Ask any hotel architect what’s better than lazily lounging in a beautifully designed infinity pool, and they’ll tell you the same thing: lazily lounging in a beautifully designed infinity pool ON TOP OF A BUILDING. For the urban hotelier of today, from Los Angeles to London, the rooftop pool is no longer a luxury extra; it’s an essential part of the package, giving guests a place to relax, cool off and admire the view. Here’s our summer hit list of sky-high swimming holes…
THE STANDARD, LOS ANGELES
For all-night pool parties
Downtown LA in the summer can be a heady experience. When the mercury starts to soar, some are tempted to flee the city, but those in-the-know head to the pool atop The Standard. Find a waterbed pod (akin to a shiny red spaceship – the Standard is never one to hold back on showmanship) and order a pretzel and beer from the Biergarten. By night, expect to get swept up in some poolside debauchery (with a heavily liquored cocktail in hand) and enjoy the hotel’s roster of new and established DJs.
PERIVOLAS, SANTORINI
For sea-view serenity
Summer in Santorini is made for gorging on feta me meli (feta fried in filo and drizzled in honey), copious amounts of tzatziki and platters of seafood. But let’s face it, beyond the food, a large portion of any trip to Santorini should be steadfastly dedicated to remaining horizontal on a sun lounger. And why inconvenience yourself more than necessary by heading out of your white-washed abode when you can languidly make your way to the roof of Perivolas? Your challenge for the day: work out where the pool finishes and the sky begins. Or is that the ocean?
CORRAL DEL REY, SEVILLE
For city-view solitude
The refreshing plunge pool set in Spanish gardens on the roof at Corral del Rey may be small, but swimming won’t be on your mind once you catch the views over Seville, a low-lying skyline dominated by that gloriously Gothic Unesco-listed cathedral. The pool is an essential amenity for the Seville summer when the temperatures skyrocket (the city’s not known as the frying pan of Spain for nothing). After a morning weaving through the dizzying maze of ancient streets, devote an afternoon to cooling off with your toes in the pool and a chilled cava in your hand.
GORGEOUS GEORGE, CAPE TOWN
For genteel dips
What’s the point of a rooftop pool in Cape Town without views of Table Mountain? Well, your city stay won’t be short of scenery elsewhere, so we’ve chosen this petite rooftop pool for its attractive design and discreet, greenery-festooned location. It’s essentially a pool in two halves, cinched midway by a stuccoed folly, the interior walls of which are decorated with bold, botanical murals. Locals head to the shaded sofas of its surrounding terrace to share small plates and long cocktails.
MADELINE HOTEL & RESIDENCES, TELLURIDE
For mighty mountain views
Ski, bike, hike the Rockies from remote Telluride, but don’t miss the chance to swim in the steamy hot waters of the Madeline Hotel & Residences, positioned tantalisingly on the roof with breathtaking views of imposing mountains all around. This is the highest concentration of peaks at 13,000-14,000 ft in the US – the snow-capped stuff of wonder, no less. The pool is open winter and summer, from 7am until 9pm, with a Jacuzzi at either end.
BLESS HOTEL MADRID
For sunset ceviche
Bless Hotel’s new owners were wise to retain the building’s art deco exterior and wrought-iron railings and even wiser to install a jade green plunge pool where a triple-threat of cabanas, cocktails and croquetas pair nicely with some of the finest views of Madrid. And if you can’t escape the blistering heat by landing a cabana, fear not: some seats even have their own miniature canopy. The pool is open from noon until 8pm from the middle of May until the middle of September.
SOHO HOUSE NEW YORK
For urban sophistication
No list of rooftop pools would be complete without consideration of the world’s most iconic skyline. But Soho House’s Manhattan outpost doesn’t rest on those laurels alone: flanked by striped loungers and parasols and overlooking the Hudson, it successfully transposes Cool Britannia to the Meatpacking District. Plus, it’s open year-round; and in the summer there’s full waiter service.
ESME MIAMI BEACH
For rakish romance
Nostalgia for a bygone Miami has informed the flower-fringed roof at Esme Miami Beach, where a covered rooftop bar of cushion-strewn sofas and low tables is open for sangrias late into the night. But this is no throwback, mind. And the centrepiece of its daring design is the saltwater pool, rendered irresistible by green checkerboard tiles and flanks of Fifties-style candy-coloured banquettes.
Featured image is The Standard, Downtown LA