Perhaps your pool vibe is a floppy hat, a chic canvas tote with your latest beach read tucked inside, and an oversize towel to dry your toes after you eventually decide to dip them in. Maybe you’re the parent who shows up with floaties, squirt guns, and diving sticks. Or are you cap, goggles, and Speedo guy? In any case, nothing says summer like slipping on a bathing suit and hitting a swimming hole.

Whether you like to be in the water, on the water, or just next to the water, we’ve rounded up the best Denver-area pools for getting wet-’n’-wild.

Jump Ahead:

Rose & Thorn

Women in loungers cheers cocktails next to a pool with mountain views
Photo courtesy of UP Marketing Group
  • Location: 1740 36th St., Denver (RiNo)
  • Price: Varies; call  720-601-8117 to make a reservation
  • Best for: Your “book club”

Opening on July 12, this new 4,000-square-foot rooftop atop the Penrose, a luxury apartment building in RiNo, is for the girlies. The Rose portion of Rose & Thorn offers in-water loungers, a rosé-centric cocktail menu, and bites like watermelon salad and crab guacamole and chips. (Branded as a “dual-concept hospitality destination,” its underground lounge counterpart, Thorn, is set to open later this summer.) Although some seats are reserved for Penrose residents, groups can make pool reservations Monday through Wednesday from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., Thursday and Friday from noon to midnight, and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to midnight. Whenever you go, don’t leave too early and miss the view—and photo op—of the sun setting behind the mountains.

Congress Park

  • Location: 850 Josephine St., Denver (Congress Park)
  • Price: Free with recreation membership; daily admission is $1 for kids ages two to 18, $3 for young adults ages 19 to 24, $3.50 for adults, and $2 for seniors 65-plus; annual pool passes cost $20, $35, $50, and $30 for those age groups, respectively
  • Best for: Your older kids and their BFFs

Originally constructed in 1955, Congress Park’s pool has long been an oasis for neighborhood residents. A $10.1 million renovation before the 2022 season makes it worthy of packing up your progeny and their friends for a wallet-friendly visit to the revamped swimming hole—which includes a new pool area, a splash pad for toddlers, and a new bath house. Children with more advanced water skills can practice their freestyle form in the lap pool, while younger kids have a dedicated place to frolic in the form of a youth pool surrounded by seating from which caregivers can keep a watchful eye. This year, Denver Parks and Recreation–run outdoor pools will be open from June 9 to August 10.

Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center

Gaylord Rockies Resort
Photo courtesy of Gaylord Rockies Resort
  • Location: 6700 N. Gaylord Rockies Blvd., Aurora
  • Price: Poolside cabanas are $334 for a half-day during the week, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. (weekends are $434); $500 for a full weekday ($701 on weekends)
  • Best for: Your college buddies

No, the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center isn’t Mandalay Bay. But if you book a cabana by the Aurora mega-hotel’s pool or lazy river, order a few piña coladas, and squint your eyes against the (superior-to-Nevada) Colorado sunshine, you just might be fooled. Cabanas one and two are conveniently close to the hot tub, while eight through 12 are on the opposite end of the pool from the kid-favorite waterslide feature. All 15 shade structures have plush seating, TVs, and food and drink service from Arapahoe Springs Bar & Grill. Before reserving one, check the Gaylord’s social media posts, which frequently have discount codes for Colorado residents, to score up to 20 percent off nightly rates that start at $359. Plan to make a night of it by grabbing dinner at one of the on-site restaurants, which range from an English pub to a steakhouse to a sports bar with a 75-foot flatscreen.

Four Seasons Hotel Denver

  • Location: 1111 14th St., Denver (Downtown)
  • Price: $150 minimum spa purchase per person, Monday through Thursday only from Memorial Day to Labor Day
  • Best for: Yourself

If you’re looking to treat yo’ self to a revitalizing spa day—and who isn’t?—we suggest booking a service (perhaps the 50-minute, $190 hot stone massage?) at this luxurious Mile High City Four Seasons outpost. Monday through Thursday, visitors who spend at least $150 at the spa are welcome to lounge on the third-floor terrace that hosts the hotel’s tranquil pool. There, you can also indulge in a robust menu of bites, such as a Hawaiian-style poke bowl and prosciutto-topped flatbread, and sips like the From Tulum to Turin, which combines tequila, Aperol, falernum, and lemon juice.

Swimply Pool
This pool in Foxfield can be rented for up to 25 guests. Photo courtesy of Swimply

Swimply

  • Location: Varies
  • Price: Varies
  • Best for: Your extended family

It was only a matter of time until someone founded the Airbnb of swimming pools. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Swimply allows users to book private pools—yes, as in, someone’s backyard—by the hour. A search of the Denver area pulls up 30-some options, most of which are outside city limits. Many are set up to accommodate large groups, however, making it an intriguing idea for that family reunion you’ve been delaying. On our shortlist: this 2.5-acre Aurora property (max capacity: 50), which boasts a diving board, a sound system, and games, including a human foosball court, cornhole, yard Jenga, and pingpong; and this 25-person Foxfield venue, where you also have access to an indoor pool house rec room and (for an additional fee) a grill and basic kitchen.

Splash at Fossil Trace

  • Location: 3151 Illinois St., Golden
  • Price: Varies based on age and residency, but adult, lap-swimming-only fees start at $9.25 to drop in, $84 for a 10-visit punch card, and $169 for a season pass (good through August 17)
  • Best for: Your swolemates

We know you’re all about leg day, bro—but swimming is an excellent full-body workout that builds endurance and cardiovascular fitness in addition to muscle. Add some laps to your gym rat routine by heading to the Splash at Fossil Trace. The 10-acre water park in Golden has a 25-meter outdoor pool with eight lanes that are open seven days a week. (Should you choose to bring the whole fam, though, there’s a zero-depth play pool with slides and fountains and a gigantic sandbox for the kids.)

Paradice Island Pool at Pioneer Park

  • Location: 5951 Monaco St., Commerce City
  • Price: Cabana rentals start at $50 per day for Commerce City residents ($70 per day for nonresidents) Friday through Sunday and $30 for residents ($50 for nonresidents) Monday through Thursday; admission fees vary based on age and residency but top out at $10 for nonresident adults
  • Best for: Your toddler’s birthday party invitees

Northeast of Denver, Paradice Island Pool lives up to its name—in your youngsters’ eyes, at least. Three waterslides, a 250-foot lazy river, and a 1,700-square-foot toddler pool are filled with hokey-but-fun game-related decor and water features: giant dice and chess pieces, Mario-esque pipes, Tetris-inspired walls, etc. (For older kids at heart, there’s an activity pool that hosts volleyball games and lap swimmers as well as a 5,000-square-foot leisure pool.) Ensure your group gets into the first-come, first-served Commerce City–run facility by reserving a cabana up to three weeks in advance for residents (two for nonresidents). The glorified shade-sail-covered areas have picnic tables and range in capacity from 12 to 24, and you’re welcome to bring your own food and nonalcoholic drinks—making it an ideal place to host a summer birthday bash.

Water World

People in clear tubes float in a lazy river ride
Photo courtesy of Water World Colorado
  • Location: 8801 N. Pecos St., Federal Heights
  • Price: Full-day, walk-up admission is $56 for adults and $46 for children, but you can get discounts by purchasing tickets in advance online
  • Best for: Your SO

You might think of Water World as a great place to take your kids—and it is. But we argue that it’s also an ideal spot to play hooky on a weekday with your sweetheart. With nearly 50 rides and attractions, you’re bound to rediscover your childlike joy together, whether by seeing who can speed faster down Sunset Racer or giggling at the animatronic dinos on the Voyage to the Center of the Earth. Plus, does it get more romantic than holding hands as you bob around a lazy river?

Read more: The Oversimplified Guide to Water World

Eldorado Springs Resort & Pool

  • Location: 294 Artesian Drive, Eldorado Springs
  • Price: $25 for adults; $15 for kids and seniors
  • Best for: Your Colorado native pals

Advertised in the early 1900s as the country’s largest swimming pool, this classic Front Range summer destination—owned by Eldorado Artesian Springs, who also use their area water rights to bottle Eldorado Natural Spring Water—reopened in late summer 2024 after missing five seasons to accommodate extensive renovations. Longtime Coloradans who remember packing into their parents’ wood-paneled station wagons to escape the heat up Eldorado Canyon will appreciate that the updates retain the approximately 7,000-square-foot pool’s charming yesteryear vibe (oldies on the sound system, ice cream and hot dogs at the snack bar) while modernizing the locker rooms, making the facility more energy-efficient and ADA-compliant, and adding a beer garden. And the stunning mountain backdrop—a new sun deck faces the canyon walls—hasn’t changed a bit.