These pools have become the defining image of these hotels, attracting global attention and cementing their status in our travel culture, and we totally get it.
Whether it’s an infinity pool with a memorable sunset view, or a pool that merges aesthetically with its natural surroundings or even a design detail that photographs like a dream, they’ve become the reason these hotels are sought after.
Here’s what we truly think of them – no filter.
Cloud 22
Dubai, UAE
We started with this one for a reason. Atlantis The Royal is the sort of place where your first reaction might be, “Wow, this is a lot.”
And yeah, it is, but give it a second and you’ll get it. Sure, from some angles it’s a bit “luxury mall with suites,” but head up to the 22nd floor and everything changes.
Cloud 22 isn’t just a pool; it’s the resort’s calling card. You’ve got 360° views of the Arabian Sea and the Palm Jumeirah, and somehow Dubai’s urban sprawl feels calm from up here. Time it for sunset, and you’ll watch the Palm light up as the horizon swallows the sun.
La Maison Bleu
Gouna, Egypt
La Maison Bleue was never meant to be a typical hotel. Antiques collector Amr Khalil and architect Olivier Sednaoui created it as a guest house for developer Samih Sawiris to host friends and spark creativity. Over the years, it’s become a design landmark.
The pool is its visual anchor. Set within gardens, landscaped by Louis Benech, and framed by intricate mosaic colonnades, it feels like Egypt’s answer to European coastal glamour. It’s dramatic without being overdone, merging old-world architecture with a Red Sea backdrop in a way that makes you slow down. It’s the perfect place to prioritise wellness and lose track of the afternoon.
Shebara
The Red Sea, Saudi Arabia
Having just opened earlier this year, Shebara already feels like it was designed on another planet and dropped into Saudi Arabia. The architecture, sleek structures reflecting the turquoise shallows, is otherworldy enough, but the pools take it further. Yes, pools. There are two main pools, a spa infinity pool, and, because excess is the new luxury baseline, every overwater villa comes with its own private pool.
It’s an audacious layout, the kind you’d expect from a resort set on making headlines, and it works. The symmetry of the pools, the mirror-like water lines, and the futuristic silhouettes make Shebara instantly recognisable online.
More than just a stay, it’s a visual statement that helped put the Red Sea’s luxury tourism ambitions and Saudi Arabia’s coastal potential firmly on the global map.
Mondrian
Doha, Qatar
Mondrian’s rooftop pool is small, but that’s the charm. Marcel Wanders went all in here: jewel-toned stained glass panels wrap around the space, catching the light and scattering colour across the water like a moving kaleidoscope. Underfoot, the bold black-and-white checkered tiles stretch the length of the pool deck, grounding all that colour with something graphic and crisp.
On paper, you’d think that would be a sensory overload, but we can tell you for a fact that it works. The palette feels intentional, not loud, and the mix of patterns makes the whole space feel like a whimsical stage set for calm swims.
If you’ve never been to Qatar before, this actually sets the tone for the kind of architectural creativity Doha is known for. It’s bold without being brash, theatrical yet considered and once you’ve seen it, you start to understand the city’s taste for design that makes a statement.
Six Senses Zighy Bay
Oman
Six Senses Zighy Bay’s pool sits between mountains and sea, a strip of blue that feels like an oasis pulled straight from a dream. The contrast is almost surreal; jagged ochre cliffs on one side, calm Gulf waters on the other.
The design is deliberately low-slung, letting the setting do the work. From the water, you can watch fishing boats drift across the bay, the colour of the sea shifting with the light.
It’s the kind of place where you lose the day without realising. Morning laps blur into afternoon lounging, and suddenly the mountains are throwing long shadows across the pool.
Habitas Al Ula
Al Ula, Saudi Arabia
Tucked within the sandstone canyons of AlUla, Habitas’ pool has a clean edge that lets the pool dissolve into its surroundings. From the water, you feel cocooned by the canyon walls, yet completely open to the sky above.
The waterline runs parallel to towering rock formations, the colour of the cliffs shifting from amber to deep rose as the day passes.
It’s rare for a pool to make you feel both small and entirely present, but this one does. When the light softens in late afternoon and the rocks start to glow, the whole place turns into a living postcard.
One&Only Zaabeel
Dubai, UAE
Suspended between Dubai’s two Za’abeel Towers, The Link’s infinity pool isn’t just elevated, it’s the world’s longest cantilevered infinity pool (which is crazy!), hanging 100 metres above the ground. From up here, the city looks like a scale model, its highways curling like ribbons beneath you.
It’s the definition of harmony. The stonework matches the rocky slopes and the architecture folds quietly into the hillside. From the water, your eye naturally moves from the pool’s clean edge to the endless sea, with nothing in between to interrupt the view.
It’s not the only pool they have, there’s also The Garden Pool which offers tranquil vibes transporting you the energetic feels of Bali (in the concrete jungle which is wild).
Albergo Hotel
Beirut, Lebanon
Perched above the streets of Achrafieh, Albergo’s rooftop pool feels like a pocket of nostalgia in the middle of Beirut. Down below, the city hums with modern chaos; up here, you’re in another decade entirely. The tiled pool glistens in shades that pop against the surrounding greenery, a burst of colour that softens the skyline.
It’s not trying to be sleek or minimal. It’s charmingly itself, with wrought-iron railings, striped loungers, and potted palms that could have been plucked straight from the set of a 1960s Mediterranean film. Every detail feels lived-in, like it’s been here long before rooftop pools became a thing.
What makes it unforgettable is the balance: you’re surrounded by old Beirut’s architecture, but there’s a lightness in the air, a sense that you’ve slipped into a sunlit postcard from a different era.
Nautical Hotel
Faralya, Turkey
Some pools are built to dazzle, others are built to belong. Nautical’s pool definitely belongs within the surrounding nature, stretching towards the turquoise coast.
It’s the definition of harmony. The stonework matches the rocky slopes and the architecture folds quietly into the hillside. From the water, your eye naturally moves from the pool’s clean edge to the endless sea, with nothing in between to interrupt the view.
Days here pass slowly: a swim under the morning sun, a book in the shade of an old pine, maybe a long lunch laced with olive oil and sea air.
Raffles Al Areen Palace
Bahrain
Here, the pool isn’t something you wander down to in your robe, it’s waiting right outside your door.
Each villa comes with its own stretch of water, framed by high sandstone walls and heavy greenery that keep the world out and the quiet in. You wake, step barefoot across cool tiles, and slide straight into the water without another soul in sight. By day, the sun drapes over the courtyards; by night, lantern light dances on the surface and makes the whole place feel like a private scene from a period film.
This is privacy turned into an art form, the kind that lets you forget time entirely. After a stay here, “going to the pool” feels like an unnecessarily public affair.
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