Most people have grass bordering their patio, whether it surrounds a pool or not, and landscape bed here and there. There is no requirement for gravel. Gravel has a tendency to limit/discourage any future planting changes.

In addition to the above, it is not very nice to walk on with bare feet (gravel worse than river rock but neither good), which seems to be a pretty common occurrence around pools :-)

Well I have concrete around pool most people would walk on that

Concrete is MUCH easier to walk on than any sort of natural rock or gravel. And with pool parties, pool activity or any kids, staying on the concrete is not guaranteed.

Rocks have a tendency to mysteriously find their way into pools.

4 comments and not one person answered my question.

You might need to give a little more description of the area. Pictures or plan/drawing would help give context what you’re asking. Like how far away is the patio from the pool? Or size of your pool patio- 100 sf vs 500 sf that might make a difference in the width. Or how large is the whole yard?

I don’t know anyone who has river rock around a pool deck/patio area.

There...now you have 5 people who didn’t answer your question. 🙄

LOL! Everyone of us answered your question.....it just wasn't the answer you were expecting.😉

Chuckle. Another one not liking the answer.

Ok, I’ll give it a shot: my answer is Something Else. You DID offer that as an option.

I am unsure of your situation. Are you saying you have a pool that already has decking? Are you thinking of something like this?

Yes exactly similar to your pic.

Your pic looks really nice

Gregory, in the picture above, the person created a planting bed and then mulched it with gravel instead of wood-based mulch. Typically, planting beds are not created all around the pool. Typically, they are not mulched with gravel. (If you're thinking of it as a great weed preventer, it's not.) There are negatives to choosing gravel over wood based mulch for a planting bed. In essence, you're asking how deep (front to back) should a planting bed be. It depends on what's in it. If you're not going to plant anything in it. it's just a decorative border ... up to you to decide its width according to your criteria.

Did you want to grow plants in the rocks? Many plants or just a few?