Lots of hotels have swim-up bars – the latest in luxury is a swim-up room, with the Victoria Beachcomber Resort & Spa in Mauritius recently announcing the arrival of the first swim-up rooms on the island. Alas, they won’t open until next year, so until then, here are five more freshwater swim-up rooms worth checking out.

Mayakoba is a serene integrated development defined by freshwater lagoons and mangroves on Mexico’s Riviera Maya coast. There are four luxury hotels here, including the Rosewood Mayakoba, above, which has some of the most beautiful swim-up lagoon suites I’ve ever seen (they have a plunge pool too and the white sand beach is not far away). From around £650 per night in September. Udaivilas, UdaipurStay in a Premier Room with Semi Private Pool at Udaivilas, above, in Udaipur, and you can step from your private terrace into a 73m pool overlooking Lake Pichola. Because other rooms also have access, these rooms are not in the highest price band, but I think they’re easily the nicest, especially if you fancy a dip by moonlight (when I stayed I never saw anyone else in the ‘shared’ pool). From around £523 per night in September. Anantara Dubai lagoon roomNothing is quite what is seems in Dubai, including the Anantara – a cross between a Thai temple and a beach resort with three tropical lagoons thrown in for good measure. The ground-floor villas have direct access to the water and as the lagoons all have lifeguards, they’re safe for young families. From around £225 per night in September.The Colony Club pool room, BarbadosAll of the rooms and suites at the lovely plantation house-style Colony Club, on Barbados’s swanky Platinum Coast, are just steps from the sea, but a small number also have private terraces right by one of the hotel’s four lagoon swimming pools. There’s a swim-up pool bar, too… From around £300 per night in September. Sofitel Bali Nusa lagoon rooms, BaliSofitel Bali Nusa Dua is a beach resort in the south of the island. Lots of the ground-floor rooms have direct access to the hotel’s lagoon pool but clever landscaping and design makes them feel private. From around £194 per night in September.

BY MAGGIE O’SULLIVAN