Winter Break Pools Your Kids Will Never Want to Leave

Every parent knows the math of a winter-break trip. The flights cost more, the days are short, and the whole thing lives or dies on whether the kids are happy. Get the pool right and everything else gets easier: the mornings plan themselves, the afternoons disappear, and everyone sleeps.

These are the five family pools we'd fly for over the school holidays. Each one is ranked in the Pool Atlas rankings, and each one is somewhere warm in December and January.

1. King's Pond, Hawaii Island

[Four Seasons Resort Hualalai](/pools/four-seasons-resort-hualalai-127)

Most hotel pools have a lifeguard. This one has a marine biologist. King's Pond is a 1.8-million-gallon saltwater pool carved from lava rock on the Kona coast and stocked with more than a thousand tropical fish, including spotted eagle rays that glide past snorkelers. Naturalists from the resort's Kumu Kai Marine Center run feedings and touch-tank sessions, so a swim turns into a biology class nobody complains about.

Best for: curious kids, first-time snorkelers and parents who'd like a nap on the deck above.

2. The Wailea Canyon Activity Pool, Maui

[Grand Wailea](/pools/grand-wailea-a-waldorf-astoria-resort-133)

If King's Pond is the museum, this is the theme park. Nine pools on six levels, connected by a river, with seven waterslides, six waterfalls, caves, a rope swing, a sand-bottomed baby beach and a water elevator that lifts swimmers back to the top so they can do it all again. Older kids will head straight for the Lava Tube Slide, a three-story drop that takes about fourteen seconds (riders need to be taller than 48 inches).

And whales! Winter break is humpback season on Maui, so keep an eye on the horizon between slides.

Best for: big families, mixed ages, kids who measure a vacation in waterslides.

3. Hayman Pool, Australia

[InterContinental Hayman Great Barrier Reef](/pools/intercontinental-hayman-great-barrier-reef-132)

December is summer in the Whitsundays, and Hayman Island has a pool built for it: around 6.5 million liters of water, roughly seven Olympic pools' worth, billed as the largest pool in Australia. A ring of freshwater surrounds a saltwater center, so there's always a quiet corner and a busy one. It's a long trip from the northern hemisphere, but for a winter break that turns into a summer holiday, nothing on our list beats it.

Best for: families with a couple of weeks to spare, and anyone who wants to swap snow for sunscreen.

4. Aquaventure, Dubai

[Atlantis The Palm](/pools/atlantis-the-palm-101)

Dubai's winter is the city's swimming season: warm days, cool evenings and none of the summer heat that keeps people indoors. Atlantis The Palm puts guests next to Aquaventure, its huge water park, home to the near-vertical Leap of Faith slide that drops through a lagoon full of sharks (behind glass, we promise). For families flying from Europe, it's one of the shortest routes to guaranteed warm water in January.

Best for: teenagers, thrill-seekers and families flying from Europe.

5. The Orchid Pool, Honolulu

[Halekulani](/pools/halekulani-126)

Not every family pool needs a slide. Halekulani's heated oval pool, with its giant orchid laid in about 1.2 million pieces of glass tile on the floor, is a calm, beautiful place to swim with younger children, a few steps from the gentle water of Waikiki. Waikiki's easy flights and short transfers matter a lot more with a toddler in tow.

Best for: little kids, multigenerational trips and grandparents who like a proper lunch.

How to Plan It

For more ideas year-round, see our guide to the best pools for families, or browse the full Hawaii guide.

Filter the rankings for pools that are good for kids → Explore the rankings