Pools Worth Traveling For, October 2026 Hotels With Iconic Pools

Hotel Castello di Reschio occupies a thousand-year-old castle at the heart of a 3,700-acre private estate on the Umbria–Tuscany border, surrounded by oak forests, meadows, olive groves and distant hills. Inside, the Bolza family has turned the castle into 36 highly individual rooms and suites filled with antiques, custom furniture, four-poster beds and beautifully eccentric details, while the rest of the estate unfolds through a lake, stables, restaurants, a bathhouse, organic gardens and one of the most photographed pools in Italy.

Casa no Tempo is a four-suite country house in the Alentejo, restored by architect Manuel Aires Mateus on a family estate that has been passed down through generations. The renovation keeps the original rural volume deliberately simple, opening the interiors through oversized windows and arched passages toward fields, cork oaks and the surrounding working farm. Local clay floors, handmade tiles, white marble and locally made wooden furniture give the house a restrained material language, while a vast 400-square-metre pool extends the architecture into the landscape.

La Residence sits amid 30 acres of vineyards, orchards and gardens in the Franschhoek Valley, with mountains rising dramatically behind its terracotta-coloured buildings. Inside, restraint is nowhere to be found: chandeliers, antiques, jewel-toned fabrics, oversized artworks and individually designed suites give the hotel the exuberance of an eccentric collector’s country house. There are just 11 suites in the main hotel, plus five more private Vineyard Suites scattered among the vines, several with their own pools; meals draw heavily on produce from the estate, and afternoons are easily spent between wine tastings, spa treatments, the pool and long terrace lunches overlooking the valley.

Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai spreads across the rice paddies of Mae Rim Valley, around 30 minutes from central Chiang Mai. Designed as a contemporary interpretation of a northern Thai village, the resort combines Lanna-style pavilions, private pool villas, ponds and working rice fields with views toward the surrounding mountains. Beyond the rooms, the property is especially strong on cultural and wellness programming, from rice planting and pottery to cooking classes, yoga, Muay Thai and treatments at Wara Cheewa Spa.

Originally created as the private retreat of Sir James Goldsmith and his family, Cuixmala now sits within a vast nature reserve on Mexico’s Pacific coast. Jungle, savannah, lagoons and coastline surround the property, while zebras, crocodiles and hundreds of bird species live across the reserve. Inside, bold interiors, saturated colours and unexpected design details give the hotel an unmistakable visual identity, creating a rare combination of conservation, architecture and theatricality.

Located on a hillside above Saint-Tropez, Château de la Messardière occupies a 19th-century estate surrounded by extensive Mediterranean gardens, with views toward Pampelonne Bay and the Gulf of Saint-Tropez. Restored by Airelles as a resort rather than a formal palace hotel, it combines historic architecture with multiple pools, a large spa, several restaurants and access to a private beach club on Pampelonne. Saint-Tropez and the beach remain close, but the elevated setting gives the property a noticeably more secluded feel.

Amangiri sits almost camouflaged within the canyons of southern Utah, surrounded by immense rock formations and open desert. The architecture is monumental but restrained, using concrete, stone and long horizontal lines to keep attention on the landscape. Days can move between hiking, climbing, desert excursions and the spa.