In Brief
Which Edinburgh hotels have a real swimming pool?
For length, Kings Manor in Portobello and Village on Crewe Road South, both 20 metres, and both an hour or more on foot from the Royal Mile. In the centre the longest is One Spa's 19-metre pool at the Sheraton Grand, 21 minutes from St Giles', with the tightest children's window in the city: two hours on a weekday, 5 pounds per child over five, and a 16-plus thermal suite. Kimpton Charlotte Square publishes 12 metres. Apex Grassmarket and Apex Waterloo Place are free for residents and ten minutes from the Mile but publish no length. The Balmoral has an indoor lap pool and will not say how long it is.
Key takeaways
- Five of eleven publish a length: 20, 20, 19, 17 and 12 metres.
- The two 20-metre pools are 58 and 95 minutes on foot from the Royal Mile.
- Four publish a children's window; One Spa's costs 5 pounds per child over five.
- Six famous names have no pool on their own sites, and eight operators blocked every request.
Which one fits how you travel
Find the row that sounds like your trip. Every pick below names the traveller it is wrong for, so you can book on fit rather than on rank.
| If you are | Book | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Swimming lengths in the centre | Sheraton Grand Hotel and Spa, One Spa | Nineteen metres, the longest published pool inside the walkable city. |
| Wanting a free pool near the Mile | Apex Grassmarket Hotel | Free for residents, ten minutes from St Giles', no spa price attached. |
| A family wanting the longest pool | Best Western Kings Manor Hotel, Oasis Leisure Club | Twenty metres at a constant 1.2 metres deep, free to residents, with a children's window. |
| Arriving at Waverley | Apex Waterloo Place Hotel, Yu Spa | A heated pool free for residents, a few minutes from the station. |
| Driving with children | Dalmahoy Hotel and Country Club | Children in the pool from 8 to 7:30 every day, then adults only. |
| After a spa pool in the New Town | Kimpton Charlotte Square, Spa at Charlotte Square | Twelve metres inside the spa, 9 to 8 daily, for guests and members. |
- Free cancellation on most rooms
- No booking fee
- Prices on Trip.com
What the bands mean
No Edinburgh hotel publishes a static nightly rate, so the bands are relative tiers. What the operators do publish is the layer around the pool: One Spa charges 5 pounds per child over five during its children's hours, Village charges its own hotel guests 5 pounds to enter the leisure club unless the rate includes it, Apex Waterloo Place sells outsiders a day pass at 15 or 20 pounds and gives residents the pool free, and Kings Manor is the one hotel that says free to all hotel residents in those words. Whether the Sheraton's room rate includes its pool is never stated in plain words on the spa's site, and the hotel's own site could not be read.
- £
- Kings Manor in Portobello and the Holiday Inn on Corstorphine Road
- ££
- Village, Novotel, Leonardo Murrayfield and Apex Grassmarket
- £££
- Apex Waterloo Place, Dalmahoy, Kimpton Charlotte Square and the Sheraton Grand
- ££££
- The Balmoral
The 11 hotels, and who each one is wrong for
Walking times are to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile. Every hotel's published address was geocoded and routed on OpenStreetMap foot routing at 4.5 km/h to St Giles' Cathedral on the High Street on 6 September 2026. Where a hotel is not a walking base, the number says so rather than pretending: two of the three longest pools are an hour or more out.
Festival Square, Tollcross
Sheraton Grand Hotel and Spa, One Spa
£££Rated 4.5 out of 5 on Google Maps from 2,577 reviews, as of October 2026Best all-roundThe longest published pool in central Edinburgh, a 19-metre infinity-edge pool on the top floor of One Spa, with the rooftop hydropool the photographs show beside it. The hydropool is a warm jet pool you sit in, not swim in.
- Walk to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- 21 min to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- Right for
- An adult who wants to swim proper lengths and use a thermal suite in the middle of the city.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: A family expecting to take children in when they like: under-16s get two fixed windows a day and pay 5 pounds each over five.
- The catch
- The catch: Children's swimming is Monday to Friday 8:30 to 9:30 and 4 to 5, weekends 8:30 to 9:30 and 3 to 5, at 5 pounds per child over five, and the thermal suite and hydropool are 16-plus. Whether the room rate includes the pool is not stated in plain words anywhere on the spa's site, so confirm at booking. The thermal suite closes from 21 September 2026 for a week, with some experiences out for four weeks; the pool and hydropool stay open.
Grassmarket
Apex Grassmarket Hotel
££Rated 4.4 out of 5 on Google Maps from 1,342 reviews, as of October 2026Best valueAn indoor heated pool with a sauna and gym under the castle, free for residents and for guests of Apex City next door, ten minutes from St Giles'. The best-placed free pool in the city.
- Walk to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- 10 min to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- Right for
- A family who want a free pool ten minutes from the Royal Mile without a spa price attached.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: A swimmer who wants to know the length: the hotel publishes neither a dimension nor pool hours.
- The catch
- The catch: No length, no depth and no pool hours are published. The pool shuts on 9 and 10 September for maintenance, and parking is optional at 20 pounds a day.
Waterloo Place, east end
Apex Waterloo Place Hotel, Yu Spa
£££Rated 4.4 out of 5 on Google Maps from 2,132 reviews, as of October 2026A heated indoor pool, steam room and sauna inside the hotel's Yu Spa at the east end of Princes Street, free for residents and sold to outsiders on a 15 or 20 pound day pass, ten minutes from St Giles'.
- Walk to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- 10 min to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- Right for
- Anyone arriving at Waverley who wants a pool a few minutes from the station.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: A family with young children, because the spa's treatments are 18-plus and no children's rule for the pool is published either way.
- The catch
- The catch: No length and no pool hours are published, only the treatment spa's 10 to 6. Lockers need a 1-pound coin, and there is no parking at the hotel.
Princes Street, east end
The Balmoral, Irene Forte Spa
££££Rated 4.7 out of 5 on Google Maps from 3,321 reviews, as of October 2026The grand hotel above Waverley with an indoor lap pool inside its spa, open 7 in the morning to 10 at night, eight minutes from St Giles', and no published length for the lap pool it names as one.
- Walk to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- 8 min to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- Right for
- Anyone who wants the address and a morning swim before the Mile fills up.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: Anyone who needs a child rule or a length: neither is published, and the hotel has no FAQ page to look in.
- The catch
- The catch: The spa page says indoor lap pool and nothing more: no metres, no child rule, and no statement of whether guests swim free. Three pages and the sitemap were read and none of them answers.
Charlotte Square, New Town
Kimpton Charlotte Square, Spa at Charlotte Square
£££Rated 4.6 out of 5 on Google Maps from 1,921 reviews, as of October 2026A 12-metre indoor pool inside the spa of a New Town townhouse hotel, open 9 to 8 daily to hotel guests and members, 19 minutes from St Giles'.
- Walk to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- 19 min to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- Right for
- A couple who want a New Town address and a spa pool without leaving the building.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: A lap swimmer: at 12 metres it is the shortest published pool here.
- The catch
- The catch: Twelve metres is a spa pool rather than a swimming pool, no children's rule is published, and the hotel publishes two different sets of gym hours on two of its own pages, both recorded.
Lauriston Place
Novotel Edinburgh Centre
££Rated 4.3 out of 5 on Google Maps from 3,884 reviews, as of October 2026A heated pool and spa at the hotel on Lauriston Place, 15 minutes from St Giles', which the operator confirms exists and describes in one sentence.
- Walk to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- 15 min to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- Right for
- A family who want a mid-range central hotel with a heated pool and are not fussy about its size.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: Anyone who wants to know anything else: length, hours, indoor or outdoor and the child rule are all unpublished.
- The catch
- The catch: The operator's page carries a pool icon, a pool section with no text, and one sentence about recuperating in the heated pool and spa. Everything a swimmer would ask is unpublished.
Crewe Road South, Comely Bank
Village Hotel Edinburgh, Village Gym
££A 20-metre pool inside the Village Gym at the hotel on Crewe Road South, one of the two longest published in Edinburgh, open 6 to 10 on weekdays with published children's swim windows.
- Walk to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- 58 min to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- Right for
- A swimmer or a family who want proper lengths and set children's hours, and will take the bus into town.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: Anyone who assumed the room rate covers the pool: the hotel charges its own guests 5 pounds to enter the club unless the rate, a Club Room or a specific rate includes it.
- The catch
- The catch: It is 58 minutes on foot from the Royal Mile, and the hotel's own FAQ says guests pay 5 pounds a head for leisure-club entry unless their rate includes it. Children's swimming is Monday to Wednesday 9 to 12 and 2 to 5:30, Thursday to Sunday 9 to 12 and 2 to 7, with no age published.
Portobello
Best Western Kings Manor Hotel, Oasis Leisure Club
£Rated 4.3 out of 5 on Google Maps from 1,989 reviews, as of October 2026A 20-metre pool at a constant 1.2 metres deep in the Oasis club at a Portobello hotel, free to all hotel residents in the operator's own words, open 6:30 to 9:30 on weekdays.
- Walk to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- 95 min to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- Right for
- A family who want the longest pool in the city, free, with a published children's window and a constant shallow depth.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: Anyone who wants to walk into town: it is 95 minutes on foot from St Giles'.
- The catch
- The catch: Portobello is a bus ride from the centre, 95 minutes on foot. Under-15s swim 9 to 7 on weekdays and 8 to 7 at weekends with one adult to two children, and the club says there is no full-time lifeguard. The gym is 16-plus and the sauna and steam ages are not published.
Murrayfield
Leonardo Hotel Edinburgh Murrayfield, Juvenate
££Rated 4.0 out of 5 on Google Maps from 2,002 reviews, as of October 2026A 17-metre indoor pool in the Juvenate club at a hotel on the western edge near Murrayfield, open to registered guests, with about a hundred free parking spaces, and best treated as bus or tram territory.
- Walk to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- Not a walking base, about 6 km out to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- Right for
- A family driving in who want free parking, a real pool and the tram into town.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: Anyone without a car or a tram pass: it is roughly six kilometres from the Royal Mile.
- The catch
- The catch: Children are allowed with adult supervision but no times are published, and the club's hours are the gym's, 6:30 to 10 on weekdays. It is on Clermiston Road on the edge of the city.
Corstorphine Road
Holiday Inn Edinburgh, Spirit Health Club
£An indoor pool, sauna and jacuzzi in the Spirit club at the Corstorphine Road hotel beside the zoo, confirmed on the club operator's own site because the hotel's own pages refused every request.
- Walk to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- 76 min to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- Right for
- A family visiting the zoo who want a pool next door at the lowest rate on this page.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: Anyone who wants the length in writing: a 13-metre figure exists only in a search snippet and is not repeated here.
- The catch
- The catch: The hotel's own site returned 403 on four paths, so the pool is confirmed only from the club operator's facilities list, which gives no dimension, no child rule and Saturday hours it does not print. It is 76 minutes on foot from the Mile.
Kirknewton, outside the city
Dalmahoy Hotel and Country Club
£££Rated 4.4 out of 5 on Google Maps from 3,401 reviews, as of October 2026An indoor heated pool at a country hotel and golf club near Kirknewton, with the most generous published children's hours in the set, 8 in the morning to 7:30 in the evening daily, and an adults-only evening.
- Walk to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- 190 min, a drive in practice to St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile
- Right for
- A family with a car who want a full day in the pool and an adults-only hour after bedtime.
- Wrong for
- Wrong for: Anyone visiting Edinburgh itself: it is 190 minutes on foot and a drive from everything.
- The catch
- The catch: The poolside page gives 6am to 10pm in its headline and a timetable that ends at 9:45 with last entry 9:15; both readings are recorded. No length is published. Children must leave by 7:30 and under-16s must be accompanied.
Where not to book in Edinburgh
Six famous names have no pool, verified on their own sites: the Scotsman, whose Escape spa domain is now for sale and which offers a guests-only gym; the Bonham; Prestonfield; Braid Hills; Hotel du Vin, whose group FAQ says only its Exeter hotel has spa facilities; and the Leonardo Royal on Jeffrey Street, gym only. Apex City of Edinburgh has no pool in the building and sends guests next door to Grassmarket, free. Eight hotels cannot be listed either way because their operators refused every request: the Waldorf Astoria Caledonian, InterContinental The George, W Edinburgh, Virgin Hotels, Radisson Blu, Courtyard, the Edinburgh Marriott, and Norton House, whose own domain is now a for-sale page. The former Macdonald Holyrood has changed hands and its new operator's page is blocked, so its pool is unverified. Unlike Dublin, no Edinburgh pool publishes a swim-cap rule.
When to book
August and Hogmanay fill everything, and the pool hotels are no exception. For a swim with children, the binding constraint is the window rather than the date: check the club's own children's hours for the day you arrive, and at the Sheraton budget 5 pounds per child per session. Confirm pool inclusion at booking wherever the operator does not say free for residents in those words.
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