Pools in paradise: Hawaii's best swimming spots

Let's start by agreeing to the obvious — a great swimming pool in Hawaii is something of a sin with all the amazing beaches often just a few feet away. Sometimes a necessary sin when a resort fronts a rocky or turbulent stretch of beach unfit for people to go into the ocean.

But even when there are fantastic sand strands just outside the front door, visitors to the islands' big resorts tend to congregate at the pools. The most over-the-top pool in the islands, at the Grand Wailea on Maui, sits a few yards from one of the better beaches in all of Hawaii. The new pool at the Sheraton Waikiki overlooks one of the classic crescents of sand in the world. And why is any pool needed, really, along nearly any part of Kaanapali on Maui?

But there are people who prefer pools. Just be ready to pay. With the exception of the Sheratons, these hotels are expensive. Even the Sheratons will run above what it costs to stay at a condo off the beach. Rates start just under $200 at some of the Sheraton properties and can top $800 at the Grand Wailea and Four Seasons — although in this economy deals are available (usually extra nights free or sometimes discounted rates).

Here's a look at some of the best pools in the islands.

Maui

Maui is the most commercialized and expensive of the Hawaiian islands. It also has the best beaches, the best resorts and the best swimming pools. If you are a swimming-pool aficionado, The Valley Isle is your splashdown point. Culling the many great pools to a shortlist is tough, but somebody has to do it:

Grand Wailea: This is the legendary resort pool of all the islands, which is appropriately over-the-top for the most over-the-top hotel on the island. Everything here is epically sized. From the lobby, you can look out — that's the main point — at the Hibiscus Pool, the 4,850-square-foot liquid artwork stretching from lobby to sea. Kids, avert your eyes. It's adults only. Who cares when the real deal is The Wailea Canyon Activity Pool. It's really nine pools spread across six levels, descending 40 feet. Slides, ropes, swim-up bars and a water-powered elevator to take you back to the top to start over.

Grand Hyatt Maui: The Hyatt is one of the oldest and biggest hotels in Kaanapali and its pool is the same. Unlike later all-shallow pools, the Hyatt's was built with a few deep-end spots, where the water is up to 9 feet deep. Officially, there are two pools separated by the caves, waterfalls and grotto — but you can swim from one to the other (and stop for a drink along the way).

The Lahaina Pool, with the deep end, is where most of the adults hang out. But the action is on the far side of the falls in the Napili Pool, with its 150-foot Lava Tube waterslide. Parents with very little ones can hang out in the Keiki Lagoon, with a sand-covered bottom.

Westin Maui: With an 85,000-square-foot water park, the Westin is a major player in the Maui waterpark wars. The biggest draw of the aquatic playground is a 120-foot slide constructed into a man-made hill that twists riders 270 degrees and drops them 23 feet into a pool below. In all, there are five pools, with plenty of hidden nooks for kids to play hide and seek, or for adults to have a kiss amid the thundering waters. The hotel sells inflatable flotation rings, which children are encouraged to embellish with magic-marker art.

Kauai

The oldest and most northern of the Hawaiian islands, Kauai also has a great collection of beaches that should dissuade anyone from spending too much time at the pool. But the two resorts that top our list both have questionable ocean frontages — one too used, the other too rough.

Grand Hyatt Kauai: This is one of the few places in the islands where a great pool area is forgivable. The resort fronts Shipwreck Beach and unless you have come to Hawaii to break an arm or be pulled from strong currents by a lifeguard, it is for looking only. Guests can get a sense of saltwater in hotel pool's 5-acre lagoon. The big draw is the meandering four-foot deep channel that runs down the hillside to a small waterslide.

Kauai Marriott: The huge flower-shaped extravaganza at this recently renovated resort is the largest single-level pool in the state. The numbers are staggering: 26,000 square feet with 300,000 gallons of water. Statues of animals double as fountains, spouting powerful plumes of water into the pool. The Marriott's location was picked out early in the Hawaii tourism boom, and it's been hurt and helped by its proximity to the airport and port in Lihue (I stay here my first night on Kauai before venturing farther afield). Marriott has decided to enter the waterpark wars with a new kids-oriented pool, complete with slides.

Big Island

With the worst beaches of the most popular islands and vast distances to get to the few good ones, it's no wonder that the Big Island has a pretty good collection of pools. Most of the resorts on the Kona side have a nice, big adult-friendly pool of the classic sit, sun and swim category. It took controversial hotel guy Chris Hemmeter to up the ante with what is today the Hilton Waikoloa Village. The Big Island is also home to the best pool at a medium-price hotel on the island.

Hilton Waikoloa Village: This overblown 1980s resort on the rocky west coast of the Big Island is everything I dislike about mondo-resorts. You need a monorail to get to your spot among the 1,240 rooms and in pre-cellphone days, it took forever to track down your family amid 62 acres of aging gauche.

But let's give kudos where they are due and that comes to the pool. Built originally as one of the developer Hemmeter's overblown Hyatts, it's Disneyland in a tropical setting. The 4-acre swim park includes a lagoon with waterfalls that cascade into the pool from overhead, giving a feeling of being inside a water-cloaked cavern. Because the Hilton is so big and shows its age, it's usually the most reasonably priced of the top-tier waterpark hotels in Hawaii. Just be ready for endless walks (or grab a mahogany hulled boat) to get around "Hawaiiland."

Sheraton Keauhou: A surprisingly cool pool in an unexpected place. Investors over the past decade have resurrected and renovated a once-sagging property.

Though the 1960s-style hotel design leaves little room for style, the Sheraton brilliantly added the best swimming pool at a moderately priced hotel on the island.

Oahu

Maybe it's because there is so much to do in "the gathering place," or maybe all the hotels were developed too early, before the heyday of the big resort swimming pool. But despite having more than half of the state's population, it has a tiny fraction of its best hotel swimming pools. Until recently, there was no aquatic-playground-style pool anywhere on the island. The list today remains short.

Sheraton Waikiki-Royal Hawaiian: One of the best things to come out of Sheraton's renovation of its four Waikiki properties was the construction of Waikiki's first real resort-style pool, wedged between the towering Sheraton and the venerable Royal Hawaiian.

The Helumoa Playground has two pools, a 70-foot-long waterslide and two whirlpools. Best of all, the Infinity Edge pool blends nicely right into the famed beach at Waikiki, with the classic crescent of sand stretching away. A guest at any of the four Sheratons (the other two are the Westin Moana Surfrider and Sheraton Princess Kaiulani) can use the facilities.

Honorable mentions: The pool at the Halekulani in Waikiki is a sedate but lovely pool with 1.2 million South Africa glass tiles, part of which form an orchid. It's a work of art and one that feels like you are desecrating by swimming in the pool, much less performing a cannonball.

The elevated pool at the Trump International Tower is one of a kind in Hawaii — an urban resort pool. Too bad it looks out on streets and a park instead of the beach.