What Hot Tub Shape is Right for Me?

Let’s say you have two kids and two parents in your family. A four-person hot tub is perfect for you, right?

Except, maybe your kids are teenagers. And they are in that period where suggesting they sit in a hot tub with you is just not happening. Or maybe they are quite young. And they don’t sit in the hot tub anyway, but sort of splash around in it.

Or maybe you entertain a lot and want friends over. Or maybe you don’t want your kids in the hot tub at all and want to read and relax in it.

Or maybe you have a small backyard, and the number of people you have isn’t the biggest factor, but the actual size of the space you have available?

These are all the possible choices people who have bought Hydropool hot tubs have had to deal with. Our hot tub dealers have helped many people try and sort out which was the right hot tub for them. So with that in mind, we wanted to write an article about hot tub shapes and sizes, to try and help you!

We’ll cover:

• Hot tub shapes
• Small hot tubs
• Large hot tubs
• Most common hot tubs
• Common mistakes when buying a specific shape or size
• Why all six-seat hot tubs aren’t the same

Hopefully, by the end, you’ll have a better sense of what hot tub size is the right one for you.

What are the Common Hot Tub Shapes?

There are shapes and sizes! There are more shapes than you’d think when choosing a hot tub:

• Heart-shaped: Popular in Niagara Falls hotels and other tourist locations. Fun for nostalgia, hard to sit in is our review. 
• Circles: A classic look that makes seating uncomfortable because the back tends to be rounded. Several manufacturers have them but not all (Hydropool doesn’t). When hot tubs were first built from barrels, this look was common (but since we’re past that now, why would we keep doing that …). Most common in inflatables, which don’t have molded seats at all. These usually sit 4-6, otherwise you’re getting a huge hot tub with a lot of space in the middle that no one is using. 
• Rectangles: The most popular shape today, rectangular hot tubs allow space for the most people while offering the most variety of seating positions. We are fans. 
• Squares: Good for people who want to sit up and straight instead of reclining, although some loungers are sold in square hot tubs. A very common shape, with the most number of seats in the space. These often look “just right.”
• Triangles: Best for corners, small spaces like condo decks and for people who just have to be different.
• Hexagon (and other gons): This is like a circle but with straight sides, so your back doesn’t have to warp around a round seat. You can sometimes find pentagons and octagons, for people really like the stop-sign shape. But these are all pretty rare as they take up a lot of room with the least usable interior space. But they do make you STOP and look (get it? Get it?)

Years ago, Hydropool made a round hot tub: We dug out this piece of file art of a Hydropool Serenity to show you. But all of our Serenities are now squares and rectangles: check them out here.

What is the Smallest Hot Tub Size?

A hot tub for one. It exists here. But they aren’t common at all. Most manufacturers have hot tubs that fit two or three comfortably as the smallest in their lineups.

You can also find specialized wood-fired single-person hot tubs and things like that for remote areas. But in general, most manufacturers start with a two or three-person hot tub and go up from there.

Jacuzzi has a two-seater for example. At Hydropool, we start with a three-seater. Ours is a rectangle, but some make a triangle version, for corners.

The three-seater Hydropool Signature 379 is our smallest offering and is shaped like a rectangle bar of soap. 

What is the Largest Hot Tub Size?

We go up to nine-person hot tubs. Most companies go up to eight. We aren’t saying that to brag! We are just saying that’s what most companies offer. Others offer nines as well.

Want bigger than that? You’re better off buying a swim spa at that point. We have what we call a 13-foot FFP, for Family Fun Pool, which has space for nine and seats for four. Others have models with seats up and down the sides so you can fit a dozen or more people in.

What is the Most Common Hot Tub Size?

The most popular size sold is a four-person hot tub. It’s usually about 7-feet by 7-feet and 3-feet deep. There is no official “standard size” or "standard hot tub dimensions" but that is the most typical.

Smaller hot tubs take up less of a footprint than that, while larger ones take up more. Standard hot tub sizes might be more like 5-feet-by-7, and a large could be up to 9-feet-by-9.

Is There a Common Hot Tub Size Mistake?

If we see one miscalculation more often, it’s people buying too much hot tub. And if we see one thing more often than not, it’s people buying smaller sizes when they buy their second hot tub. Just like how a car has a single driver in it most of the time, a hot tub has one or two people in it most of the time. 

Are All Sizes of Hot Tubs Legitimate?

Great question. As in, do all six-seater hot tubs seat six people?

We will tell you right now: The answer is no. “You really want to look at the size of the footwell,” stresses Chris Dawe, Hydropool’s Director of Sales, Canada. That’s a good place to start when considering seating options. If you have six seats and no place to put anyone’s feet, you don’t have a true six-seater hot tub, no matter how large of a hot tub it is.

Another way to tell is if a company’s six-seater hot tub is the same size as its four-seater. Six seats but with no more space isn’t going to hold any more people.

Here’s the best test we can suggest. Get a sense of how many people you want to be able to sit in the hot tub. Then, when you go to buy and are looking at the floor model, have that many people actually get into it. We do this all the time at Hydropool, so people can get a realistic sense of the space the hot tub actually has.

See how much room there is in this six seat Hydropool Serenity model? It holds four with ease, so you know six can climb in there.

What Size of Hot Tub is Right for Me?

We wrote this article because many people come into our retail outlets and ask this question. We know there are many options when it comes to hot tub sizes and walking into a showroom with dozens of models can be confusing.

This article was intended to break down the sizing and shape options that everyone has, as well as tips on how to ensure you’re getting the right hot tub for you.

We hope it helped. If you have more questions though, we’re happy to help you out. Find your local retailer here.