Pool season: roughly March to October
Most large Las Vegas resort pools open in early to mid March and close somewhere between late October and early November; the exact dates shift each year with the weather and each resort's renovation schedule, so treat "March to October" as the safe planning window and check the resort site for your dates. Within that window the experience changes a lot. March and April are pleasant, 70s and low 80s, and the pools are busy with spring-break and convention crowds. May, June, September and the first half of October are the sweet spot: hot enough to swim all day, not so hot that the deck is dangerous by 2 pm. July and August routinely top 105°F, which is why shade, not sun, is the thing you pay for in midsummer.
Outside the season, most resorts keep at least one heated pool and hot tub open for hardy sunbathers, and a few venues run all year: Stadium Swim at Circa Downtown is heated and open in January, TAO Beach has a retractable roof and Marquee converts its dayclub into a covered "Dome" in the cooler months. The full month-by-month picture is in our season and weather guide.
Resort pools vs dayclubs: two different products
A resort pool is included with your room. It opens around 9 am, closes around 6 pm, has a towel desk, lounge chairs on a first-come basis, a bar and a menu, and it is for guests of that resort only, enforced with a room-key scan at the gate. Some resort pools are calm gardens (Bellagio, Wynn); some are full complexes with sand, waves and a lazy river (Mandalay Bay Beach); a few have a DJ area at one end and a quiet end at the other (Aria, Cosmopolitan). Our best resort pools guide ranks them.
A dayclub is a nightclub that happens in daylight. It is a separate ticketed venue with a cover charge, a DJ from around 11 am to 6 pm, bottle service, a 21-and-over rule, a dress code and a door line. Anyone with a ticket can enter, whether or not they are staying at the resort. Encore Beach Club, Wet Republic, Marquee, AYU, Daylight, Élia, TAO Beach and Drai's are the big ones, and each has its own guide in this hub. If you want a party, book a dayclub. If you want to read a book in the sun, use your hotel pool and do not pay a cover for the privilege.
Who can use which pool
The rule that surprises first-timers: your room key is your pool pass, and it only works at your own resort. Sister properties usually do not share. Luxor and Excalibur guests cannot use Mandalay Bay Beach despite the tram; Vdara guests generally cannot use Aria's deck; Palazzo and Venetian share because they are one resort; Encore and Wynn guests can cross between the two. Within a resort, adults-only pools require 21 and photo ID and often an extra charge, and cabana holders get a separate check-in.
If you are not staying at a resort, your options are a paid day pass at properties that sell them on quiet days, a dayclub ticket, a daybed or cabana booking (which includes entry) or a ticketed venue like Stadium Swim. All of that is covered in day passes for non-guests. Families should read family pools; couples looking for a quieter, 21-plus deck should read adults-only pools.
What things cost
As of 2026, and always check the venue site, this is the shape of a pool budget. Resort pool: free with the room; chairs free; umbrella or premium chairs at some resorts $25 to $75; daybeds roughly $100 to $500; cabanas roughly $300 to $1,500-plus, usually with a food-and-drink minimum that replaces or sits on top of the rental. Cocktails run $18 to $25, a beer $10 to $14, a burger $20 to $28, and a bottle of water $6 to $8 unless you bring a refillable one.
Dayclub: general admission from free on a slow weekday (via a guest list or promoter) to $30 to $100-plus on a big-DJ Saturday, with women usually charged less or nothing before a cutoff time. Daybeds start around $500 to $1,500 minimum spend; cabanas and bungalows run from roughly $1,500 to $5,000-plus on peak weekends and far more on holiday weekends with a headliner. Everything is subject to tax and an automatic service charge of about 20 percent, plus a tip. The mechanics are explained in cabanas and daybeds explained.
Etiquette and the unwritten rules
- Chairs are not reserved by a towel. Most resorts will remove belongings from a chair left empty for 30 to 60 minutes; some post the rule at the gate.
- Glass never goes to the pool. Staff will pour your bottle into plastic; do not argue.
- Outside food and drink are banned at every major deck, and bags are checked at dayclubs. A sealed water bottle is usually tolerated at resort pools.
- Tip the server even when a service charge is added, and tip the towel attendant a few dollars if they set up your chair.
- Phones are fine, cameras pointed at strangers are not. Adults-only pools prohibit photography outright.
- Dress codes are real at dayclubs. No jerseys, no baggy shorts, no swim trunks below the knee for men at most; women can wear almost anything swim-related. Bring flip-flops; the deck is hot.
- Music and volume: if you want quiet, avoid the DJ end of the deck and ask for a room on the far side of the tower from the dayclub.
How to plan a pool day that works
Arrive at opening on weekends; at the big complexes the good chairs are gone by 10 am and by noon there may be a queue just to get in. Midweek, especially Tuesday through Thursday, the same pool can be half empty. Bring sunscreen, a hat and a refillable bottle, and plan on a long lunch indoors during the worst of the July heat. Book cabanas and dayclub tables in advance online for any weekend and any holiday; walking up works for daybeds on quiet weekdays only.
Pair the pool with the rest of the trip. A pool day sits naturally before a show or dinner: our shows and nightlife hub covers the evening, and nightclubs explains the tables-and-guest-list system that dayclubs share. If the pool is the reason you are picking a hotel, the best pools guide in our hotels hub compares the resorts, and this hub goes deeper on each. For a quick overview of the party pools, the shows hub's dayclubs and pool parties page is the short version of what you will find here.
Mistakes that cost people money
Buying a dayclub ticket on a resale site the morning of when the guest list would have been free. Booking a cabana at a resort pool for a party of two when a daybed would do. Assuming a sister-hotel key gets you into the famous pool next door. Turning up to a topless pool without ID, or to a dayclub in basketball shorts. Booking a July weekend at a dayclub without shade and spending $3,000 to sit in 110°F sun. Forgetting that a $2,000 minimum spend becomes about $2,700 with tax, service charge and tip. Every one of these is avoidable with ten minutes of reading, which is what this hub is for.
