Best Hotels with a Rooftop Pool in Madrid
Hotels with a rooftop pool in Madrid are a small group in our listings, led by Palacio de los Duques, with a seasonal rooftop pool and a terrace over the city, and VP Plaza España Design, whose Ginkgo Restaurant and Sky Bar crowns a hotel beside Plaza de España. Both sit close to the Royal Palace or Gran Via, so you can sightsee in the morning and be on the roof by late afternoon. This page explains how each rooftop works and which suits your dates. Both are five-star hotels, so the choice is mostly about mood: a calm garden-and-pool setting or a lively sky bar.
Madrid is a city of terraces and rooftops, and the habit is old: people go up to catch the evening breeze once the sun drops. Sunset comes late in summer, dinner later still, and a rooftop is where the long hours between the two get spent. A pool up there turns that habit into a stay.
Where to stay
Two rooftops, two very different evenings
Rooftops are where Madrid shows off its sky. The city sits at about 650 metres, summer afternoons are hot and dry, and a pool above the street gives you air and a view that a ground-floor pool cannot. The catch is seasonality, because many rooftop pools open only part of the year. Knowing that before you book is the difference between a highlight and a closed gate.
Palacio de los Duques, a Gran Melia Hotel, opens its rooftop pool seasonally, with a terrace and city views. The hotel is a 19th-century palace, 300 metres from the Royal Palace, the Royal Theatre and the Cathedral, and it adds a private historic garden and a Thai Room wellness centre. The rooftop therefore sits inside a quieter, more formal stay. Guests rated the location 9.7 for a two-person trip, and the Sabatini Gardens are 300 metres away. Check opening dates, because the pool is seasonal. The terrace adds city views to the pool, and the wellness centre below gives the stay a second water option on days when the roof is closed or too hot.
VP Plaza España Design stands beside Plaza de España and Gran Via, and its rooftop identity is the Ginkgo Restaurant and Sky Bar, with panoramic city views. The hotel is tagged for a rooftop pool and lists a spa and wellness centre, 2 restaurants and selected rooms with private terraces over the Madrid skyline. The evening here is social: cocktails, music and dinner on the roof. It suits travellers who want the rooftop as the main event of the night. Check with the hotel which parts of the rooftop are open to guests and at what hours, because bars and pools on a roof commonly keep different schedules from each other.
The two rooftops differ in tone. Palacio de los Duques is calm and historic, and the pool belongs to a garden and wellness setting where conversation stays low. VP Plaza España Design is designed around a sky bar, with a livelier mood after dark. Both are five-star hotels, both sit within a short walk of a major landmark, and both give a rooftop that you can reach without leaving the building. The practical test is simple: if you want to swim and then read in peace, take Palacio de los Duques, and if you want a cocktail and a crowd after the pool, take VP Plaza España Design. Neither forces the choice, but each makes one evening easier than the other.
Other hotels in our listings also describe rooftop pools. Hotel Montera Madrid, Four Seasons Hotel Madrid and Urban Hive Madrid mention them, and they appear on our spa pool page. If the two hotels above are booked or out of season, those are the next places to check, particularly Hotel Montera Madrid for its Gran Via Metro Station position a few steps from the door. Compare their rates and check each hotel's opening dates for the month you plan to travel, since pool seasons and bar hours can change from one year to the next.
A traveler's takeI booked VP Plaza España Design for the sky bar and ended up staying on the roof for most of an evening. Plaza de España was right below, Gran Via a few minutes away, and the skyline turned orange before anyone thought about dinner. In a city where dinner starts after nine, the long wait on the roof felt like part of the plan.
Rooftop poolPalacio de los Duques, a Gran Meliá Hotel - The Leading Hotels of the World
A seasonal rooftop pool inside a 19th-century palace
Why guests love itA stay here is a slow one. The mornings can go to the Royal Palace, 300 metres away, and the Sabatini Gardens next door, while the afternoons return to the private garden, the rooftop terrace and, in season, the pool. The Thai Room wellness centre and the jacuzzi take over once the sun drops, and dinner in one of the two Spanish restaurants closes the day without another walk.
Rooftop poolVP Plaza España Design
Rooftop pool and sky bar beside Plaza de España
Why guests love itThe evening is the point of this stay. Days go to Gran Via shopping and the sights near Plaza de España, and the roof takes over at sunset, with the pool, cocktails and music at the Ginkgo Sky Bar. The spa and wellness centre handles the cooler hours, and rooms with a rain shower and a bathtub finish the night. Private terraces in selected categories give a quieter way to see the skyline.
Local tips
- 1Confirm the rooftop pool dates at Palacio de los Duques before you book, because the pool is seasonal and a winter stay will not include it.
- 2Pick VP Plaza España Design if you want the sky bar as part of the evening, and reserve a table at Ginkgo Restaurant and Sky Bar in advance.
- 3Visit between June and September for the best rooftop conditions, when Madrid's dry heat makes a pool above the street worth the trip.
- 4Ask VP Plaza España Design about its rooms with private terraces if you want the skyline from your own space instead of the shared roof.
- 5Pair a rooftop evening with the Sabatini Gardens at Palacio de los Duques, which are 300 metres from the hotel and quiet after the day-trippers leave.
- 6Look at Hotel Montera Madrid, Four Seasons and Urban Hive if both rooftop hotels are full, since their listings also describe rooftop pools.