Swim In One Of The Best Hotel Pools In America At This Hawaiian Resort

Throw a dart at a map of Hawaii, and it could land on any of the archipelago's eight main islands. The lush "Garden Island," Kauai, receives fewer annual visitors than Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii Island. Yet it has one offbeat thing going for it, hotel-wise, that those islands don't. For four straight years, USA Today readers have named a site in Kauai as the Best Pool in America.

The 350,000-gallon pool is one of three at Koloa Landing Resort, a tropical oasis spread out across 25 acres in Poipu on the island's South Shore. With piña coladas and flowing waterfalls, the smaller Tranquility Pool caters to guests 18 and up. Families can take the jungle path and wade into the 6,100-square-foot Lagoon Pool. It's surrounded by palm trees and has a basketball hoop and tidal pool, plus BBQ grills and an in-pool island. It's the Main Pool, however, that earns bragging rights as the country's best hotel pool.

Topping the list four years in a row suggests this multi-tiered pool on Kauai has continued meeting expectations, with travelers who read about it in previous years perhaps being just as impressed as those who first voted for it. Nonetheless, calling it a mere "pool" almost undersells the experience of diving into this thing. There are so many features to it that you may soon get sucked into a pocket of poolside bliss at Koloa Landing Resort. Just don't forget to come up for air — literally or figuratively — and explore the rest of Kauai outside the hotel.

Koloa Landing Resort's Main Pool is almost like a water park built into a hotel's backyard. It has an infinity edge, two water slides, three Jacuzzis, a kid-friendly splash pad, and a waterfall grotto that you can walk into or swim through on your way from one side of the pool to the other. The slides wind through black lava rock, with the bigger one requiring a stair climb before it drops you down across three levels into the water playground below.

The upper sun deck tops it all off with private cabana rentals and ocean views of the Pacific in the background. This is where the Main Pool stretches slightly into infinity. The cabanas accommodate six people, each with a mini-fridge and overhead fan to cool you off while you lounge in front of the flat-screen TV. The hotel isn't on the oceanfront, but if you want to feel the sand between your toes, it's a short walk to the waterside via the pool's beach entrance.

Food may also contribute to the Main Pool's reputation since it's right beside the well-reviewed Holoholo Grill. This open-air restaurant is the brainchild of celebrity chef Sam Choy, a Hawaii native who was the head chef at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. He's appeared on Food Network shows like "Emeril Live!" and "Iron Chef America," and he's known as the "Godfather of Poke" — one of Jason Momoa's favorite Hawaiian foods. At Holoholo Grill, you can do an ahi poke wrap, a Hawaiian poke bowl, or sample one of Choy's other signature's dishes, like braised, Asian-style short ribs.

If you can't make it to Kauai, Hawaii has two other island hotels with pools that made the Reader's Choice top 10 on USA Today. To swim in the #2 pool, head to the Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort on Oahu. This Honolulu hotel gives Koala Landing Resort a run for its money with a true oceanfront infinity pool, touted as North America's longest. The #4 pool is the Hilton Waikoloa Village on Hawaii Island, and it's no slouch, either. In its protected saltwater lagoon, you can snorkel among sea turtles and reef fish.

Kauai might lure you back if you're a movie fan. On the island's North Shore, you'll learn about Hawaii's history in a beautiful destination: Na Pali State Coast Wilderness Park. This same rugged coast, which you can survey on airplane and boat tours, also delivers Hollywood history. At the Keahua Forestry Arboretum, you can step into the world of "Avatar" in a Hawaiian nature preserve.

Na Pali was also a filming location for the 1976 version of "King Kong," where Honopu Beach and the Kalalau Valley provided the visuals for Skull Island. There's a Kong-shaped mountain here called Kalalea, which was seen in the opening shot of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Director Steven Spielberg later returned to shoot "Jurassic Park" around the island. He and his crew reportedly stayed at the Grand Hyatt Kauai, so Koala Landing Resort isn't the only noteworthy hotel along Poipu Road. With America's best hotel pool, it just gives you added incentive to visit Kauai.