Vacation Rentals with Private Pool

Wide-angle photos make every pool look bigger than it is. These are the types you will come across, roughly from most to least private:

• Garden poolA proper pool beside the house, often big enough for short lengths. The usual setup in family houses and villas, where you spend the hot afternoons at home.
• Infinity poolAn edge that seems to spill toward the sea, built on a hillside lot. Usually private, and chosen for the view as much as for the swim.
• Plunge poolSmall and often deep, for cooling off rather than swimming. Common in suites and places for couples, sometimes one per room.
• Rooftop poolOn the roof terrace of a house or a small building. Wonderful at sunset; check how much shade it gets at midday.
• Shared poolOne pool for a condo, a group of bungalows or a small hotel. Often larger and better kept than a tiny private one, and the way most apartments come with a pool.

If you are traveling with children or want to swim lengths, ask for the length and the depth at each end. Many pools here have no shallow end.

The further you are from a beach you can swim at, the more the pool earns its place:

• Zicatela and La PuntaThe beach in front is for surfing and watching. Swimmers take a taxi to the coves, so the pool is where everyone who doesn't surf spends the hot hours.
• BacochoA long open beach with strong currents, lovely for walks and sunsets but not for swimming. Many houses there have a pool for exactly that reason.
• Rinconada and CarrizalilloClose to the calmest coves in town. Here the pool covers the middle of the day and the busy weekends. More in the Rinconada guide.
• The hillsidesBig views, but usually stairs or a drive to any beach. The pool becomes the beach.
• Outside townHouses east past the Colotepec river or west along the coast often sit right on the sand, on open surf beaches. A pool is close to essential.

Want the sand at the gate as well? Most beachfront villas have a pool too, since the sea in front is rarely calm enough to swim in.

A pool in full sun from late morning to mid-afternoon can be too bright and too hot to sit beside. Look in the photos for a palapa, umbrellas or trees, and for loungers in the shade as well as in the sun. Terraces that face west get the strongest afternoon sun and, in return, the sunset over the Pacific.

For evening swims, check that the pool and the steps around it are lit. Dusk is also when mosquitoes come out, more so near gardens and standing water; these tips for keeping bugs at bay help.

Photos show the water at its bluest. They rarely answer these:

• Size and depthLength, width and depth at each end, in meters. "Pool" alone tells you nothing.
• Who else uses itPrivate to your group, or shared with other units? If shared, how many, and are there opening hours?
• Recent photos of the whole areaNot just the pool, but the deck, the steps, the edges and what is next to it.
• RulesSome places ban glass by the pool or ask for quiet after a certain hour.
• Water at the houseMost houses run on a cistern or rooftop tank. Ask how it copes with a full house; the pool is not your only use of water, and tap water is not for drinking.

The comparison just above shows current prices. What moves a rental with a pool up or down:

• Private or sharedA pool for your group alone is usually the biggest jump between two places of the same size.
• Size and settingA pool you can swim in, or an infinity edge over the sea, costs more than a plunge pool on a patio.
• SeasonHigh season in Puerto Escondido runs roughly November to April. May is the hottest, most humid month, when a pool matters most; the rainy months from June to October are quieter and usually cheaper. The month-by-month weather shows the pattern.
• HolidaysChristmas, New Year and Easter week book up early, and houses with their own pool go first.
• Length of stayWeekly and monthly discounts are common. Ask.

Still not sure you need one? Here is why a pool is worth having on this coast.

On this site you book with the person who runs the house, so there is no platform service fee on top, and the questions above go to someone who knows how the pool is looked after. Pay by a traceable method and get the dates, price, deposit and cancellation terms in writing.

If the view matters as much as the water, have a look at the sea-view rentals too. Many hillside houses in Puerto Escondido have both.