1. Alpin Panorama Hotel Hubertus, Olang, Italy
At first glance, the standout of this hotel’s six pools looks like a crazy ski jump. The Sky Pool, heated to 33C and with a partial glass bottom, juts out on stilts, as if about to launch swimmers into the valley below. The hotel is on the edge of the Dolomites, in the largely German-speaking Italian region of South Tyrol, and its design mixes some common Alpine touches with bolder statements in the vein of the projecting pool.
Details Half-board doubles from £380 (hotel-hubertus.com)
2. The Cambrian, Adelboden, Switzerland
Welsh-owned (hence the name) but set in an attractive village in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland, the Cambrian is the modern guise of a turn-of-the-20th-century grand hotel, now with modishly muted interiors in pale greens and greys. The indoor pool, under a starry night-sky-effect roof, is on the more theatrical side, but out on the terrace the small heated pool lets the semi-circle of peaks across the broad valley do the talking.
Details B&B doubles from £300 (thecambrianadelboden.com)
3. Sport Hotel Hermitage & Spa, Soldeu, Andorra
Amid the Pyrenees, the principality of Andorra is very nearly the world’s smallest skiable country. But there’s nothing pint-sized about this luxury hotel, with its Michelin-starred restaurant, in the mountain resort of Soldeu. If you follow the water circuit in the multi-level spa, you can swim from columned splendour indoors, via a channel under a small bridge, to an outdoor balcony pool overlooking the slopes at 1,800m.
Details B&B doubles in April from £330 (hermitagehotel.sporthotelsandorra.co.uk)
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4. Schlosshotel Fiss, Austria
The name of this “castle hotel” in Austria is not a complete exaggeration, and its bathing facilities are a case in point. The 37m indoor pool segues into a heated outdoor number, next to a saltwater Jacuzzi. Back inside there is a waterpark complete with slides for children, and spa treatments for the whole family. This slopeside hotel in the Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis ski region puts a five-star gloss on traditional Tyrolean interiors of wood panels and tiled stoves.
Details Full-board doubles from £460 (schlosshotel-fiss.com)
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5. Hôtel L’Hermine Blanche, Morzine, France
You don’t need to book a ski palace to have a choice of outdoor and indoor swimming; the three-star L’Hermine Blanche manages with the simple approach of a single half-in, half-out rectangular pool, with a companion hot tub if the heated water is not quite enough on a chilly day. Built in typical chalet style, this hotel is on a hillside above town, five minutes’ walk from the cable car to higher-up Avoriaz.
Details Half-board doubles from £120 (hermineblanche.com)
6. Riffelalp Resort, Zermatt, Switzerland
Views from over a pool edge don’t get much better than the icy pyramid of the Matterhorn, and here you’ll be facing it across the valley from 2,222m up, rather than seeing it while peeking over a shoulder, as in much of Zermatt village. Reached by a mountain railway, the hotel is a sympathetic reconstruction of a Victorian grande dame that burnt down in 1961, with one of the highest spas in Europe, including a grotto for saline baths.
Details B&B doubles from £320 (riffelalp.com)
7. The Green Leaf Niseko Village, Japan
In the ski-and-swim stakes, honourable mention goes to Japan for its bountiful powder snow and love of onsen (hot-spring baths, usually partaken nude). The premier resort of Niseko has a wide choice, whether attached to traditional inns or big hotels such as the Green Leaf, which has outdoor rock pools at 40C, a slightly less toasty thermal pool (swimwear required) and access privileges to the onsen at the nearby Hilton, with its views of the Mount Yotei volcano.
Details B&B doubles from £245 (thegreenleafhotel.com)
*Prices are for January stays unless stated