Looking for a hotel pool that will wow? We know where to head. From the Maldives to Miami, these are some of the world’s most memorable places for a dip.
It’s hard to know where the pool ends and the sea and sky begin. One & Only Reethi Rah’s 30m infinity lap pool stretches out into the luminous Indian Ocean like a shard of blue glass, warmed by persistent rays. Bag one of the nearby beach loungers, and spend the day here, breaking up tanning sessions with dips in the picturesque shallows. Piña colada, optional.
For more information, visit the website.
Surrounded by 600 acres of red-earthed Canyon Country, Amangiri’s pool is built right into the rugged Utah landscape. A mirror-like expanse, curving around a giant boulder, it brings to mind a desert oasis with its organic shape and turquoise sheen. Meanwhile, the hotel’s luxurious suites come with fireplace, patios and, in some cases, their own private pools.
For more information, visit the website.
There are pools with a view, and then there’s Marina Bay Sands. Gazing out to Singapore’s downtown and the bay below, this is one of the engineering marvels of the pool world. Slung between two skyscrapers 57 stories above ground, the world’s largest rooftop infinity pool seems to hover magically above the city.
It gets even better at sunset, when you can sip an aperitif poolside while watching the neighbouring building lights switch on.
For more information, visit the website.
Madeira’s romantic old cliffside hotel has a collection of lovely pools. But the real looker is its sea pool, built right into a rocky cliff-face and battered by Atlantic Ocean surf. It’s not one for rough sea days, but when it’s calm and sunny, descend the steps from the main pool area for a refreshing dip, then dry off on one of the neighbouring platforms.
Afterwards, book in for a decadent afternoon tea served on the hotel’s photogenic covered terrace.
For more information, visit the website.
This isn’t a hotel with a pool – it’s a pool with a hotel. Molitor, in the east of Paris, first opened in 1929 and spent more than half a century as the city’s most popular public swimming pool. It closed in the 1980s, but reopened as a hotel and pool in 2014 after being transformed by architect Jean-Philippe Nuel.
Now, you can break up laps of its lengths with trips to a Clarins spa, lunches in the brasserie or viewings of the street art collection.
For more information, visit the website.
Scared of heights? You might want to give the pool at The Edge a miss. Not only because it towers high above a rugged stretch of Balinese coast, with waves crashing far below. The pool, levitating 6 metres over the cliff edge, also has a glass floor – letting you peer right down to the sheer drop 160m below.
Part of the OneEighty dayclub, the pool is open to non-residents, so you don’t have to book a hotel villa to use it.
For more information, visit the website.
The Edition’s photogenic pool strikes the right balance between relaxing and scene-y. You can spend chilled-out mornings by the waters – ringed in palms and white loungers – keeping it low-key, reading a book or unwinding with a coffee.
Come afternoon, you can sink a bottle of rosé from the pool bar and catch up with mates. It’s only steps from the smooth sands of Miami Beach, too, giving you further reason to book in.
For more information, visit the website.
This grand dame hotel doesn’t have a pool *next* to Lake Como – it has one inside it. The floating pool, a patch of azure, is completely surrounded by the iconic lake’s waters, attached to the shore just by a pair of wooden gangways.
It’s one of three pools at this art nouveau palace, which has entertained well-heeled guests on the western side of Lake Como since 1910. But its views out to epic Grigne Mountain scenery and boats sliding past on the lake’s steely blue are one-of-a-kind.
For more information, visit the website.
Perched high in the lush greenery of Jamaica’s Blue Mountains, Strawberry Hill’s infinity pool comes with one of the island’s best views: over verdant forested peaks and down to capital Kingston below.
Palms, stripey loungers and fragrant blooms frame the scene, and umbrellas are at hand for when the Caribbean sun gets too fierce. Mornings this high in the hills can be cool, so start your day with a hike past coffee trees and exotic birds, returning to the pool for warm afternoons.
For more information, visit the website.
A giant splayed fan hovering above the blue, the dramatic Burj Al Arab pool terrace is befitting of Dubai’s glitziest hotel. A seven-star stay just off the Emirati shore, the sail-shaped Burj has opulent bedrooms, a sublime spa and restaurants designed by Michelin-starred chefs.
But it’s that 10,000-square-metre pool terrace that really impresses. Two pools – a family one with swim-up bar and an adults-only saltwater infinity option – is joined by four Jacuzzis, comfy sunbeds and a stretch of sand.
For more information, visit the website.
