The World’s Ultimate Swimming Pools

The ultimate cool pool. Take a dip, then grab a drink at the Thompson’s rooftop pool, which also transforms into one of the hottest nightspots in Toronto. But the best time for a quiet swim is bright and early, when your morning laps will have a backdrop of Lake Ontario on one side and the CN Tower on the other.

Yes, this pool floats on a lake. Is there anything more heavenly? But then what did you expect from the Grand Hotel Tremezzo, with its tip-top negronis and grand marble interiors? Lie back and dream of local regular George Clooney – keep a look-out too, as you may just spot him zipping past in his Riva.

The shiniest new opening in the Maldives has a stonking infinity pool to match (the biggest in the Maldives, don’t you know), right on the beach. Although choosing whether to spend your day lapping it up in this one or in your private villa’s pool, or in that turquoise sea, is a tough one. Decisions, decisions…

You’ll go all wrinkly in this pool – it has one of the most photographed views in Santorini, with a backdrop of pretty whitewashed suites. Which means you’ll never want to get out.

There’s nothing like a pool-within-a-pool in the Indian Ocean, is there? Welcome to the Spa by Espa at the One & Only Reethi Rah resort in the Maldives.

A pool built around an aquarium, with REAL sharks inside? Only in Vegas, baby.

Perched on top of a beautiful cliff, with a sweeping view of the rainforest beneath, the infinity pool at the Hanging Garden Ubud in Bali is a corker.

Yes, this pool is forged into cliffs and has a rope so you can swing into the ocean below, but that’s beside the point. This pool is all about who you can see inside. Practise your breaststroke alongside Kate Moss and Tom Cruise, sunbathe with Johnny Depp or watch Madonna throw yoga poses beside the water.

Just look at that skyline! This pool is on the 76th floor, overlooking Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong Island. Splash about or loll in the warm jacuzzi with a cocktail.

We know this doesn’t look real, but Guana is an ACTUAL place. A secret private-island hideway in the British Virgin Islands. Book one of the Seaview Pool Cottages and this is exactly what you’ll wake up to.

Two hundred metres above the ground and sitting on top of three mega–skyscrapers, the infinity pool at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands is longer than the Eiffel Tower and officially the world’s largest pool. If you hate heights, don’t take the plunge.

Up, up, up in the snowy Swiss Alps, the infinity pool at the Cambrian is like something out of a minty toothpaste advert because it looks so darn clean and fresh. Little pollution means that you can see out for miles.

If you stay at Jade Mountain in St Lucia, you’d be a fool not to book one of the infinity-pool sanctuary rooms, which all have stonkingly brilliant private pools with views right across to the famous volcanic Pitons.

Just touched down in Rio? Copacabana and Ipanema so stuffed you can barely guzzle a cocktail? Beg, borrow or steal your way into the Fasano for the best pool deck in the city, and the chance to share a lounger with Gisele and P Diddy.

Fancy dipping into a pool that looks as if Jaws has just had lunch? The Library in Koh Samui is your place. It’s fabulously surreal, but fear not that it will turn your Gucci bikini red – the colour just comes from the red mosaic tiles.

It’s wrapped right around an ancient landscape of eroded rock, with views of the Colorado Plateau – there are few more sensational watery experiences than the jaw-dropping pool at Amangiri.

Are there many things better than doing a few laps in the glittering LA sun while watching a movie that’s being projected onto a wall? We think not. Thank goodness for the Standard.

If you’re content parading around in your bikini/trunks in front of the hipster east London set, the rooftop pool at Shoreditch House is worth jumping into.