Edinburgh Hotels With a Swimming Pool (2026)

City-centre pools: swim in the morning, walk to the Castle after breakfast. These eight are all within about 20 minutes' walk of the Castle esplanade or Waverley, and every one has an indoor pool you can use as a guest. Radisson Blu Hotel, Edinburgh City Centre is my pick for a pool in the Old Town, because no other hotel on the Mile has one. Its 80 High Street building, with 238 rooms, has a heated indoor pool with a sauna, a steam room and a gym for guests. Waverley is about five minutes' walk and the Castle about ten, uphill. Rooms start at about £122 off-peak, nearer £190 on autumn dates. Our Old Town hotels guide has the rest of the Mile.

The hotel doesn't publish the pool's length, its opening hours or its children's times, so ask at the desk before you promise the kids a swim. It's a big, busy hotel with 238 rooms sharing one pool, so an early swim is the calm one. The rooms facing the High Street pick up the late-night crowd, so ask for the back.

Apex Grassmarket Hotel is the pool under the Castle rock. It has a heated indoor pool, a sauna and a Technogym gym downstairs at 31-35 Grassmarket, the Castle esplanade is about five minutes up the Castle Wynd steps, and Waverley about 13. Rooms start at about £139 off-peak, and its sister a few doors along, Apex City of Edinburgh, sends its guests here to swim for free, which makes that one (from about £76 on a February Tuesday) the cheapest way to sleep near a pool in the Old Town. Our Old Town hotels guide covers both.

It's a hotel pool, not a leisure centre: the hotel lists a sauna but no steam room, and there's no length or timetable on its pages, so check the times when you arrive. The Grassmarket is the Old Town's Friday-night square, so ask for a room at the back facing the Castle. Guests park for £20 a day if there's a space, a rare offer this close to the Castle.

Apex Waterloo Place is the cheapest pool in the New Town and my choice for two people arriving by train. Yu Spa, downstairs in the Georgian block on Waterloo Place, has a heated indoor pool with a steam room, a sauna and a relaxation room next door, and guests can use all of it. Waverley is about nine minutes' walk and Calton Hill's steps are behind the building. A 19-square-metre City room starts at £198 on a November Tuesday, or £171 if you join the free Apex Insider scheme. More in our New Town hotels guide.

The pool's length and opening times aren't on the hotel's pages (the 10am to 6pm hours are the treatment rooms'), so ask at check-in before you plan an early swim. There's no car park, and the entry City room has no view. For a swim, a steam and a flat walk to the station it does the job for less than any other New Town pool.

Novotel Edinburgh Centre is the pool I'd book for a swim at either end of the day and a room that fits a family. On Lauriston Place near the Meadows, it has a heated indoor pool with a whirlpool and a sauna, open from 7am to 10pm every day, and the standard room has a queen bed plus a sofa bed. The Castle esplanade is about 12 minutes' walk and Waverley about 20. A standard room was £163 on the non-refundable rate for Tuesday 10 November, with the visitor levy already included, or £154.85 for Accor members. For the streets around it, see our Old Town hotels guide.

The pool is one depth throughout, 1.2 metres, so small children will need armbands, and there are no set children's times to plan around. The gym is listed as an extra charge; the pool isn't, but ask at check-in. Parking is limited to 15 spaces, at about £22 to £24 a night. It's a chain hotel on a busy road, chosen for the pool and the location rather than the character.

Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa has the best hotel pool in central Edinburgh, and it's the one I'd book if swimming is the point. One Spa, on Festival Square behind the Usher Hall, puts a 19-metre infinity-edge pool and a poolside sauna up on the top floor, open from 6:30am to 10pm every day and free with every room, and the paid Escape at One thermal suite adds an indoor-outdoor rooftop hydropool. A room was about £174 on a November Tuesday, taxes and fees included, and it's a 19-minute walk up Lothian Road to the Castle. Our West End and Haymarket hotels guide has the neighbours.

Children get two windows: under-16s swim with an adult from 8:30 to 9:30am and 4 to 5pm on weekdays, and 8:30 to 9:30am and 3 to 5pm at weekends, at £5 for each child over five, and under-fives need an adult each in the water. The rooftop hydropool and thermal suite are 16-plus. Escape at One is being refitted with a new steam room and cold room: it closed on 21 September 2026 and is due to reopen in part on 26 September, with some areas shut for about four weeks, while the pool itself stays open. One Spa sells memberships, so the pool isn't the hotel's alone after work. It's also a plain 1980s building on a conference square; you book it for what's upstairs.

The Caledonian Edinburgh, Curio Collection by Hilton is the grand old railway hotel at the west end of Princes Street with an indoor pool in the basement. The Spa has the pool, a whirlpool, a sauna, a steam room and a two-floor gym, all included in a stay and open from 6am to 9pm, and it's the pool I'd pick if you want the history and the Castle view from your window as well as a swim. It's a quarter of an hour on foot to the Castle, and a Queen Deluxe was about £284 on an off-peak Tuesday, with the visitor levy already in that price. More in our West End and Haymarket hotels guide.

Children aged 11 and under can swim from 8 to 10am and 3 to 6pm, and anyone under 16 needs an adult in the water with them, one adult for every two children. The pool is shared: the Caley sells £35 day visits, through a separate door on Lothian Road, and club memberships, so it isn't a quiet residents' pool after work, and it closes at 9pm. For a longer swim, the Sheraton's One Spa is five minutes' walk away.

The Balmoral has the pool closest to Waverley and the one I'd book for a splurge. Rocco Forte's clock-tower hotel sits on top of the station, three minutes from the platforms, and the Irene Forte Spa downstairs has an indoor lap pool with a sauna and a steam room, open from 7am to 10pm every day. That long day is the point: you can swim before an early train or after a late dinner. Rooms start at £788 for a flexible Classic Queen on a November Tuesday. The rest of Princes Street is in our New Town hotels guide.

A lap pool is for lengths, not splashing, and the spa doesn't publish its children's rules or the pool's size, so ask before you bring a family. The entry Classic room is 19 square metres over the courtyard, breakfast costs extra (£71), and the bill carries a discretionary 5% service charge. For a family pool in the New Town, the Kimpton is the better fit.

Edinburgh Marriott Hotel Holyrood is the pool I'd book with a car. It's at the foot of the Royal Mile by the Scottish Parliament, the Holyrood Spa's pool is 14 metres, indoors and heated, with a UV sauna and a gym alongside, open to every hotel guest from 6:30am on weekdays and 8am at weekends, and the hotel has its own car park at £25 a day, which almost nothing else in the Old Town offers. Holyrood Park is a short walk for a morning climb before the swim. Rooms start at about £174 on a mid-November Tuesday. Our Old Town hotels guide has more around Holyrood.

It's the far end of the Old Town: Waverley is about 15 minutes' walk and the Castle 22, uphill all the way. The spa doubles as a members' gym, so the pool is shared with locals, weekend hours end at 8pm, and 14 metres is short for lengths. Children's times aren't published, so ask the spa. For a family with a car, a swim after a day on Arthur's Seat is worth the walk.

Family swim: pools with room for children. A pool is only useful to a family if the children are allowed in it when you're there. These five welcome them, with family rooms to match; three publish set children's times, and the two in Corstorphine take bookings for slots. Kimpton Charlotte Square is where I'd take children who want a swim in the New Town. The spa under seven Georgian townhouses on Charlotte Square has a mood-lit 12-metre pool, a sauna, a steam room and experience showers, and all of it is free to residents. Under-16s swim with an adult from 8 to 9am, 12 to 1pm and 4 to 5pm every day. Rooms start at £241 for an Essential double on a November Tuesday. More in our New Town hotels guide.

Those three hours are the only ones: the rest of the day the spa is 16-plus, which keeps it calm for adults but means a missed 4pm slot is a missed swim. Twelve metres is a splash pool rather than a lengths pool. It's a 17-minute walk to Waverley, and the 13-square-metre Essential room is too small for a family, so budget for a Premium.

Kings Manor Hotel is the family pool with the fewest rules, and one of the cheapest rooms in the city with a pool of its own. The Best Western on Milton Road East, near Portobello, has a 20-metre pool, a spa bath, a sauna and a steam room in its leisure club, all free to residents. Under-15s can swim from 9am to 7pm on weekdays and 8am to 7pm at weekends, as long as there's an adult for each pair of children. Rooms start at £115 on a November Tuesday. See our Portobello hotels guide for the beach side of town.

It's a long way from the Castle: Brunstane station, eight minutes on foot, has trains to Waverley in ten minutes, or about 22 minutes on the 113 or 124 bus, and the beach at Morton Street is 11 minutes on foot. The club sells local memberships, the building reads dated, and weddings take over the function suite on Saturdays, so ask for a room away from it. For a family with a car who want a real pool and a beach, it's worth the trade.

Holiday Inn Edinburgh is the zoo-and-a-swim hotel. It's the 303-room block at 132 Corstorphine Road, four minutes' walk from the zoo gate, with a heated indoor pool (13 metres by 5.6) and a sauna open from 7am to 9pm, a free car park and family rooms that sleep four. Princes Street is about 21 minutes on the bus from a stop three minutes away. The cheapest double starts at about £182 on an October Tuesday, and a family room about £202. More in our guide to hotels near Edinburgh Zoo.

You reserve the pool in slots, by emailing the Spirit Health Club, so it won't suit a spontaneous splash, and the hotel doesn't publish children's times or say whether residents pay; the club does sell armbands and goggles. Thirteen metres is small, the standard rooms are dated, and it's a 3.9 on Google from more than 3,300 reviews: reliable rather than loved. The 80 parking spaces go first come, first served. With children and a car, those catches don't outweigh the zoo next door.

Leonardo Hotel Edinburgh Murrayfield is the other Corstorphine pool, longer than the Holiday Inn's and cheaper for a family room. It's on the north side of Corstorphine Hill, on Clermiston Road, nowhere near Murrayfield, with a 17-metre indoor pool, a sauna, a steam room and a gym that guests use free, and about 100 free parking spaces. A standard double is about £140 on an October Tuesday with the visitor levy included, and the bunk-bed family room about £174. The 26 bus into the city stops three minutes from the door. More in our guide to hotels near Edinburgh Zoo.

The Juvenate club is open from 6:30am to 10pm on weekdays and 7am to 8:30pm at weekends, children swim with an adult, and swims are booked in slots through reception. It's a busy local leisure club too, and the one lift doesn't reach it, which is a nuisance with a buggy. It's a business hotel with a pool rather than a family resort, and the zoo is a 29-minute walk over the hill. With a car and a budget, it's the better-value pool of the two in Corstorphine.

Village Hotel Edinburgh has a 20-metre heated pool and two family swim sessions a day: 9am to 12pm and 2 to 5:30pm Monday to Wednesday, and 9am to 12pm and 2 to 7pm Thursday to Sunday. There's a steam room and a sauna too, and the club is open from 6am to 10pm on weekdays. It's the one I'd book for a family with a car who want the pool to fill a wet afternoon. It's on Crewe Road South in north Edinburgh, near the Western General, so it's a bus base: about 19 minutes to Waverley by public transport, nearly an hour on foot. A double was £119 room only for Tuesday 10 November. Stockbridge is the nearest area in our guides; see our Stockbridge hotels guide.

Read the rate before you book. The cheapest Saver rate doesn't include the leisure club, so swimming costs £5 each on top; Club Rooms include the gym and pool. The visitor levy isn't in the price either and is paid on arrival. It's a busy members' gym as well as a hotel, and the setting is a retail and hospital district rather than anywhere you'd stroll. For a family with a car who want long pool hours at a fair price, it works.

Edge-of-city and airport-belt pools: a car park, a swim and a quick exit. West of the city, towards the airport, the pools get bigger and the parking gets free or cheap. Novotel Edinburgh Park is my pick for a family on the tram line. It sits between Edinburgh Park station and the tram stop, and its heated indoor pool, whirlpool, sauna, steam room and gym are all free to guests. Rooms start at about £140 for a Superior Queen on a November Tuesday, and that room sleeps four with a sofa bed. More in our guide to hotels near Edinburgh Airport.

It's a business-park hotel, surrounded by offices and a retail park, so the pool is the fun and there isn't much else on foot. Parking is £15 a day and breakfast about £17 a head, which adds up for a family. With children and a flight to catch, it's the easiest pool near the airport.

DoubleTree by Hilton Edinburgh Airport is the only hotel on the airport campus with a pool, and the one I'd book for a swim the night before a long flight, as long as you budget for the pool fee. It has a 17-metre pool with a sauna, a steam room and a spa bath, a free shuttle to the terminal every 20 minutes from 3am to 10am, and the terminal is ten minutes on foot anyway. Rooms start at about £162 room only on a November Tuesday. More in our guide to hotels near Edinburgh Airport.

The pool isn't free: the hotel charges £5 an adult or £10 a family to use it, and an adult has to be in the water for every two under-16s. On top of that it's the dearest of the campus hotels, parking is £20 a day unless you take a Parkfly rate, and parts of the hotel are due a refresh. For a swim and a short walk to check-in, nothing else at the airport offers both; for a free pool, the Novotel at Edinburgh Park is 15 minutes away on the tram.

Delta Hotels by Marriott Edinburgh used to be the Edinburgh Marriott, out on Glasgow Road, and it's the pool I'd pick for leaving the car before a trip. Its leisure club has an indoor pool, a whirlpool, a sauna, a steam room and a gym, free to guests, and the Park Here, Fly There rate gives free parking for up to 15 nights. The Airlink 100 to the terminal stops outside and the Edinburgh Gateway tram stop is nine minutes' walk. A Deluxe room was about £155 on a mid-November Tuesday, and the rate here moves more from week to week than at any other airport hotel. More in our guide to hotels near Edinburgh Airport.

Parts of the hotel are dated while a refurbishment works round the rooms, and the price swings hard by date. The pool closes at 7:30pm at weekends, and it's worth asking about children's times when you book. Without the parking deal, the Novotel at Edinburgh Park has a similar pool for less.

Norton House Hotel & Spa is the country-house pool, a Victorian house in 55 acres of grounds near Ingliston, a short taxi ride from the terminal. It has an 18-metre indoor pool, a warm hydrotherapy pool, a sauna, a steam room and an experience shower, and free parking. The health club opens from 6:30am on weekdays and 7:30am at weekends. The cheapest rate, about £140, is the non-refundable Stay and Fly deal with a morning taxi to the terminal thrown in. More in our guide to hotels near Edinburgh Airport.

Children swim only from 9 to 11am and 4 to 6pm, and under-8s need one adult for every two children. The club shuts at 8pm on Fridays and weekends, earlier than the city pools, and the health club's FAQ says it has no disabled access. It gets busy with spa guests at weekends. There's no tram from the door, so plan on a car or a taxi into the city.

Dalmahoy Hotel & Country Club has the longest pool day and the most generous children's hours of the country hotels. Its 18-metre pool, under big windows in the country club, is open from 6am to 10pm, children swim with an adult from 8am to 7:30pm, and from 7:30pm the water is adults only. There's a sauna and a steam room, two golf courses and 1,000 acres of grounds, all inside the City of Edinburgh boundary at Kirknewton. Rooms start at £117.99 with the visitor levy included. Drivers reach the airport in about 12 minutes. See our guide to places to stay outside Edinburgh.

It's a resort, not a city base: the X27 and X28 buses take 32 minutes to Princes Street, after a walk of about ten minutes to the stop at the gate. The pool is shared with the country club's members, and under-16s aren't allowed in the gym. The cheapest rooms are in the modern wing. For a family weekend with a pool and parkland it's the best fit here; for a city break, stay in town.

Macdonald Houstoun House is the cheapest hotel with its own pool near Edinburgh, just over the city line at Uphall in West Lothian. The 16th-century tower house has an 18-metre pool with plenty of natural light and a gym in its leisure club, open from 6:30am to 10pm, and rooms from £96.67 on a November Tuesday. The airport is 17 minutes by car, and Uphall station (a 24-minute walk) has trains to Waverley in 17 to 23 minutes. It's outside the city boundary, so no visitor levy. More in our guide to places to stay outside Edinburgh.

The free swim depends on booking direct with Macdonald; book through an agency and you lose it, along with the free parking. The pool area is small and the Standard rooms are dated, and there are no advertised children's times, so ring ahead. If you're coming for the old house, the tower rooms are the ones to ask for.