Infinity Pools with Views: the World's Best High-Altitude Swims
An infinity pool at a high vantage point does something that a viewing platform cannot: it dissolves the boundary between the observer and the landscape. You are in the water, the horizon is the water, and the city or mountain or ocean continues at eye level. The effect is most powerful at height, at dusk, and when the surrounding landscape is genuinely extraordinary. These ten pools represent the combination at its best.
1. Marina Bay Sands SkyPark, Singapore — 57th floor, 200 m
The 150-metre infinity pool on the 57th floor of Marina Bay Sands is one of the most reproduced images in modern travel photography. The pool faces north and west over Marina Bay, the Singapore financial district skyline, and on clear days the Straits of Johor toward Malaysia. At 200 metres above street level, the edge of the pool appears to float above the city. Access is restricted to hotel guests only — day passes for non-guests were discontinued permanently. A room at Marina Bay Sands is the only route to the pool. Book the lowest available room category if the pool is the primary reason for the stay; standard rooms provide identical SkyPark access to suites. The pool faces west; sunset turns the financial district gold against the water's reflection.
2. Hanging Gardens Ubud, Bali, Indonesia — 700 m elevation
Hanging Gardens of Bali sits in the Ayung River valley above Ubud at roughly 700 metres elevation. The main pool is tiered into two levels on a steep jungle slope, giving the impression of water disappearing into the rainforest canopy below. The view is not panoramic in the alpine sense — it is into and over a layered green valley — but the combination of the river sound below, the terraced rice fields visible through gaps in the trees, and the pool's position on the slope is exceptional. The hotel's jungle-facing orientation means neither direct sunrise nor sunset hits the pool, but the diffuse green light of mid-morning is the best time to use it. Advance booking is essential; the property limits daily occupancy.
3. Joali Maldives, Raa Atoll
Joali occupies a private island in Raa Atoll in the far north of the Maldives. Several of its overwater villas include private infinity pools whose edges extend over the lagoon at water level; the visual effect at low tide, when the edge of the pool and the edge of the lagoon are at the same level, is a complete merger of fresh and salt water. The Raa Atoll is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve; the surrounding reef is a strong driver for combining the pool experience with snorkelling at dawn before the wind picks up. The pools face east into the sunrise over the open Indian Ocean, making early morning the optimal time.
4. San Alfonso del Mar, Algarrobo, Chile
San Alfonso del Mar's residential resort on the Chilean Pacific coast contains the largest swimming pool in the world by surface area: 8 hectares, 1,013 metres long, filled with filtered seawater from the Pacific. The scale is so extreme that small sailing dinghies are used to cross it. The view from the far end of the pool, looking back toward the Andes (visible on clear winter days), is an exceptional combination of engineered water and natural mountain backdrop. Access for non-residents is technically private, but the resort operates as an apartment complex and short-term rentals are available through standard booking platforms. The Pacific coast here is cold (16-18°C water year-round); the pool is heated, the Pacific is not.
5. Cambrian Adelboden, Swiss Alps — 1,350 m
The Cambrian hotel in Adelboden, in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, operates an outdoor infinity pool at 1,350 metres facing south over the Adelboden valley toward the Geisshorn and Lohner peaks. The pool is heated year-round and is usable in winter, producing the steam-over-snow combination that alpine pools are photographed for. Adelboden is a ski resort in winter and a hiking base in summer; the pool view frames both the ski runs above the valley and the high alpine terrain above them. The hotel operates on a half-board basis; pool access is for guests only.
6. Iniala Beach House, Phuket, Thailand
Iniala Beach House on Natai Beach, north of Phuket, operates an elevated main pool overlooking the Andaman Sea. The pool's infinity edge faces west directly into the sunset over open water, with no islands or headlands interrupting the horizon — a genuinely wide open-ocean sunset view, which is rarer in Phuket than the standard advertising suggests. The property is divided into private villas with individual pools plus the shared main pool. Sunset facing west from the pool level between October and March, when the northeast monsoon has passed and the air is clear, provides the cleanest colour.
7. Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Antibes, France
The Eden-Roc Pavilion pool at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc sits at the edge of a rock promontory on the Cap d'Antibes, five metres above the Mediterranean. The pool is carved into the limestone rock and has no conventional edge on the sea side — the water simply ends at the rock ledge with the Ligurian Sea below and the hills of the Esterel range visible to the west. One of the iconic images of 20th-century European glamour; the pool opened in 1914. The hotel is open April through October; advance booking months ahead is required for the summer high season. The sea-facing room categories provide the pool view from the room as well.
8. Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach — rooftop pool
Hotel Indigo Seminyak's rooftop pool faces west over Seminyak Beach and the Indian Ocean. At five floors, the elevation is modest, but the uninterrupted western exposure means the pool deck directly receives the Bali sunset — one of the most visited sunset experiences in Southeast Asia. The pool is open to non-hotel guests via a day pass arrangement, making it one of the more accessible options on this list. Best light is 30-45 minutes before sunset, when the ocean turns from blue to gold and the Kuta headland to the south becomes a silhouette.
9. Ladera Resort, Saint Lucia — Piton view
Ladera Resort sits on a ridge at 300 metres between the Gros Piton and Petit Piton volcanic peaks on Saint Lucia's southwest coast. The resort's open-walled villas are designed without a fourth wall on the mountain-facing side, and the plunge pools in each villa look directly south over the Piton peaks and the Caribbean Sea beyond. The Pitons were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004; the view from Ladera is the canonical view of them. The pool here is a plunge pool rather than a lap pool, but the view it frames — two 700-metre volcanic spires rising from the sea — is among the most dramatic of any pool on this list.
10. Karuizawa Onsen Ryokan, Nagano, Japan
Several onsen (hot spring) ryokan in the Karuizawa and Hakone areas operate outdoor baths (rotenburo) with views toward the Japanese Alps or Mount Fuji. The Hoshinoya Karuizawa property sits beside the Yukawa river gorge in a forest setting and operates outdoor baths overlooking the gorge and the Asama volcano. The setting is less about panoramic distance and more about immersion in a specific landscape — forested gorge, volcanic steam, and Japanese alpine air. Onsen ryokan operate a strict bathing etiquette; follow the house rules on tattoo policy, bathing times, and the towel-not-in-water convention.
Booking Strategies
Infinity pool access at resort properties almost universally requires either hotel guest status or advance day-pass purchase. For the most popular properties (Marina Bay Sands, Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Ladera), rooms and day passes in peak season sell out months ahead. The optimal booking approach is to decide on dates first, then look for availability — rather than the reverse. Shoulder seasons (April-May and September-October in Europe, March and November in South and Southeast Asia) provide better availability and in many cases better light, with fewer crowds at pool edges.
See the locations
The viewpoints surrounding these pools — the city skylines, the mountain peaks, the volcanic islands — are all mapped on the interactive map. Use it to build a trip around the landscape, then find the right pool for the angle of view.