Jay Dweck, a former Goldman Sachs banker, commissioned this $1m violin-shaped swimming pool. Photograph: www.njcustomswimmingpools.com

The scarlet pool at The Library hotel, Ko Samui, Thailand, gives you some idea of what it might be like to swim in a pool of blood.

The Crystal Lagoon at the San Alfonso del Mar resort, Chile, is the world's largest pool – it is more than a kilometre long and holds 250m litres of water. Photograph: Gavin Bernard/Barcroft Media

Lit by fibre-optic lights, the pool at the Huvafen Fushi resort in the Maldives is positively trippy.

The spa pool at the St Regis hotel in Lhas, Tibet, is lined with thousands of tiles plated in gold. The pool contains therapeutic salt water constantly heated to a temperature of 28C-32C. An indulgent treat for anyone with a thing for bling. Photograph: Ralf Tooten

This is still in the development stage, but the proposed Mumbai building – called Bandra Ohm, by James Law of James Law Cybertecture International – will feature individual infinity pools on the balconies of the 30-storey structure.

The Roman pool at Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California, built by the newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. Photograph: George Rose/Getty Images

The hanging pool at the Joule hotel, Dallas, juts out eight feet from the side of the hotel with a glass front. Photograph: Jeremy Woodhouse/Corbis

A wave breaks over the Icebergs pool, which is perched on the edge of Bondi Beach, Sydney. Photograph: Justin Hannaford/Alamy

The infinity pool at the Marina Bay Sands hotel – 57 floors up. Photograph: Gavin Hellier/Alamy

Just what every sitting room needs – a pool! This luxury mansion in Manhattan went on sale in 2011 for $10m.

This bathing ship was created from a converted barge on Berlin's Spree river. Photograph: John Miles/Getty Images