The 10 best new hotels in Europe
From a Swiss chateau to an exclusive Paris address and a new resort in the Greek Islands, here are the properties you should book for your next holiday.
Each European summer brings more crowds and more hotels. Ancient city buildings and palazzi are transformed, old office headquarters remade, luxury beach resorts seem to be multiplying as swiftly as budgie smugglers on a crowded strip of Ibizan sand. Highlights this year include a Swiss mountain chateau, a new bijou bolthole that might just be Paris’s most exclusive address, a cool, mid-century Viennese hangout, and the rebirth of a storied Sardinian hotel.
1. Dunas de Formentera, Spain
Weary of Ibiza’s party scene? A short boat ride south lies Formentera, the smallest of Spain’s Balearic Islands, home to a new laid-back eco-resort tucked above Migjorn, a 5km stretch of beaches and coves that promises a slower pace of life. From Dunas de Formentera, the beach can be directly accessed and the island’s many attractions are nearby, including UNESCO-protected seagrass meadows, home to flamingoes and storks. The resort’s 45 guestrooms, including private villas and family-style digs, are tucked into the scrubby dunes. An infinity pool offers lovely views and is the perfect spot for an aperitif. Interiors are uncluttered and relaxed, with stone a featured material, and the soft sand-coloured palette echoes the hues of the island’s landscapes.
2. The Hoxton, Vienna
Amid Vienna’s Imperial and Art Nouveau splendour comes a mid-century gem, housed in Austria’s old Chamber of Commerce headquarters in the arty Landstrasse. The area and the building are right up Hoxton’s street; a neighbourhood-centred brand known for its quirky style. Hoxton Vienna’s designers have made the most of the 1950s building’s generous proportions with a soaring lobby that would not look out of place in Mad Men, as well as a rooftop pool and bar offering wonderful city views and 196 guestrooms, sized from “showbox” (a snug 13sq m with a single bed) to “roomy” (king bed and space for the dog). The very cool rooftop bar and pool deck have a Caribbean vibe, while the below-ground Salon Paradise channels the Beat Generation.
3. 1, Place Vendome, Paris
Behind a vivid blue door on Place Vendome, 10 suites and five guestrooms mark the Swiss jewellery and watchmaker Chopard’s discreet entry onto the accommodation scene. And quite an entry it is. Set above the shop, a three-minute stroll from the Tuileries, the small but perfectly formed 1, Place Vendome epitomises “quiet luxury” or “stealth wealth” with jewel-like interiors by superstar hotel designer Pierre-Yves Rochon. Operating rather like a private club, the hotel has a guests’ library, hidden cigar lounge, salon and winter garden. Every room is different, the decor suggested by a gemstone or rarefied antique, with France’s finest ateliers providing the faultless detailing. Marquetry experts, gilders, glassmakers and Parisian weavers toiled for almost five years to restore the early 18th-century “hotel particulier”, originally built by a secretary to Louis XIV.
4. Chateau de Raymontpierre by The Living Circle, Switzerland
The aptly named Living Circle is a collection of boutique hotels and restaurants in enticing Swiss locales serviced by a network of farms and vineyards that whisk produce directly into the group’s kitchens. In Zurich, the charming Widder Hotel occupies nine medieval townhouses, where many of the cosy guestrooms come with hefty oak beams and enchanting fresco fragments. Storchen Zurich has 64 waterfront chambers on the lovely Limmat river. New to the Living Circle this northern summer is the fairytale Chateau de Raymontpierre in the Jura mountains, surrounded by alpine meadows and forest with an adjoining farm affording a stylish agritourism experience. The 420-year-old chateau has been renovated to offer 14 guest-rooms in the main building and a new annexe alongside a small wellness centre. The chateau is available to hire in its entirety, or guests can sign up for a series of retreats. Limited individual bookings are available during the peak summer season.
5. One&Only Kea Island, Greece
After opening a glamorous resort on the Athenian Riviera last year, One&Only heads offshore, debuting a luxury retreat on the rugged west coast of the sparsely populated, under-the-radar Kea in the Cyclades. A 45-minute speedboat jaunt from Athens, One&Only Kea Island occupies a sprawling, 65ha beachfront site. It’s an all-villa affair, with 63 one and two-bedroom suites hugging the cliffside, each with a private infinity pool, terrace and outdoor fireplace, and most offering sweeping views of the Aegean. The resort offers all the upscale trimmings, including a super-stylish beach club with DJ, dive centre, yachts for charter, a luxury day spa, even an in-house archaeologist leading tours to the island’s ancient ruins.
6. Romazzino, A Belmond Hotel, Costa Smeralda, Italy
Sardinia’s celebrated beachside retreat has reopened this summer as a Belmond hotel after commencing a multi-phase, top-to-toe renovation. Step one for Romazzino, A Belmond Hotel is the outdoor entertainment precinct overlooking a white sand beach and the sparkling bay of Porto Cervo. The lounge and pool set-up as well as the beach grill have been revamped, and the Beach Club completely overhauled. New plastic-free furniture features woven finishes inspired by Sardinian fishing nets. Opened in the 1960s after Prince Karim Aga Khan kicked off development along the 20km Costa Smeralda, the Romazzino’s history is writ large with a stellar guestlist including Grace Kelly, Princess Margaret, Brigitte Bardot and at least half the Beatles. Curved whitewashed architecture and arched windows channel 60s glamour across 77 guestrooms, 17 suites and six villas.
7. The Hotel Maria, Helsinki
With the final touches completed in July, Helsinki’s newest and most glamorous five-star offering claims a dress-circle position near the Presidential Palace in four transformed historic buildings. The Hotel Maria has many features of an urban resort, including a stunning day spa (with a dedicated wellness concierge), chapel and courtyard gardens. Hotel founder is three-time winter Olympic gold medallist Samppa Lajunen, a local identity, who wanted to establish a hotel in the grand European style. High ceilings add to the spaciousness of all 117 guestrooms (including 38 suites) that are at least twice the average size typically found in the Finnish capital, with super-luxurious bathrooms, most with tubs and some with steam rooms, even saunas. Interiors come in a rich palette of cream and gold but executed with typical Nordic restraint.
8. Bikini Island & Mountain Hotel Es Trenc, Spain
With Spain set to outstrip France as the world’s most visited country by 2040, resort development is coming along at a cracking pace, with the Balearic Islands poised to become ever busier. On the southern coast of Mallorca, near the charming Colonia de Sant Jordi and next to unspoilt Es Trenc beach, three buildings set among established gardens overlooking the sea have been restored to appeal to an on-trend, adults-only crowd. Features of the Bikini Island & Mountain Hotel Es Trenc include an artist’s lounge with professional recording studio and boho-chic interiors accented by bold floral murals and plenty of bamboo. The 130 guestrooms have king beds and a snug terrace or balcony. Expect no TVs but superfast wi-fi, and the penthouse boasts 360-degree views from large terraces.
9. Rosewood, Amsterdam
Amsterdam’s former Palace of Justice building, overlooking Prinsengracht (the Prince’s Canal), is being transformed into the Rosewood group’s first hotel in The Netherlands. The top-notch location puts the city’s major attractions within walking or cycling distance. Alongside 134 guestrooms and suites, many with wonderful canal views, Rosewood Amsterdam will include three restaurants and a swish day spa and fitness centre complete with indoor pool. Referencing the building’s history, the hotel lobby lounge will feature a library stocked with old legal books (as art installations rather than reading material). The much-awaited property is scheduled to open later this year.
10. Hotel Violino d’Oro, Venice
Recently opened in a charming 17th-century palazzo a five-minute stroll from Piazza San Marco, the family-run Hotel Violino d’Oro is an ode to Italian craftsmanship, designed to feel as though it’s evolved over time like a private home (albeit the home of a well-heeled collector with impeccable taste). Seminato or terrazzo floors handmade by one of the city’s oldest artisan families are complemented by mid-century lamps, antique chandeliers and contemporary art pieces, everything made or sourced in Venice or Tuscany. The 32 indulgent guestrooms, some with canal views, have terrazzo or timber floors, luxury linens (Italian, of course) and marble bathrooms where Sicilian Ortigia amenities are stored in wooden boxes hand-painted in Florence. The hotel has a cosy, homely vibe, the restaurant with only a handful of tables, and it’s possible to put a finishing flourish to the Venetian dream by arriving directly by boat. There’s also a servizio gondola (gondola station) next door.
If you love to travel, sign up to our free weekly Travel + Luxury newsletter here.
