Deserts and ice-blue swimming spots make good company. At this iconic mid-century-modern stay, palm trees fan the sky and huddle over the pool's perimeter. When the Californian sun gets too intense, take shelter under the lemon- and white-striped umbrellas and hit up the vintage-feels lemonade stand. Coordinating your beverage to your bather feels so right here.

Fran Lebowitz said it best: "Los Angeles is a large city-like area surrounding The Beverly Hills Hotel." A beacon of Hollywood glamour and the nucleus of A-list living, the gilded hotel has its fair share of siren stories. Faye Dunaway enjoyed a post-Oscars breakfast here in March 1977, dressed in silk and heels. Katharine Hepburn once dived into the pool, fully clothed. It was even the site of a notorious private pool party hosted by The Beatles. We'd suggest switching the red-carpet dress for a Dos Swim one-piece as you recline on a bubblegum-pink lounger. As for pool-party antics? That's up to you.

If there's one thing David Hockney is known for, it's his knack for painting enticing scenes of LA's swimming pools. In November 2018, the artist's aquamarine-infused Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) became what, at the time, was the most expensive work of art by a living artist to have been sold at auction. The Roosevelt's piscine isn't the one depicted in the record-breaking painting, but the hotel does have its own Hockney story. In 1988, the bespectacled artist spent a morning covering the pool bottom with a pattern of swooping half-moon marks, which remain intact today.

Flanked by cream calico parasols and borders of fluttering lilac lavender, Cliveden's outdoor pool is a picture of English pleasantness. But don't be deceived. It's also the home of a very English scandal. It was while dipping into the gin-clear rectangle, in 1961, that government minister John Profumo first cast his eyes on the model Christine Keeler, marking the beginning of an affair that would forever alter British politics. Last time we took in a few laps, there were no Whitehall ministers hanging around the 350-year old estate, and scandal has since been replaced by spa treatments, with the pool forming part of the historic hotel's wellness centre. But who doesn't love a backstory?

Mainlined Ryan Murphy's The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story? Dip your toes into the late fashion designer's 16m, 24-karat-gold-lined "million mosaic pool" - a play on his famous 1990s Marine Vanitas collection. It's pretty gauche - naturally - but if you're partial to a bit of OTT design, the gilded extravagance will entice.

A cross-shaped pool is always a punchy move and, frankly, we wouldn't expect anything less from this Miami Beach hangout. At Faena, the colour code is maraschino-cherry red and Colgate white - just look at those candy-striped parasols and loungers. For 1950s maximalist glamour, North Beach is where it's at.

Pack your headscarf for this swish St Tropez stay, which oozes 1960s style, right down to its enticing sea-green-tiled pool. Surrounded by French farmhouse-style suites and crisp white parasols, the cool oasis is the pièce de résistance of this very French hotel, and the perfect spot from which to enjoy a little people-watching, Provençal-style. Grab a watermelon juice, hide behind big sunnies and watch fellow guests waft by.