area and the Homewood Suites by Hilton Chicago West Loop Fulton Market Area. The other four are in the South Loop and near McCormick Place: the Hampton Inn Chicago McCormick Place, the Hilton Garden Inn Chicago McCormick Place, the Home2 Suites by Hilton Chicago McCormick Place and the Hilton Garden Inn Chicago Downtown South Loop. The first three of those are each a 7-minute walk from the King Drive entrance of McCormick Place West. Hilton's page for the Home2 Suites calls its pool saltwater.

Pools that are closed or seasonal

The services page for Loews Chicago Hotel says its indoor lap pool will be closed for repairs through 31 December, and it prints no year. If the pool is the reason you're booking, ask the hotel before you pay. The rooftop pool at The Hoxton, Chicago opens in May and closes after October, so it's shut all winter.