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The One

In every destination, the single best hotel, restaurant and beach club.

Last checked October 2026.

Positano on the Amalfi CoastPhotograph: Pexels

Lisbon and Cascais, Portugal

Stay: Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon (Forbes Five-Star and two MICHELIN Keys). Above Eduardo VII Park, Portugal's only Forbes Five-Star hotel.
Dine: Belcanto. José Avillez's restaurant in the Chiado holds two MICHELIN stars.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Comporta, Portugal

Stay: Vermelho (two MICHELIN Keys). Christian Louboutin's hotel in the village of Melides, on the Alentejo coast just south of Comporta, his first venture into hospitality.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: JNcQUOI Beach Club. Standing alone on the sand facing the Atlantic, in a building by the Belgian architect Vincent Van Duysen, with seafood at its heart.

The Algarve, Portugal

Stay: Vila Vita Parc (three MICHELIN Keys). A clifftop resort above the sea at Porches, one of only two hotels in Portugal with three Keys.
Dine: Ocean. Hans Neuner's restaurant at Vila Vita Parc holds two MICHELIN stars.
Beach: Gigi's. The Algarve's most celebrated beach restaurant, on Quinta do Lago's beach, known for its long seafood lunches and the day's catch.

Porto and the Douro Valley, Portugal

Stay: Six Senses Douro Valley (two MICHELIN Keys). A restored 19th-century manor among the vineyards above the Douro near Lamego, about an hour and a half from Porto.
Dine: Casa de Chá da Boa Nova. Rui Paula's two-MICHELIN-star restaurant in Álvaro Siza's teahouse, built into the rocks above the Atlantic at Leça da Palmeira, just north of Porto.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Madeira, Portugal

Stay: Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel (two MICHELIN Keys). The clifftop grande dame above the bay of Funchal, receiving guests since 1891.
Dine: Il Gallo d'Oro. At The Cliff Bay in Funchal, chef Benoît Sinthon's restaurant holds two MICHELIN stars.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Marbella, Spain

Stay: Marbella Club (one of the 25 Finest Resorts). The address that made Marbella, founded in 1954 by Prince Alfonso von Hohenlohe on the beach of the Golden Mile, with its own beach club and pier.
Dine: Skina. Marcos Granda's restaurant on the Golden Mile is the only MICHELIN two-star on the Costa del Sol.
Beach: La Cabane. Open since 1965, it marked its 60th anniversary with a menu by chef Dani García and is run by Grupo Dani García with Grupo Mosh.

Barcelona, Spain

Stay: Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona (Forbes Five-Star). On Passeig de Gràcia, it was raised to Forbes Five-Star in 2026, the city's only hotel at that level.
Dine: Disfrutar. Three MICHELIN stars, and named the world's best restaurant in 2024.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Mallorca, Spain

Stay: Cap Rocat (one of the 25 Finest Resorts). A 19th-century fortress guarding the Bay of Palma, protected as a national monument, set in a 30-hectare reserve with two kilometres of private coastline.
Dine: Voro. In Canyamel, it is the only MICHELIN two-star in the Balearic Islands.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Ibiza, Spain

Stay: BLESS Hotel Ibiza (Forbes Five-Star). On the beach on Ibiza's east coast, the island's only hotel at that level.
Dine: Sublimotion. A 12-seat dinner staged with light and projection, open in summer only; it holds no MICHELIN stars but is Ibiza's one unrepeatable dining experience.
Beach: Blue Marlin Ibiza. The best-known address on Cala Jondal, running from lunch on the sand to evening DJ sets.

Gibraltar

Stay: None that meets our standard.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Saint-Tropez, France

Stay: Cheval Blanc St-Tropez (one of the 25 Finest Resorts). LVMH's small hotel on the Baie des Canoubiers has its own sandy beach and is home to La Vague d'Or, one of only a handful of MICHELIN three-stars on the coast.
Dine: La Vague d'Or. Arnaud Donckele's restaurant holds three MICHELIN stars.
Beach: Le Club 55. The founding name of Pampelonne beach life, run by the de Colmont family since 1955 and still the reference lunch for yachts anchored offshore.

Cannes and Antibes, France

Stay: Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc (one of the 25 Finest Resorts). The grande dame of the Riviera, on Cap d'Antibes since 1870, with its seawater pool cut into the rocks; it fills with film stars during the Cannes Film Festival.
Dine: La Villa Archange. Bruno Oger's restaurant in an 18th-century Provençal house in Le Cannet, ten minutes above the Croisette, holds two MICHELIN stars, the only two-star serving Cannes and Antibes.
Beach: La Guérite. A private beach and restaurant on Île Sainte-Marguerite off Cannes, reached only by boat and a regular lunch stop for superyachts.

Nice and Cap Ferrat, France

Stay: Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, A Four Seasons Hotel (one of the 25 Finest Resorts). A Belle Époque palace in six hectares of gardens at the tip of the Riviera's most exclusive peninsula, with a funicular down to its Club Dauphin seawater pool.
Dine: La Chèvre d'Or. In the perched village of Èze, minutes from both Nice and Cap Ferrat, chef Tom Meyer holds two MICHELIN stars.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Corsica, France

Stay: Domaine du Mouflon d'Or (two MICHELIN Keys). An estate in the Alta Rocca hills above the gulf of Porto-Vecchio, Corsica's highest-rated hotel.
Dine: Casadelmar. On the gulf of Porto-Vecchio, Corsica's only two-MICHELIN-star restaurant, a two-star since 2009.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Monaco

Stay: Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo (one of the 25 Finest Resorts). Monaco's palace hotel on the Place du Casino since 1864, whose Princess Grace and Prince Rainier III Diamond Suites are among the most expensive suites in Europe.
Dine: Le Louis XV – Alain Ducasse à l'Hôtel de Paris. Alain Ducasse's flagship holds three MICHELIN stars.
Beach: Monte-Carlo Beach. The Société des Bains de Mer's beach resort at Monaco's eastern edge (on Roquebrune-Cap-Martin land, in France), a hotel since 1929, with cabanas and the MICHELIN-starred restaurant Elsa.

Portofino, Italy

Stay: Splendido, A Belmond Hotel (three MICHELIN Keys). The former Benedictine monastery above the harbour has been the benchmark of Portofino glamour since the 1950s.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: Bagni Fiore, Paraggi. Portofino's historic beach club on Paraggi Bay, an icon of the Ligurian dolce vita since 1927, revamped by the Parisian studio Festen, with Langosteria's restaurant on the sand.

Venice, Italy

Stay: Aman Venice (three MICHELIN Keys). A 16th-century palazzo on the Grand Canal.
Dine: Glam. Enrico Bartolini's restaurant in Palazzo Venart on the Grand Canal, Venice's two-MICHELIN-star table.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Rome, Italy

Stay: Bulgari Hotel Roma (three MICHELIN Keys). Set in a restored rationalist building on Piazza Augusto Imperatore, Rome's only three-Key hotel.
Dine: La Pergola. Heinz Beck's three-MICHELIN-star restaurant on the rooftop of the Rome Cavalieri, with views over the whole city.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Costa Smeralda, Sardinia, Italy

Stay: None that meets our standard.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: Phi Beach. A clifftop beach club and restaurant inside the 19th-century Forte Cappellini at Baja Sardinia, with a summer programme of leading international DJs.

Amalfi Coast, Italy

Stay: Il San Pietro di Positano (three MICHELIN Keys). Built into the cliff outside Positano, with a lift through the rock to its private cove; its restaurant Zass has a MICHELIN star.
Dine: Torre del Saracino. Two-MICHELIN-star cooking near the coast: Gennaro Esposito's restaurant on the Sorrento peninsula, about 50 minutes by road from Positano.
Beach: Le Sirenuse Mare. Le Sirenuse's beach club at Marina del Cantone (Nerano), opened in 2026 and open to non-guests daily from April to October, 25 minutes by boat from Positano.

Capri, Italy

Stay: J.K. Place Capri (three MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Five-Star). A white villa on the water at Marina Grande, one of only four hotels in Italy with both.
Dine: L'Olivo. At the Capri Palace Jumeirah in Anacapri, Capri's only two-MICHELIN-star restaurant.
Beach: La Fontelina. The beach club and seafood restaurant at the foot of the Faraglioni, opened in 1949 and still run by the founding families.

Taormina, Sicily, Italy

Stay: San Domenico Palace, A Four Seasons Hotel (three MICHELIN Keys). A 15th-century convent on the clifftops facing Etna, star of The White Lotus season two, with a MICHELIN-starred restaurant.
Dine: St. George by Heinz Beck. Taormina's two-MICHELIN-star restaurant, at The Ashbee Hotel, under the chef of Rome's three-star La Pergola.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Malta

Stay: Iniala Harbour House (Forbes Five-Star and two MICHELIN Keys). Facing Valletta's Grand Harbour, Malta's highest-rated hotel on both counts.
Dine: ION Harbour by Simon Rogan. Above the Grand Harbour at Iniala, Malta's only two-MICHELIN-star restaurant.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Piran, Slovenia

Stay: None that meets our standard.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Hvar and Split, Croatia

Stay: None that meets our standard.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Stay: Villa Dubrovnik (two MICHELIN Keys). Terraced into the rocks a short boat ride from the old town, the highest-rated hotel in Dubrovnik.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Stay: None that meets our standard; Mostar is best seen as a day trip from Dubrovnik.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: None; Mostar is inland.

Bay of Kotor, Montenegro

Stay: One&Only Portonovi (Forbes Five-Star). On the bay at Herceg Novi, the first hotel in Montenegro to earn the rating.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Albanian Riviera, Albania

Stay: None that meets our standard.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Athens Riviera, Greece

Stay: Four Seasons Astir Palace (three MICHELIN Keys). Set on its own pine-covered peninsula at Vouliagmeni with three private beaches, Greece's only three-Key hotel.
Dine: Delta. At the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center on the Faliro waterfront, where the Riviera begins, it is Greece's only two-MICHELIN-star restaurant, a short drive from central Athens.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

The Peloponnese, Greece

Stay: Amanzoe (one of the 25 Finest Resorts). Crowning a hilltop above Porto Heli like a modern acropolis, with Ed Tuttle's colonnades, a private pool for every pavilion and villa, and a private beach club on the shore below; Athens is about 25 minutes away by helicopter.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Mykonos, Greece

Stay: None that meets our standard.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: Nammos. On Psarou beach since 2002, it is the yacht crowd's favourite and the island's most established daytime address.

Santorini, Greece

Stay: None that meets our standard.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Crete, Greece

Stay: None that meets our standard.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Bodrum, Türkiye

Stay: Mandarin Oriental Bodrum (one of the 25 Finest Resorts). The peninsula's grandest address, curving around Paradise Bay near Göltürkbükü with private beaches, pool villas and more than a dozen restaurants and bars.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: Maçakızı. Founded by Bodrum pioneer Ayla Emiroğlu on the bay at Türkbükü and ranked first in 2026 editors' guides to the peninsula's beach clubs; lunch on its deck is booked well ahead in August.

Istanbul, Türkiye

Stay: Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet (Forbes Five-Star and three MICHELIN Keys). Set between Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, Türkiye's only three-Key hotel.
Dine: TURK Fatih Tutak. Fatih Tutak's modern Turkish tasting menus hold two MICHELIN stars, the highest rating in Istanbul.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Limassol and Paphos, Cyprus

Stay: None that meets our standard.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Tel Aviv, Israel

Stay: None that meets our standard.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Alexandria and the North Coast, Egypt

Stay: None that meets our standard.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Tunis and Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia

Stay: None that meets our standard.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Algiers, Algeria

Stay: None that meets our standard.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Tangier, Morocco

Stay: Royal Mansour Tamuda Bay (two MICHELIN Keys). Morocco's Mediterranean-coast Royal Mansour, about an hour east of Tangier on the Tétouan coast.
Dine: None that meets our standard.
Beach: None that meets our standard.

Marrakech, Morocco

Stay: Royal Mansour Marrakech (Forbes Five-Star and two MICHELIN Keys). A medina-walled estate of private riads built for the King of Morocco in the imperial city.
Dine: La Grande Table Marocaine. The Royal Mansour's Moroccan restaurant, led by Hélène Darroze with chef Karim Ben Baba, is the only African member of Les Grandes Tables du Monde and won the Art of Hospitality Award at MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026.
Beach: None; Marrakech is an imperial city, inland.

The Mediterranean Season Letter

Where to be, every season

Four letters a year, one for each season: the Mediterranean from spring to autumn, and Beyond the Mediterranean, into the Alps, in winter. The one best hotel to book, and the events worth crossing a sea for.