Some travellers want a view. Others just want to swim. Infinity pools exist for people who refuse to choose.
Get the edge right and the pool disappears into the horizon: ocean, jungle, mountain, sky, whatever’s out there stops being scenery and starts being part of the swim. These aren’t just pools. They’re the reason certain hotels get remembered. We went looking for the best of them, from a Swiss valley to a Bali cliff. Here’s where to find water that knows exactly how good it looks.
The Infinity Pools Worth Building A Trip Around
Phulay Bay, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Krabi, Thailand
Phulay Bay sits on the Andaman Sea with Phi Phi Island close enough to feel present but far enough to stay a rumour. Mornings mean yoga on the sand; afternoons, if you’re restless, mean Dragon Crest Mountain. The infinity pool runs to 21,500 square feet, which is less a swimming pool than a second coastline. Sunset does most of the talking here: the kind of light that makes photographs feel unnecessary.
Alila Villas Uluwatu, Bali
Perched on Bukit Peninsula’s limestone cliffs, 15 minutes from Uluwatu Temple, this eco-built resort treats privacy as a design principle. Villas run from 300 to 3,000 square metres, open-plan and unbothered by walls. The pool is 50 metres of clean line balanced on a cliff edge, the Indian Ocean on one side, savanna and a still lagoon on the other. It’s less a feature than an event, the kind of thing you plan a trip around and still aren’t prepared for.
Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti, Tanzania
The Big Five, unbothered by fences, on some of the most storied wildlife land on earth. An elephant family might pass your balcony before breakfast. Elevated platforms and walkways wrap the lodge, glass of something cold in hand, watching a landscape that hasn’t needed improving in millennia. The only real question is where to start looking.
Il Sereno Lago di Como, Italy
Patricia Urquiola designed this one, and it shows: understated greys and blues that echo the lake, local stone and walnut, saddle-brown leather. Opened in 2016 on Como’s southeastern shore in Torno, its oversized suites face water that doesn’t stop being the point. Outside, over 300 plant species (orange trees, fan palms, a green wall) landscaped by Patrick Blanc and Flavio Pollano. The staircase alone is worth the detour.
Kura Boutique Hotel, Uvita, Costa Rica
Eight suites, adults only, deep in Uvita’s rainforest canopy. Kura runs on tropical minimalism and genuine restraint: sustainability as aesthetic rather than marketing line. The infinity pool hangs off the cliffside over the rainforest, which is either the hotel’s best feature or its whole argument for existing.
The Cambrian Hotel, Switzerland
A 72-room reinvention of the old Grand Hotel Regina, relaunched in 2010 after a serious renovation. The Cambrian’s infinity pool looks straight down the Adelboden valley into the Alps proper: heated, indoor and out, with a Finnish sauna and steam bath standing by for afterward. There isn’t much to do here except stop talking. That’s the whole appeal.
Grace Hotel, Auberge Resorts Collection, Santorini, Greece
Santorini already has the best light in the Aegean. Grace pushes it further: a 22-metre infinity pool set against multicoloured caldera cliffs, where the line between pool and sea gives up entirely. At sunset the caldera runs through blue, pink, and violet against black volcanic rock and white walls. The poolside bar keeps pace with a cocktail whenever you want one.
Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort, Nizwa, Oman
Two hours inland from Muscat, beneath the Green Mountain, sits one of the world’s highest resorts, and, by our count, its highest infinity pool, at over 6,500 feet. Canyon views run in every direction, framed by terraced fruit trees and earth-toned cliffs. Princess Diana once stood on the viewing platform here. The stars haven’t changed since.
Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
The world’s largest infinity pool, 57 storeys above the city, guests-only, and unmistakably the reason half of Singapore’s skyline photos exist. Five restaurants and bars share the floor, so the swim rarely stands alone. It’s also where Crazy Rich Asians was filmed, which tells you everything about the room it wants to set.
Mandarin Oriental, Canouan, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Godahl Beach, the far southern Caribbean, pink umbrellas against blue-ombre water. The infinity pool here plays it straight: no gimmicks, just a swim-up bar and a view that does the rest. Some places don’t need reinvention. This is one of them.
The Infinity Pools That Make the Trip
An infinity pool is a small piece of engineering pretending to be nothing at all, and the best ones pull it off completely. These eleven prove the trick still works, wherever in the world you find it.
Foto in header: Hyatt
