We’ve done hotels with stellar infinity pools. Resorts with iconic views, check. But sometimes, as Garbo might say, you just want to be alone in your stunning pool, enjoying your view in privacy. And you don’t want to rent a whole house for the privilege. So check out these 10 resorts where the view from your own pool allows you to be truly and blissfully antisocial for your entire stay.
Fairmont Mayakoba, Mexico
The gang of luxury resorts that constitute the Mayakoba development lie between the highway and the Yucatan’s white sands. A network of winding, picturesque canals make conveyance by private water taxi more fun than driving, and once you land at the Fairmont, you’ll find that your private pools can face either the emerald sea (the Casita Suites)—or the location’s bird-sanctuary waterways (the Coral Suites). Meanwhile, the main pool is set right on the beach.
Even with handcrafted furniture and enviable square footage, an open-air suite that’s missing its fourth wall isn’t for everyone. Good. The place is already notoriously difficult to book, especially during high season. Top reason: the private, indoor-outdoor pools that are positioned to take full advantage of the Piton mountains rising out of the azure sea. The resort’s main pool is scenic and great for socializing, but it’s tough to leave your own sanctuary, especially once you start swinging over its watery edge.
This is just a cool place; everything is easy. It was recently rebranded from the Tides, and I hope they don’t change a thing. Gently curving La Ropa beach is chock-full of water sports, and the Viceroy enjoys a discreetly separated sandy playground (waterside dining, hanging daybeds). But once you retreat to your room—and they come in various configurations, on several levels—you quickly fall in love with your hammock, hanging bed…and your own pool. I could barely pull myself out of my ground-floor plunge pool—and then I saw the private infinity pools on the top floor! Next time.
On the short list of top Caribbean resorts for decades, Cap Juluca has been undergoing a step-by-step renovation for the last several years. The magical Moorish design has been subtly modernized, and the Jonquil Suite’s infinity pool—with its delicate row of fountains—represents the upgrade. Before the redo, the private pools belonging to resort’s suites were secreted inside tiled courtyards. Now, one by one, they are beginning to boast priceless views of Maundays Bay, one of the most coveted crescents in the West Indies.
Too much of a good thing can be…really good. You’re already in a freestanding villa, either on the beach or over the water, right on one of the planet’s most luminous natural pools. Tropical fish abound. Mt. Otemanu lies straight ahead. Of course the resort has a communal pool, but who wants to share when you can enjoy your own? Even the overwater villas boast pools suspended over the lagoon. It’s redundant only if you think the word “paradise” is over the top.
This super-ambitious, still-in-progress development will contain 88 homesites spread out over 300 acres. No doubt some owners will participate in the rental pool, but some of the choicest accommodations are designated as hotel rooms. Case in point: all three Cliff Suites, which are actually freestanding pool villas set into the cliff face, overlooking the location’s rocky coast. (Even the bathtubs have sea views.) The glass-walled, 1,334-square-foot Cliff Penthouse Suite is stuffed with FENDI Casa furnishings, so its natural and manmade views are equally sublime.
Finally, a few properties are shaking up the hotel scene on this stunningly volcanic Cyclades island. Though Oia is the caldera town with the most renown, in some ways I prefer the quieter and higher Imerovigli, where the Iconic is located. Opening in April, this 22-room boutique is providing the finishing touches to the private veranda pools that grace its top three suites. Guests can enjoy vertiginous vistas of the island’s world-famous caldera and dreamy islands.
One of five Aman resorts in Indonesia, Amanjiwo (“peaceful soul”) rests in the serenity of Central Java. Fourteen suites are outfitted with private pools with views that include the limestone Menoreh Hills, the Kedu Plain, four volcanoes (Sumbing and Sundoro to the west, Merbabu and Merapi to the east), and the 9th-century Buddhist sanctuary of Borobudur, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But if you choose to break the bank, the Dalem Jiwo Suite (pictured), featuring a green Javanese stone pool, overlooks a breathtaking, elevated colonnaded rotunda.
Last century, eco-pioneer Laurance S. Rockefeller had an undisputed eye for pristine beachfront properties: he developed Hawaii’s Mauna Kea and BVI’s Little Dix Bay—and the site of this brand-new low-density resort on Dorado Beach. Fourteen acres are home to 114 rooms and suites, plus a selection of exclusive residences. The most sought-after units in this sprawling hideaway contain sleek infinity pools with picture-perfect tropical views of golden sands, swaying palms and turquoise water.
This private Fijian island is ultra-discreet and adults only, with just 16 vales (villas), each one with its own plunge pool. These exclusive pools and adjacent split-level verandas overlook the nearby island of Bequ and Fiji’s dramatic reef system. Steeply pitched thatched roofs, open-air showers, and canopy beds that overlook the sea contribute to the transporting experience.
Hotel rooms with the best private pool views
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