Good hotel pools in London are just harder to find than they should be. Paris seems to have figured this out, with even small boutique hotels offering plunge pools and a hammam. London, less so.
The pool at Raffles London at The OWO is one worth knowing about.
You arrive down a large spiral staircase, which sets the tone nicely. It feels like you’re going somewhere, not just ducking into a basement. The heated pool itself sits beneath the Old War Office building in Whitehall, stone walls, low light, quiet in a way that’s unexpected for being two minutes from Trafalgar Square.
We went in the late afternoon before dinner, which turned out to be the perfect time. There are carafes of chilled cucumber-and-mint water, along with a full drink menu if you want something more. Towels waiting, lockers with proper dressing areas, light and airy in a way that underground spaces rarely are.
The pool is long enough for actual laps. There’s also a thermal spa suite with vitality pool to soak in, adults only, no children. The loungers are a mix of doubles and individual beds. We stayed two hours and could have stayed longer.
A few things worth knowing. They offer a limited number of day spa passes, so you can access the pool without booking a room, worth looking into if you’re not staying. For families, they keep children’s life vests and floats on hand and allow kids in the pool during set family hours in the morning and afternoon, which is rare at this level.
If you’re looking for somewhere to decompress away from the city without actually leaving it, this is it. The first London hotel pool we’ve felt strongly enough about to write about. We’ll be back.
Note: Raffles at The OWO provided support for the reporting of this story.