The best sporty bikini sets to buy for summer 2025

I’ve spent enough time cross-examining string bikinis in badly lit fitting rooms to know that swimwear rarely comes as a one-suits-all solution. A minefield of itsy-bitsy proportions, the options can often make the search for the right thing to wear for frolicking in the sun as gruelling and stress-inducing as combing a beach for a wayward engagement ring. This season, though, the swimwear gods have thrown us a diamond in the form of a bikini trend that won’t scare the horses.

The hot look this summer has been designed to welcome in more of us than it excludes and comes as a sports-inspired top (think crop top you can swim in) combined with a bikini bottoms shape that suits you. Described by the brand Hunza G, a master in this sporty style, as the “ultimate fuss-free bikini”, this more modest take on the two-piece is all over the shops, with everyone from M&S (try the contrast scoop) to the new luxury favourite Lido offering plentiful variations on the shape. The joy of the style is that most versions are free from trims and unnecessary details, making them the perfect alternative to the one-piece — which is no longer the be-all and end-all for beach bunnies.

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“This style does the job of a one-piece,” says Georgiana Huddart, co-founder of Hunza G (the brand’s Patricia bikini is giving its classic swimsuit a run for its money where popularity is concerned). “The shape gives you the coverage you need to feel chic like a one-piece but the sunbathing prowess and sexiness of a bikini.”

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Red bikini top, £35, whistles.com. Brown bikini top, £88, bottoms, £66, and cream sarong, £103, jetsaustralia.com

Beyond looking excellent on a host of body types, the joy of a fuss-free bikini is that you can wear it with just about anything. The best come in simple block colours like punchy red or searing violet, with the lack of print meaning you can mix and match pieces and team them with everything else in your holiday wardrobe. As seen in the latest series of The White Lotus, where Hunza G’s Xandra bikini made waves, two-pieces are purchased with more than sunbathing in mind.

“It’s totally fine to wear your bikini with a pair of shorts to lunch,” says Huddart, who believes that the versatility of a two-piece has reignited its popularity. John Lewis — which has noted a big increase in searches for two-piece swimwear (those for bandeau shapes are up 28 per cent on last year) — has gone all-out on bikinis that offer extra coverage, with wider straps and high-waisted bottoms among the highlights. And the high street store Monsoon, a big hit with those who leave their swimwear shopping until the airport, has seen similar interest in flattering styles, particularly at its new boutiques at Gatwick, where sporty, fuss-free bikinis are quite literally flying. I’m sold.

• Who says you have to be under 35 to pull off a bikini?

From left
Black plunge bikini top, £35, and bottoms, £30, monsoon.co.uk
Pink bikini, £185, hunzag.com
Dark green bikini, £170, Lido, net-a-porter.com

Burgundy bikini top, £27, and bottoms, £22, arket.com
Red and white bikini top, £17.50, and bottoms, £12.50, marksandspencer.com
Green bikini top, £30, and bottoms, £25, cos.com
Blue bikini top, £45, and bottoms, £40, Blake, wolfandbadger.com

@karendacre