Plunge

The bar atop the Hotel Gansevoort offers a great aerial view of the Meatpacking District (it trumps the Soho House by eight floors), but it comes at a premium. Drinks are $14 apiece, and without an actual cocktail menu, loungers are left to order an overpriced version of their usual poison. The stylish executives and banker types who squeeze in here nightly can lounge at tables lining the stone terraces, or they can venture out to the crowded back garden, where low sofas and wooden benches provide additional seating. What they cannot do is take the plunge in the outdoor swimming pool on the hotel’s rooftop. If you’d like to visit, come midweek, when it’s calmer; the view is well worth it. Just block out the coos of older gents trying to convince PYTs to join them in the Hamptons.