Everyone has their hotel non-negotiables, and for some, a swimming pool is essential to a top hotel stay. Whether that’s to cool off during a UK summer heat wave, or to facilitate a dip during a luxury spa wellness break.
In the UK, swimming pools can be found sparkling on rooftops, spilling over infinity edges towards a sea view, or tucked away in delightful country gardens.
Whether you’re a fan of soaks, swims, dips or laps, a gorgeous pool can be the icing on the cake when it comes to booking a hotel staycation this summer.
Among the best hotel pools in the UK, some have healing thermal waters to help unknot weary muscles after a day’s rambling in the countryside, while others are found outdoors surrounded by peaceful rolling hills or picturesque coastline.
Our hotel expert has rounded up her top picks, including a spa hotel in Bath, a sky-high pool in London and an al fresco beachside pool in Cornwall.
Here’s our list of the best hotels in the UK which offer spectacular swimming pools as part of a stylish getaway.
For more hotel guides, including the best Cornwall hotels, the best spa hotels in the Lake District and the Cotswolds, plus individual UK hotel reviews and much more, visit our hotels page.
The best UK hotels with swimming pools for 2025
At a glance
- Best for relaxation: The Gainsborough Bath Spa hotel
- Best for romantic couple retreats: The Scarlet hotel
- Best for views: Shangri-La The Shard hotel
- Best for rural romance: The Tawny hotel
- Best for beach location: Carbis Bay Hotel
- Best luxury hotel: The Corinthia hotel
- Best for families: Cliveden House hotel
- Best for variety: Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort hotel
- Best for revelling in the great outdoors: Lodore Falls Hotel & Spa
1. The Gainsborough Bath Spa hotel
Bath
For a truly transformative soak, make for The Gainsborough Bath Spa’s cobalt blue, mosaic-tiled pool. Directly fed by the city’s mineral-rich thermal waters, known for their healing properties since ancient times, the 35C pool is lined by Romanesque columns and sits under a striking glass atrium inside the hotel’s small but lovely Spa Village. Combined with two smaller soaking pools, an ice alcove, saunas, steam room and relaxation terrace, it forms part of an hour-long self-guided bathing circuit. There are 99 bedrooms – contemporary, with riffs on the property’s Georgian heritage – to relax in, and special spa bedrooms pipe thermal waters straight into roll top tubs. The spa offers a variety of treatments, and you can sip a glass of prosecco with afternoon tea inbetween soaks.
Address: Beau St, Bath BA1 1QY
Highlights: Thermal waters, variety of pools, spa
Read more: The best spa hotels in Bath for rejuvenating retreats, thermal waters and peaceful countryside escapes
2. The Scarlet hotel
Newquay
For a back-to-nature swim, The Scarlet’s natural, reed-filtered outdoor pool, with views out to golden-hued Mawgan Porth beach on the Cornish coast, is hard to beat. Enjoy catching the Atlantic sea breeze as you soak, then hit the clifftop wooden sauna, steam room, and log-fired hot tubs to warm up in afterwards. Known for its eco credentials, this smart, adults-only boutique hotel also has a solar panel-heated indoor pool, 37 rooms with a beachcomber-chic vibe and excellent Ayurvedic spa treatments. Whether drifting in hanging cocoon pods after a massage, or enjoying leisurely fine dining while watching the ocean from the restaurant, a visit here is a guaranteed soul-soother.
Address: The Scarlet Hotel, Tredragon Rd, Mawgan Porth, Newquay TR8 4DQ
Highlights: Near the coast, adults-only, boutique
Read more: The best hotels in Newquay for surfing holidays and Cornish beach views
3. Shangri-La The Shard hotel
London Bridge
At 182m above ground level, the Sky Pool at Shangri-La The Shard has to be seen to be believed. This 10m infinity pool on the 52nd floor of the Renzo Piano-designed Shard is the highest swimming pool in Western Europe, and offers phenomenal London skyline views as you swim. Prop yourself up at the pool’s edge for a bird’s eye view of the city, wonder at trains pootling along railway tracks which look so tiny they resemble toys. With a capacity of just 23 people, and hourly slots, it’s best to book your time ahead of check-in, and while swimming hours run from 6am to 6pm for adults, comfy poolside seating is the ideal spot for sundowners from the adjoining GŎNG bar after hours. As well as all 202 bedrooms having sensational views and service here always being on-point, the hotel is ideally located for jaunts to local foodie haven Borough Market.
Address: 31 St Thomas St, London SE1 9QU
Highlights: Central location, infinity pool, views of the city
Read more: The best hotels in London, from grand dames to perfect pubs with rooms
4. The Tawny hotel
Staffordshire
Fringed by stone archways on one side and with sweeping views of the Consall Valley on the other, The Tawny’s outdoor pool might be small, but it’s hugely atmospheric. Heated year-round, it’s tucked on a terrace which spills down from the tropical-maximal Plumicorn restaurant, yet manages to feel hidden and intimate. On sunny days, watch flocks of birds swoop overhead from poolside loungers, while on chillier days, warm up in steamy waters before calling a buggy to whisk you back to your room. A real countryside romp, there’s a 70-acre estate with follies and lakes to discover, and quirky accommodation includes luxury treehouses, Shepherd’s Huts and Boathouses. It’s worth trading the swim gear for glad rags for cocktails in the bar under gilded plumage-look lampshades and suppers in The Plumicorn, and donning your walking boots to birdwatch at neighbouring RSPB Consall Woods.
Address: Consall Ln, Stoke-on-Trent ST9 0AG
Highlights: Heated outdoor pool, countryside stay, nearby walks
Read more: The best-value hotels in Liverpool to see the city on a budget
5. Carbis Bay Hotel
St Ives, Cornwall
A combination of palm-filled subtropical gardens and vistas featuring the fine white sands of Carbis Bay, regularly voted one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, will have you thinking you’re in the Med rather than West Cornwall while paddling in the al fresco infinity pool here. Be sure to keep eyes peeled for the seals and dolphins who sometimes make an appearance in the bay. As well as decked areas to maximise sun basking, a hydrotherapy pool and barrel sauna, there’s a peaceful private 25-acre Blue Flag Beach and direct access onto the South West Coast Path, with arty St Ives a 25-minute walk away. There’s a sports club for active types, VOYA seaweed wraps and organic facials in the spa, and accommodation options include 36 rooms in the grand, chandelier-filled main house and self-catering lodges for contemporary coastal cool. Head to Adam Handling’s zero-waste restaurant Ugly Butterfly, or Walters on the Beach for laid-back seafood dining.
Address: Carbis Bay, Saint Ives TR26 2NP
Highlights: Near the coast, outdoor infinity pool, variety of pools, nearby walks, spa
Read more: The best boutique hotels in Cornwall for a chic stay by the sea
6. The Corinthia hotel
Whitehall, London
Black tiles, Italian marble and a steel lining give the sultry, 9m pool at The Corinthia’s subterranean ESPA Life spa plenty of James Bond allure, while a mirrored ceiling which reflects water movement adds an extra layer of tranquillity. Once you’re done swimming, the four-floor spa spans a whopping 3,300 square metres, and there’s plenty to keep you busy, from a glass amphitheatre sauna and steam room to 17 swish treatment rooms where everything from light therapy facials to body cleansing rituals is on offer. Close to Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace, this ritzy hotel has a pomp all of its own – head to The Northall for best-of-British fare, or Velvet by Salvatore Calabrese for cocktails inspired by art masterpieces such as Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa.
Address: Whitehall Pl, London SW1A 2BD
Highlights: Spa, central location
Read more: Best romantic hotels in London: Treat your beau to a night in the Big Smoke
7. Cliveden House hotel
Berkshire
While Cliveden’s outdoor swimming pool might be best known as the scandalous setting which kick-started the Profumo affair – with John Profumo first catching a glimpse of Christine Keeler as she climbed out of the pool after an impromptu moonlit dip – this listed swimming pool inside a walled garden is as pretty as it is historic. Fringed by roses and lavender beds, enjoy views of a gilded 19th-century clock tower while you glide through the long-enough-for-laps 17.9m pool. Children are allowed to swim most of the day, plus an indoor pool has two sessions a day for little ones too. The spa also has an aroma steam room, outdoor hot tub and treatments by OSKIA and Rituals. There are 48 lavish bedrooms in an Italianate mansion with plenty of period features are named after guests of days-gone-by, and the Cliveden estate has 376 acres of National Trust gardens to wander in.
Address: Taplow, Berkshire, SL6 0JF
Highlights: Countryside stay, family-friendly, spa
Read more: The best Cotswolds hotels for luxury spa breaks and countryside cuisine
8. Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort hotel
Ballymena, Northern Ireland
Surrounded by 132 acres of parkland in Ballymena, Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort has three brilliant pools. Rotate between a garden pool with hydrotherapy jets, a 20m indoor affair ideal for laps, which has a polished pebble border designed to give feet a mini-massage, and a more wild, al fresco vitality pool at the edge of the rushing River Maine (look out for the resident heron rootling along the riverbank). As well as its award-winning Thermal Spa, which includes hot tubs with dramatic waterfall views, a Celtic Sauna, salt room and snow cabin, Galgorm has 125 rooms painted in woodland hues, 17 Scandi-style cottages, log cabins and Shepherd’s Huts to bed down in. As for drinking and dining, there’s a 550-strong Gin Library housed in an art deco-inspired conservatory and traditional pizza on offer at Italian joint Fratelli’s.
Address: 136 Fenaghy Rd, Ballymena BT42 1EA
Highlights: Countryside stay, variety of pools, outdoor pool, spa
Read more: The best hotels in Edinburgh for a city break
9. Lodore Falls Hotel & Spa
Borrowdale, Lake District
Capitalising on its picturesque Lake District setting, the 16m outdoor pool at Lodore Falls Hotel’s spa serves up astonishing views of Derwentwater Lake and the Catbells Mountains. Cleverly blending into an interconnecting infinity edge hot tub, the hydrotherapy pool is also layered with underwater bubble loungers and powerful hydromassage neck jets – ideal after days spent fell rambling. While it will set you back an extra £35/£40 (weekday/end) per person to take a dip here – unless you’ve splashed out on a suite level room category or above – it’s well worth it, with a glass-fronted Finnish sauna, indoor thermal suites and pretty spa gardens to explore too. Bedrooms are comfy and practical, and ideally placed for sightseeing as popular Keswick is around a 10-minute drive away.
Address: Derwentwater, Keswick, CA12 5UX
Highlights: Countryside stay, spa
Read more: The best spa hotels in the Lake District for outdoor saunas and forest views
Why trust us
The hotels featured in this list have been carefully selected by The Independent's expert travel writers, each with a deep knowledge of the destinations they cover. Our contributors either live in these locations or visit frequently, ensuring a personal and informed perspective. When picking which hotels to include, they consider their own experience staying in the hotels and evaluate location, facilities, service and all the other details that make for an exceptional stay for all types of traveller.
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