Laps Of Luxury

These days, vacationers seeking a swimming pool want something more exciting than a rectangular concrete natatorium that reeks of chlorine. And resorts are only happy to oblige. So here are three of the best pools we've been lucky enough to paddle in lately.

Bring your goggles to the Palazzo Sasso's pool in Ravello on Italy's Amalfi's coast, where you can check out the panorama of the coastline through underwater windows over 300 m above the Tyrrhenian Sea (opens in March; tel: [39-089] 818181; www.palazzosasso.com). The famously opulent Grand Wailea in Hawaii features pools and waterslides for swimmers of all ages and the world's

only water elevator. But the Wailea's crown jewel is the 450-sq-m Hibiscus Pool with a flower mosaic of 630,000 Mexican glass tiles (tel: [1-800] 888-6100; www.grandwailea.com). Exotic pools are not just the domain of warmer climes: 40 minutes outside of Reykjavik, Iceland (pictured), is the year-round, 39°C heat at the Blue Lagoon (above right). Pumped from a geothermal source, it comes complete with silica mud for a do-it-yourself facial (tel: [354] 420 8800; www.bluelagoon.is). All in all, they sure beat those childhood swimming lessons at the local pool.