Hotels with Indoor Pools in South Tyrol, for a Swim in Any Weather

From the adults-only rooftop infinity pool at the Majestic, the water runs out towards green fields, the Puster Valley and the mountains beyond. Below it are four more pools: a heated outdoor pool, an indoor pool with a water slide, an indoor kids' pool, and the main indoor pool among stone columns, which is heated, free, open all year and open to all ages.

Around them stretch 1,200 m² of wellness space, with a wide range of saunas and steam baths, and heated water beds in the relaxation area, where fruit juices and herbal teas are set out. The outdoor pool is kept at 32°C all year and the indoor pool at 30°C, both open daily from 8:00 to 20:00, so a January swim works either way. The kids' pool and slide are indoors; the 25 m roof pool is for grown-ups.

Arched windows and white columns line Kastel's indoor pool, with a painted mural running the length of one wall. The water is kept at about 30°C, there's a water jet and a whirlpool at the edge, and the pool is open all year. Children get two adventure pools of their own, with pool toys and a water slide.

Around it, the spa adds a Finnish sauna, a bio sauna, an aroma steam room and a rock grotto with a small saltwater pool, all free for guests and open through the day. It suits families best: after a winter day on the Alpe di Siusi slopes, this is warm water at 1,100 m that small children can enjoy as much as you do.

Behind the walls of a 12th-century castle, the outdoor pool sits in an old botanic garden, with the castle on one side and the mountains around Merano beyond the trees. A whirlpool bench at one end gives you a bubble bath in the open air. It's a summer pool, open from May to September: in the colder months the swimming moves indoors.

The heated indoor pool is the one that stays open all year, from 7:00 to 20:00, under tall arched windows with loungers along the wall. The sauna and steam bath open in the late afternoon, from 16:00 to 19:00, so on a winter day you can swim in the morning and save the heat for before dinner. The whole castle is adults only.

At 1,600 m on the Monte Pana plateau, the indoor pool is heated and open all year, with the Sassolungo filling a wall of windows: in winter you swim with snow on the other side of the glass. It's free for guests and open daily from 07:00 to 20:00, and a separate indoor children's pool next to it has toys and room to splash. Both take all ages.

Outside, warm-water whirlpools sit in the snow facing the peaks, but those, the saunas and the Turkish bath are for guests of 16 and over, so families split up: parents to the whirlpool, children to their own pool. Worth knowing: there's no outdoor swimming pool, so the indoor one carries the whole stay, which in ski season at the foot of the Sassolungo is exactly what you want.

Kolfuschgerhof has two pools. The indoor pool is 14 m long and kept between 26 and 30°C, with a ledge to rest on, and the rooftop infinity pool outside, 12 x 5 m and heated, looks out over snow-laden trees, timber chalet walls and the rock faces of the Dolomites. Both are free to use, open all year and open to all ages, and in summer the same water sits between green lawns and grey peaks.

Wellness here goes well beyond the pools: sauna, steam room, hammam, hot tubs, an open-air bath, a foot bath, light therapy and a relaxation lounge, with yoga classes too, and some suites have their own hot tub and sauna. For a January swim, the heated indoor pool is the sure thing, with the rooftop pool for a steaming dip in the cold air.

Twelve metres above the meadow, the Sky Pool at Hotel Hubertus juts out from the hillside like a wing: a 25-metre infinity pool with a glass front onto the Pusteria valley and a window set into its floor, so you can look straight down at the grass below. It's heated to 33°C all year round and open from 7:00 to 19:30, and on a cold morning the steam lifts off the water against the Dolomites.

That's the headline pool, but not the only one. Five more outdoor pools sit in the 7,000 m² park below the hotel, among them a 33°C brine floating pool and a 19°C cold plunge for after the sauna, and the vitality centre has a 31°C indoor pool for the days the weather closes in. Worth knowing: the cold plunge and the brine pool keep shorter hours, opening at 14:00 and 10:00.

Palm trees on one side, snow-capped mountains on the other: the rooftop infinity pool at Therme Meran is a heated saltwater pool, open all year, with the centre of Merano going about its day below you. Loungers and parasols line the deck, and there's a pool bar.

The rooftop Sky Spa is for guests aged 14 and over, with whirlpools, saunas and a steam bath, and there's an outdoor plunge pool for cooling off. Families head down to the Garden Spa among the palms, where the indoor pool and an outdoor pool are open to all ages. Rooftop pool use is free, and a bathrobe tunnel leads straight to Terme Merano next door: an easy winter spa break in town.

In Valdaora, this family-run aparthotel has four pools to choose from. The everyday one is indoors: heated, open all year and free, with a raised stone surround, a shallow end and a round lit panel in the ceiling above. Children have their own indoor pool with toys, there's a fourth indoor pool, and outside, behind a fence, an infinity pool kept for adults looks across the lawn to the mountains.

The spa wraps around them with a hot tub, a sauna, a steam room, a hammam, a foot bath and a relaxation area, and the pools keep set opening times. Families do best on the indoor side, where all ages are welcome. For a January swim, count on the indoor pool: the outdoor infinity pool isn't confirmed as heated or open in winter.

AMA Stay's rooftop pool is one heated infinity pool in two halves: it starts under a timber ceiling behind floor-to-ceiling glass and carries on into the open air, with the Kronplatz slopes and the peaks above San Vigilio reflected in the water. It's open all year, daily from 9:00 to 20:00, and on a winter morning the outdoor end steams against the snow.

Pool use is included and children are welcome in the water. The sauna floor alongside, with a Finnish sauna, a 60°C bio sauna and a steam bath, is textile-free and for guests aged 16 and over, open from 14:00 to 20:00, with quiet corners indoors and out on the spa terrace. Worth knowing: the hotel calls it a relax pool, so come for the view and the warmth rather than for lengths.

The view from the Alpine Sky Pool runs across Val Gardena and over the rooftops of Ortisei, up to the peaks of Seceda and the Sella massif. It's an outdoor infinity pool, heated and open all year, and long enough for an easy swim with the panorama in front of you. In winter the water steams against the snow on the terraces.

The indoor pool has a counter-current system to swim against, and an outdoor whirlpool looks down over Ortisei. Between swims there's a cold-water pool, an Alpine Kneipp path, and a 2,000 m² spa with a panoramic sauna and a Turkish bath. Pool use is free and children of any age are welcome, so it works for a ski week with the family as much as a quiet autumn break.

The outdoor pool sits on the spa terrace above San Candido, heated to 31°C and open all year, with the jagged Baranci group rising directly behind it. In winter the water steams against the snow and the village lies below you; in summer the deck around it fills with loungers. Inside the spa there's an indoor pool as well, for a swim whatever the weather is doing.

Both pools belong to a spa that's included for every guest: Finnish and stone-pine saunas, a steam bath, a 40°C onsen tub and a whirlpool facing the mountains. Here's the thing: the outdoor pool keeps shorter hours than the spa, especially in winter, so plan it as the swim after the slopes rather than before breakfast.

Gran Tubla's heated pool runs from inside to out. The indoor half sits under a ceiling of hanging wooden slats, with loungers along a wall of glass, then the water carries on past a glass partition to an outdoor section on a timber deck, finished with an infinity edge. From there the view opens over Ortisei to the Sella group and Sassolungo. It's open all year, from 09:00 to 20:00.

The pool is on the compact side: this is a residence of apartments, not a big spa hotel. Around it you get a sauna, a hot tub and a relax room whose glass doors face the garden and the mountains. Pool use is free and children of any age are welcome, so it suits a ski week or a summer hiking trip with the family.