The fabulously retro TWA Hotel at New York’s JFK airport boasts midcentury modern touches galore, from the vintage departures board clacking away in the Sunken Lounge to the wall-to-wall Twister Room to the former terminal’s overarching Eero Saarinen design. Now the property has transformed a rooftop infinity pool overlooking the runway into a cozy winter chalet, just in time for a post-holiday pick-me-up.
Dubbed The Runway Chalet at The Pool Bar, the 1960s ski lodge–themed space channels the après experience with cozy beverages (think: hot toddies and spiked hot chocolate) and snacks like salt and pepper fries, cheese and charcuterie plates, and chocolate fondue.
The bar is tented and heated, its centerpiece a vintage fireplace kitted out with electric logs, and there’s enough skiing gear strewn about that – if not for the jet fumes, and for the planes themselves – you'd almost forget you were gazing out on the airport’s Runway 4 Left/22 Right and not the slopes themselves.
Even if it seems too cold for a dip, the “pool-cuzzi” is open for swimming, with water set to a steaming 95℉. But if stripping down to your skivvies in sub-zero temps doesn’t appeal, there’s always a more seasonally appropriate activity: ice-skating.
The 56ft by 44ft Runway Rink is built around the hotel’s tarmac-level cocktail lounge, housed in a 1958 Lockheed Constellation Connie airplane, and requires 3500 gallons of frozen New York City tap water to keep it in business. There’s open skating daily through February, weather permitting, at $15 for adults and $10 for kids, and a free skating show too, with performances on Friday and Saturday evenings.
The TWA Hotel opened in mid-May after three years of construction and renovations. The Runway Chalet is open from 11:00 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, and reservations are accepted. For more information, visit twahotel.com.