Hot tub stays with a private pool

There is a particular kind of holiday that refuses to choose. You want the long, lazy lengths of a pool in the heat of the afternoon and you want the hot, steaming hush of a tub once the light goes and the air turns cool. The good news is that you do not have to pick one. A handful of our stays pair a private pool with a hot tub on the same patch of ground, so the day has two temperatures and both belong to you. Here is who each one suits, and the kind of place you will be soaking in.

For the big group that wants room to spread out

When the party is large, the maths of a shared pool stops working. This is where a place built for numbers earns its keep. The Manor House is a twelve-sleeper manor at La Roche Estate in Franschhoek, with both a pool and a hot tub, which means the cousins can churn up the water at noon while the grandparents keep a quieter date with the tub after dinner. Franschhoek puts you within an easy drive of the valley's vineyards and long lunches, and a house this size lets a group keep its own rhythm rather than negotiating it. Cooler weather is no obstacle either, since the hot tub carries the social centre of the stay straight through the months when the pool is more for looking at than swimming in.

For families who want the wild kept close

Some stays add a third thing to the swim-and-soak equation, and that thing is the bush. Melozhori Main Lodge is an all-inclusive lodge at Melozhori Private Game Reserve in the Breede River Valley, with an infinity pool, a hot tub and daily game drives, which is about as complete a day as a family can ask for. Mornings go to the drives, the heat of the afternoon goes to the infinity pool and its long view and the tub waits for the end of the day when the children are spent and the adults want to sit still. All-inclusive is doing quiet work here, too: with the meals and the game drives folded in, nobody is doing sums on holiday and the only decision left is which body of water to be in.

For couples and small groups who want the Karoo's clean quiet

The Karoo does silence better than almost anywhere, and Prince Albert is its most charming front door. At Karoo View you can take your pick of scale. Kanon Cottage at Karoo View is a four-sleeper cottage with a heated pool and a wood-fired hot tub, snug enough for a couple or a small family who want the place to themselves. Step up a size and Karoo View Masterclass is a three-bedroom house sleeping six, also with a heated pool and a wood-fired hot tub, for a slightly bigger party that still wants the same hush. The heated pool means the swimming season stretches well past summer, and a wood-fired tub is a slow, deliberate pleasure: you feed it, you wait and then you lie back under a Karoo sky that has more stars in it than you remembered.

For Overberg fynbos and a tented camp in the hills

Closer to Cape Town, the Overberg keeps its own version of this two-temperature day. Blombos Cottage at Bokrivier is an eight-sleeper cottage at Bokrivier near Greyton, with a private hot tub and a heated pool, which makes it a natural fit for a family or a group of friends who want a base within reach of Greyton's village pace and the mountains behind it. For something more pared back and a touch more adventurous, Leopard's Kloof Luxury Tented Camp sits in a private nature reserve near Montagu, with a hot tub and a heated pool, so you get canvas and the sounds of the reserve at night without giving up the warm water either side of it. Both lean into the same idea the whole list keeps circling back to: swim while the sun is high, then soak once it has gone and let the place do the rest.