A strategy to build interaction potentials for describing ionic hydration of highly charged monoatomic cations by computer simulations, including the polarizable character of the solvent, is proposed. The method is based on the hydrated ion concept that has been previously tested for the case of Cr 3ϩ aqueous solutions ͓J. Phys. Chem. 100, 11748 ͑1996͔͒. In the present work, the interaction potential of ͓Cr͑H 2 O 6 ͔͒ 3ϩ with water has been adapted to a water model that accounts for the polarizable character of the solvent by means of a mobile charge harmonic oscillator representation ͑MCHO model͒ ͓J. Chem. Phys. 93, 6448 ͑1990͔͒. Monte Carlo simulations of the Cr 3ϩ hexahydrate plus 512 water molecules have been performed to study the energetics and structure of the ionic solution. The results show a significant improvement in the estimate of the hydration enthalpy ͓⌬H hydr ͑Cr 3ϩ ͒ϭϪ1109.6Ϯ70 kcal/mol͔ that now matches the experimental value within the uncertainty of this magnitude. The use of the polarizable water model lowers by ϳ140 kcal/mol the statistical estimation of the ͓Cr͑H 2 O 6 ͔͒ 3ϩ hydration enthalpy compared to the nonpolarizable model. ͑Ϫ573 kcal/mol for the polarizable model vs Ϫ714 kcal/mol for the nonpolarizable one.͒ This improvement reflects a more accurate treatment of the many-body nonadditive effects.