The pool is the amenity Scottsdale resorts compete on, and the arms race has produced some of the best hotel water in the country: multi-acre complexes with slides and lazy rivers, sand beaches, adults-only decks, and a dive-in movie schedule. What most visitors don’t know is that nearly all of it is available to non-guests on a day pass, and in summer that pass is the cheapest great day in the city. Here’s the map, by the kind of trip you’re on.
The family water parks
Fairmont Scottsdale Princess. The biggest pool spectacle in the city: multiple pools including a lagoon, a white-sand beach pool, twin 200-foot waterslides, an adults-only retreat and a pool-bar scene that runs all day. If the kids are the trip, this is the pool; it’s also the tournament-weekend pool for teams playing at WestWorld next door.
Westin Kierland. The 900-foot lazy river, the waterslide and the FlowRider surf machine make this the most active pool complex in North Scottsdale, and the day pass is one of the most reasonably priced. The adults-only pool on the other side of the resort is the escape hatch. Kierland Commons is across the street for lunch.
Grand Hyatt Scottsdale. The 2.5-acre water playground at Gainey Ranch is the original: ten pools, a three-story waterslide, a sand beach, and a gondola on the lagoon. Central, easy to reach, and the best pool for a group with kids of different ages. Hash Kitchen is across the road.
Great Wolf Lodge. The 85,000-square-foot indoor waterpark on the Community’s land beside Scottsdale is held at 84 degrees year-round, which makes it the only pool on this list that’s better in August than in March. Day passes exist and sell out on school holidays.
The grown-up decks
The Phoenician. The three-tier pool complex at the foot of Camelback, with a mother-of-pearl-tiled pool at the top, a slide, cushioned daybeds and cabanas, and the spa’s rooftop pool above it all. The most beautiful pool in the city and the one to pick for a couple who want a family resort’s water without the family.
Sanctuary Camelback Mountain. The infinity-edge pool on the north slope of the mountain is adults-first, quiet, and the best view from a lounge chair in the Valley. Day access comes with the spa.
Omni Montelucia. Three pools in Moroccan courtyards below Camelback, and the Joya spa’s rooftop pool above them; the best couples’ pool complex on the corridor.
Mountain Shadows. The long, straight main pool points at Camelback and the resort’s mid-century design makes the deck the most photographed in Paradise Valley. Hearth ‘61 is the lunch.
The Boulders and the Four Seasons are the far-north answer: pools set into granite, quiet, and the reason to drive to Carefree.
The party pools
W Scottsdale. The WET Deck is the original Old Town pool party, the bachelorette and bachelor headquarters, with DJs on weekends in season and cabanas that sell out. Hotel Valley Ho. The OH Pool is the design-forward version, mid-century, with a cabana scene of its own and a five-minute walk to dinner. Hotel Solaya. The former Saguaro, reopened in 2026 under Hyatt’s JdV flag, with its pool deck on the Civic Center park. Caesars Republic. The rooftop pool atop the Fashion Square tower is the newest scene in the district. Talking Stick Resort. The casino’s pool, with the Orange Sky tower above it, runs summer parties for a crowd that’s there for the tables.
How a day pass works
Most of these resorts sell pool access to non-guests, directly or through the day-pass platforms that list the properties side by side. The pass buys pool and deck access for the day, usually from morning until the pool closes, and the price scales with the resort and the season. Daybeds and cabanas are the upgrade: shade, service, a place to leave your things, and a food-and-drink minimum that’s reasonable split four ways. Kids’ passes are cheaper; some adults-only pools don’t sell them at all.
Three rules. Book ahead on weekends, because passes cap. Check what’s included; a resort fee or a parking charge can hide in the fine print. And read the property’s own site before the platform, because the direct offer sometimes bundles a spa credit or lunch that the third-party pass doesn’t.
The spa is the other door in. A treatment at most flagship spas buys the day at the spa’s own pool, which is the quietest water on the property; the spa guide ranks them.
The summer math
From June through September the resorts drop rates by half and the pools are the reason to be here. A day pass at a flagship in July costs what a lunch does in February, the deck is empty on weekdays, and the pool is the one place in the city that’s genuinely comfortable at 2:00 PM. The summer playbook explains the rate calendar and the resort-fee trap; the short version is that a family that books a summer day pass at the Princess or Kierland has bought the best-value outing in Arizona.
The rules of the deck
- Sunscreen before you arrive, and again at noon. The Field Kit has the ones we use; the pool bar’s is expensive and the desert UV doesn’t take a break for water.
- Chairs are claimed early. By nine on a winter weekend the shaded loungers are gone. That’s what the cabana is for.
- Bring water. The pool bar is happy to sell it. A bottle from the car is smarter.
- The adults-only pool is the sleeper. Most big resorts run one, and it’s where the actual quiet is.
- Kids and the slide lines. The Princess and Kierland slides have height rules; check before you promise anything.
The one we’d pick
A family: the Princess in March, Kierland in July. A couple: the Phoenician’s top tier, or Sanctuary with the spa. A group: the WET Deck on a Saturday, the Valley Ho on a Sunday. A local on a Tuesday in August: whichever pass is cheapest that week, which is the whole point of living here.