The Best New Hotels in Europe and the UK: 2025 Hot List
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We've spent the last 12 months sleeping, eating, and sailing our way around the globe in order to bring you the 29th edition of the Hot List, our carefully curated annual collection of the best new (and reborn) hotels, restaurants, and cruise ships in the world, and we had a ton of fun doing it. How could we not when it involved activities like zip-lining to dinner in the Maldives, sleeping in an actual tree house in Kenya, and eating a truly memorable meal in a converted auto body shop in Mexico City? The through line of this year’s list is joy—something we could all use a little more of in our lives. These are the 2025 Hot List winners.
Click here to see the entire Hot List for 2025.
Guillaumede Laubier/Brach MadridhotelBrach Madrid - Evok Collection
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Hot List 2025Smack-dab on Gran Vía, Evok Collection’s second opening outside France is leading the third hotel wave in the Spanish capital—unsurprising given that one of the men who invented the boutique hotel helmed the design: Philippe Starck. The elegant, belvedere-topped seven-story building finished in 1922 now tucks in 57 bedrooms, including four suites. With the reception upstairs, the ground floor houses the bar, restaurant, and patisserie, which segue into each other, fostering a clubbable brasserie feel. The low-lit restaurant has woven-leather ceilings hung with double lampshades and mahogany-paneled walls lined with interesting limited-edition hispanophile books and vivid art. Chef Adam Bentalha’s recipes roam the Med, from the Middle East (croissant-fluffy challah; za’atar-drenched suckling lamb shoulder) to the Iberian peninsula with Spanish produce (red tuna, Bellota ham). Rooms and suites, a few with sun-trap terraces, have jatoba-wood joinery and are warmed by pinks and oranges, terra-cottas, and flashes of moss green. The La Capsule spa is decked with white and floaty curtains (very Delano Miami à la 1990s) and has a 65-foot pool clad in cream marble; a suite of biohacking gadgetry that includes a hyperbaric chamber; and a menu ranging from facial electrostimulation to Chinese massage Chi Nei Tsang. From $605. —Lydia Bell
hotelThe Brecon — Adelboden, Switzerland
$$$ | Hot List 2025Had history’s fickle ways played out differently, the Alpine village of Adelboden would be as well known as Gstaad, where Loro Piana rubs shoulders with Moncler on the high street. But after a flurry of fame in the Edwardian era, when Henry Lunn brought the first package group of British skiers here, it settled into affable obscurity, livened up by the annual World Cup giant slalom. One loyal regular, though, was Welsh-born Grant Maunder, whose family holidayed here in the 1970s and ’80s and who repaid the village’s hospitality by opening the Cambrian hotel about 15 years ago. This is the follow-up, and it’s an altogether more considered project, swerving away from the usual Alpine clichés in favor of a clubby midcentury look assembled by Dutch-based design studio Nicemakers. Behind the classic chalet façade, the ground-floor living space, which flows from breakfast tables to dining room and bar, ripples with texture—bouclé fabrics here, Nordic Knots rugs there, crazy paving underfoot—and showcases vintage furniture alongside woodcuts and brutalist sculptures. Easy to imagine Tony Curtis here, resplendent in a roll-neck and perusing a ’60s copy of Esquire. The intention was to make it all feel as much of a private home as possible, with bedrooms clear of hotel clutter and a sense of relaxed, “just drop by” warmth. It’s adults only and, unusually, fully inclusive (from feasts of salmon and mountain cheeses to the old-fashioneds), a concept at which some may balk—until they remember their last restaurant bill in Switzerland. Maunder refers to The Brecon’s aesthetic as “Swelsh,” and, when you’re dallying in the terrace pool, with the flanks of the Bernese Oberland rising operatically above, it all feels pretty wonderful. From $840. —Rick Jordan
hotelCasa de Las Artes, Member of Meliá Collection — Madrid
$$$ | Hot List 2025The Meliá Collection has opened its first hotel in Madrid, called Casa de las Artes, with the aim of redefining luxury through a focus on modernity, art, and culture. Located in the Barrio de las Letras, the hotel is in a Beaux Arts–style building that once housed the General Association of Railway Employees. Inside, original Dalí lithographs decorate the walls, and a midcentury corridor leads to an indoor swimming pool and creatively designed meeting rooms. The 137 rooms include unique illustrations of Don Quixote, warm furnishings, Nespresso machines, and luxury bath products by Carner. The hotel's restaurant, Maché, serves classic Madrid tapas alongside a variety of fish and meats, while a cozy cinema named Miró pays tribute to the private projection rooms of the golden age of Hollywood. From $335. —David Moralejo
Anna Batchelor/The Cavendish HotelhotelThe Cavendish Hotel at Baslow — Bakewell, England
$$$ | Hot List 2025A jaunt through sylvan parkland to Britain’s most aesthetic stately home, Chatsworth House, this Peak District coaching inn owned by Chatsworth’s Devonshire family has had a glow-up. Interiors maestra Nicola Harding, Beaverbrook’s secret weapon, worked alongside Laura Burlington, the estate’s current custodian. Paintings from the family collection line the walls, from American portrait artist Elizabeth Peyton to Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller. Almost all 28 bedrooms and suites have bucolic views framed by sash windows. Deep, comfortable coral pink corduroy armchairs and stout feather-stuffed cushions invite you to sink into them and delve into memoirs and books on art, gardening, and local lore. Quiet good taste is the order of the day, with block-printed wallpaper, whipped-cream ceilings, wainscots, framed botanicals, and emerald green felt-upholstered doors. The eau-de-nil-hued Gallery Restaurant is filled with estate drawings, gilt-framed etchings, and sumptuous landscapes, including two by Irish painter Oliver Comerford. It’s the perfect setting for executive chef Adam Harper’s upmarket menu of oysters, mackerel parfait, shellfish bisque, ham hock, and beef Wellington. The Garden Room opens onto a terrace and has a breezy decor of pinks and magentas with rattan chairs and brick floors. It offers relaxed brunch choices too, like garden soups, prawn cocktails, English asparagus, and farm roasts. Produce hails from the beehives, mushroom emporiums, kitchen gardens, and game on the estate and from suppliers within a 10-mile radius. From $250. —Lydia Bell
Jonathan Maloney / Inga Beckmann for What The Fox StudiohotelCorinthia Grand Hotel Astoria Brussels
$$$ | Hot List 2025This being the hometown of intrepid Belgian reporter Tintin, it’s easy to picture Bianca Castafiore—that redoubtable, jewel-encrusted opera singer—performing in the grand palm court here. But think of all the broken glass. If her voice can shatter a Champagne flute at a hundred paces, what would it do to the magnificent roof above, painstakingly assembled from 100,000 individual pieces? The Grand Hotel Astoria was Belgium’s big comeback story for 2024: Originally opened in time for the Brussels World Fair in 1910, it has hosted guests as diverse as Dalí and Emperor Hirohito, but fell into decline and retired nearly two decades ago. Corinthia has spent the past four years restoring it, and nostalgic Bruxellois who came here for afternoon tea are now flocking back to see it, including the Belle Epoque stained-glass corridor on the first floor and the neoclassical columns of the breakfast room, complete with musicians’ gallery and surely the grandest place in town to eat a pain au chocolat. It’s topped by a new floor of penthouse suites, while the basement has been carved out to accommodate two pools and an extensive spa—one of the largest in the city. But the biggest draw is the tag team of assembled Belgian culinary talent, with a flamboyant fine-dining menu from David Martin (dishes such as poached oysters with green peppers arrive on artfully designed ceramics) and Le Petit Bon Bon from local hero Christophe Hardiquest, who has fun with classics such as shrimp croquettes and a sardine spread that comes in a neatly rolled tin. A newly-arrived cocktail bar is serving drinks under the direction of Hannah Van Ongevalle, one of the Belgian cocktail scene’s leading lights. Add to that a concept shop next door showcasing young designers, and this place is set to become as much of a social hub as its London outpost. From $720. —Rick Jordan
MarugalhotelDunas de Formentera — Spain
$$$ | Hot List 2025I was barefoot the first time I checked into what was then known as Las Dunas Playa, a sandy-floored, bare-bones beach resort with a crescent slip of a swimming pool. My now husband and I sipped cañas at an open-air bar and slept in a pared-back beach bungalow among scrubby sand dunes, the crash of waves just meters from our bed. I’d never seen stars so bright. Las Dunas became our offshore escape when Ibiza hit peak midsummer mercury. Sixteen years on, it is smartening up, and though Formentera fiercely protects its dunes, forbidding new constructions, hotelier turned sustainability pioneer Pablo Carrington and his peerless Marugal group are experts at treading lightly. Today, the hotel has been restored and renamed Dunas de Formentera, retaining the stripped-down vibes but in more salubrious surroundings, with service that is discreet and chatty. In the capacious bedrooms—some of the island’s largest—daybeds and limewashed Balearic walls are the perfect foil to sabina-pine-framed Mediterranean views. Split-level outdoor terraces are shaded by banana plants and lavender, while meandering walkways lead back to that same crescent pool and soaring bar. Restaurant tables and raffia chairs cluster beneath resinous evergreens. As we wander down the silvery boardwalk that links the beach bungalows with the hotel itself, we stumble across our first-night casita. Despite a creamy micro-cement makeover, elegant terra-cotta styling, and a smart terrace, it still echoed with the crash of the waves. And by night, those stars shine just as bright as the first time I saw them. From $425. —Maya Boyd
hotelThe Emory — London
$$$ | Hot List 2025It would be easy to walk straight past this glass box of a hotel that overlooks Hyde Park and not realize that it’s perhaps the starriest hotel in London. One of the last projects of the late great architect Richard Rogers, London’s first all-suite hotel is a departure of sorts for the Maybourne Group, best known for heritage classics like Claridge’s and The Connaught. It enlisted an all-star cast: Jean-Georges Vongerichten for the lightly airy ABC Kitchen; Tracy Anderson for the fitness studio in the 21,573-square-foot, longevity-focused Surrenne spa; and a handful of big-name interior designers, such as Rémi Tessier, who designed the entire ground floor and entrance along with the Emory Rooftop Bar and Cigar Merchants and all four floors of Surrenne. Others include André Fu (Claridge’s Spa), Pierre Yves Rochon (The Savoy), Alexandra Champalimaud (Raffles Singapore), and Patricia Urquiola (Six Senses Rome). While there's nowhere else like this hotel in London, thanks to the Damien Hirsts dotted about and helicopter transfers with larger suites, there's also nowhere quite as discreet. From $1,273. —Toby Skinner
Alex MolinghotelEriro Alpine Hide — Ehrwald, Austria
$$$ | Hot List 2025Until last year many skiers and hikers exploring the Wetterstein mountains would stay near the base of Ehrwalder (it neighbors the Zugspitze, Germany’s highest peak). But that was before Eriro, which, at 5,085 feet, stands out, not just for its ski-in, ski-out location but also for the extraordinary craftsmanship that showcases the raw beauty of local materials. Inside, the chalet-style building is all contrasts: Bouclé sheep-wool rugs cover stone floors, and rough spruce-burlap lattice panels and smooth curved-back seats adorn the restaurant. All nine rooms have the same detail-driven feel—bedside lamps made of rocks, tree-trunk bathtubs—and constantly shifting light. The food is rooted in its surroundings (suppers range from family-style to six courses), while spa treatments use oils made from foraged medicinal herbs. There’s also a yoga studio, a creative space for painting and pottery, and a program of outdoor activities including meditative walks and snowshoeing. This is somewhere to connect with nature, on every level. From $1,662. —Emma Love
Mr. TRIPPERhotelExperimental Chalet Val d'Isère — France
$$$ | Hot List 2025The Experimental modus operandi—playful design, serious food, deadly serious cocktails—may be familiar, but there’s still a frisson when the brand brings its signature hedonism to fresh locales. Ever-smarter Val d’Isère is Experimental’s 11th location, and second in the Alps after Verbier opened in late 2018. Brand-darling interior designer Dorothée Meilichzon has brought her straight-line-phobic haute whimsy to this 113-key property in what used to be L’Aigle de Neiges, a tired wood-and-stone four-star. Stucco walls and features like the old Savoyard-stone fireplace add a touch of Alpine nostalgia, but the bon vivant lifestyle remains central: from the ’70s-inspired Experimental Cocktail Club to the airy neo-bistro L’Aigle d’Or and the cozier, more trad L’Aiglon, where slabs of Comté and Gruyère are melted for unctuous fondues by a bulbous open-fire oven. With a subterranean spa and ski-hire place, it’s instantly Val’s most fun setting to stay. From $340. —Toby Skinner
Michelle ChaplowhotelFairmont La Hacienda Costa del Sol — Cádiz, Spain
$$$ | Hot List 2025 
Readers' Choice Awards 2025Fairmont aims for La Hacienda Costa del Sol to be the top golf and beach resort in southern Europe. The resort spans over 990,000 square feet and includes an award-winning golf club and direct access to a two-and-a-half-mile beach. With beautiful views of Morocco and Gibraltar, it sits in a less-traveled area of the Costa del Sol, near Sotogrande, ideal for those seeking relaxation, water sports, gastronomy, and culture. Guests can enjoy golf, dolphin watching, and visits to cozy small villages and verdant forests. The resort’s design by Daar Studio features tiered buildings and independent villas, maximizing sea views and blending with the landscape. The decor, by Studio Ibu, includes natural materials and earthy tones for intimacy. The 153 rooms and suites, plus 47 villas, vary in size and come with private gardens (the luxury ones with pools). The Spanish chef Benito Gomez oversees the Dalmar restaurant, focusing on relaxed dining with shareable high-quality dishes. From $445. —David Moralejo
Martha VosdouhotelGundari Resort — Folegandros, Greece
Hot List 2025The first luxury boutique resort on the Greek island of Folegandros is an authentic refuge from its energetic neighbors in the Cycladic archipelago. With no airport or cruise terminal plugging it into the tourism circuit, this is the donkey-straddling Greece of old: rugged, unspoiled landscapes and quiet villages that nurture their age-old traditions. Gundari’s 27 earthy limestone suites and villas are perched on cliffs that soar above secluded beaches lapped by sparkling Aegean waves. With private infinity pools, a swim-up bar, and cuisine overseen by Lefteris Lazarou, guests can disconnect from the world in style. From $655. —Noo Saro-Wiwa
Giulio Ghirardi/Hôtel du CouventhotelHôtel du Couvent — Nice, France
$$ | Hot List 2025There’s a deep sense of contemplation about this former nunnery turned hotel in Nice’s Old Town. In 2014, Valéry Grégo began collaborating with Studio Mumbai and Studio Méditerranée for the architecture, and Festen Architecture for the interior design to transform the abandoned shell (deconsecrated in the 1980s) into the South of France’s most soulful place to stay. The result is movingly beautiful: The 88 bedrooms include carefully conjoined nuns’ cells, airy conversions of chapter rooms, and those in a sensitively added new wing—all lime plaster, muted linens, and antique finds. The subterranean circuit of thermal pools is inspired by the ruins of Roman baths nearby; a herbalist dispenses custom-blended teas from his apothecary tucked along one the cloisters. In the three restaurants, many of the ingredients come straight from an organic farm in the Var valley. This restorative refuge is a heavenly study in simplicity and a slower side to the oft-glitzy Côte d’Azur. From $410. —Fiona Kerr
Julius HirtzbergerhotelThe Hoxton Vienna
$ | Hot List 2025The Hoxton group used to be about cool-hunting the most happening neighborhoods, but these days it’s more about finding the right building and then creating a scene-stealing buzz around it. In Vienna, that meant a mid-century classic by Bauhaus-trained architect Carl Appel and formerly the Austrian Chamber of Commerce. It’s a lot sexier than it sounds. The entrance where homburg-wearing businessmen once gathered is now a café terrace that twirls with parasols and spritzes in the summer; the terrazzo-floored lobby is draped with greenery and embellished with lipstick-red Fifties sofas, while the Cuban-inspired rooftop bar has locals queueing by the lifts for rum cocktails while guests cool off in the adjoining pool. In a city a little too in thrall to Lobmeyr chandeliers and Viennese classicism, this is a hotel that thinks outside the box. From $210. —Rick Jordan
Mattia Aquila/Hotel Le Dune PiscinashotelHotel Le Dune Piscinas — Costa Verde, Italy
$$Those familiar with Costa Smeralda will find Sardinia’s southwest coast a surprise. But then again, everyone will find it a surprise. It’s one of Europe’s last wildernesses, where crooked juniper bushes jut from billowing dunes. The hotel was once a warehouse for the nearby ironworks, which was inherited by an Italian colonel who made it into a simple hotel before the current owners spent three years transforming it. Lined by an art installation of LED candles that flicker as you pass, a stone-hewn tunnel used by mine carts now leads to the spa. In the bar Negronis are mixed beneath wooden beams taken decades ago from a medieval tower, while behind an aquarium-like window, chefs prepare octopus and polenta. The surrounding hillsides and eerie mining relics can be explored by e-bike or quad bike, but mainly guests walk down the boardwalk to the empty sands or slouch by the pool with a glass of Vermentino, later gathering on the piazza for the sunset show. A total original. From $365. —Rick Jordan
hotelMandarin Oriental Mayfair, London
$$$Mandarin Oriental’s second London opening, in a corner of the capital’s most sought-after neighborhood, was the talk of the town long before the doors opened. Leading designers captured the brand’s Asian heritage in haute couture hideouts in emerald green, with considered splashes of turquoise and sheeny metallic finishes throughout. Kaleidoscopic floral arrangements greet guests in the lobby, who range from families utilizing interconnecting room arrangements to suited visitors dropping in for fizzy, informal meetings. Signature suites are Mayfair pieds-à-terre, where hand-painted de Gournay wallpaper lines the walls, Natura Bissé products scent the bathrooms, and classic English novels adorn the coffee tables, ready and waiting for Champagne-sipping, kimono-wearing guests. On the lower ground level, Akira Back’s lofty ambitions are no secret—rightly so, as stealthy chefs slice through seafood and an attentive team glides around pairing fine wine and umami morsels in one of the capital’s prettiest dining rooms. ABar Rooftop is an elegant spot for pre-supper cocktail sipping with panoramic views that extend as far as Hampstead Heath. Experienced hands soothe aching muscles in the subterranean spa’s cozy treatment rooms as other guests break a sweat on the gym’s Technogym equipment. Signature wellness packages include Tranquillity of Mayfair, a four-hand massage involving two masseuses, free-flowing oils, and a binaural vibroacoustic session using advanced touchless technology to calm the mind. Beside the 82-foot pool, the hustle and bustle of Oxford Circus feels a million miles away, rather than the stone’s throw it is. From $1,287. —Connor Sturges
hotelMaxx Royal Bodrum — Turkey
Hot List 2025Not a year goes by without a glitzy new arrival along Turkey’s Turquoise Coast, so it takes something particularly special to turn heads, and superyacht bows, in these parts. Maxx Royal Bodrum Resort, the group’s third after Kemer and Belek, did just that in spring 2024, having called on celebrated Turkish architect Mahmut Anlar to blend a futuristic resort between iridescent azure seas and verdant hills. There are suites, gargantuan villas, sleek lagunas, and terraces that flow into shared infinity pools in which minutes soon turn to hours. Resorts along the Bodrum Peninsula tend to not shout about their culinary offerings, but Maxx Royal is doing things differently. The food consumed in the restaurants is just as crucial as the treatments that extract toxins in the Maxx Wellbeing Centre. Linen-clad hotel guests start with poolside iced lattes and, once little ones are whisked off to a ludicrously fun kids club, the rosé sipping commences; some choose instead to embark on the 90-second walk to Scorpios’ beach club nestled in the same horseshoe cove. This is one Aegean hangout that’s got rival hoteliers scratching their heads—and scribbling over their plans. From $1,041. —Connor Sturges
Rupert PeacehotelOne&Only Kéa Island — Greece
$$$ | Hot List 2025 Readers' Choice Awards 2025One&Only is the first major hotel group to open on Kea, a little-known Cycladic island not far from mainland Greece. The design emphasizes locally sourced stones, with lots of open, mottled-concrete structures that let the natural cove setting speak for itself. Tranquility is key; rooms are more like individual villas, and have private patios, secluded balconies, and 24- and 29.5-foot infinity pools. For such a contained resort, there's a lot on offer. At the foot of the valley is the tree-shaded Bond Beach Club, which serves Mediterranean-Asian fusion cuisine, and behind that is the spa, the largest within the One&Only group, where guests can indulge in bespoke treatments from Subtle Energies. Then there’s its kids club and sports center, with a tennis court and a paddleball court, and guests can book in for scuba diving and day trips on its 1967 wood yacht. At the peak of the hilltop is the central lobby and main restaurant with almost panoramic views across the Aegean and to the temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounio beyond. —Charlotte Davey
Stefano Scatà/Palazzo DurazzohotelPalazzo Durazzo — Genoa, Italy
$ | Hot List 2025More than a hotel, Palazzo Durazzo is the signature project of Emanuela Brignone Cattaneo and her husband Giacomo Cattaneo Adorno, whose family own the Palazzo. It’s aligned with a larger citywide regeneration effort that aims to return Genoa to its status as one of Europe’s great capitals. In the same family for 400 years, this Baroque pile on the waterfront has been rescued and elegantly adapted into a lavish boutique hotel that sets a new standard for luxury in a city that was in dire need of a refresh. With 12 suites furnished with museum-quality antiques, a number of which are adorned with knockout Baroque frescoes, Palazzo Durazzo is more than sumptuous accommodations—it tells the history of a city that was once a maritime and banking power rivaled in grandeur only by Venice. From $398. —Brendan Shanahan
Rupert EdenhotelPalacete Severo — Porto
Hot List 2025This recent opening on Porto’s granite streets comes with a storied past. Palacete Severo was built by architect Ricardo Severo in 1904, displaying different stylistic elements from all over Portugal, making it something of a museum of details. Today the yellow-walled house has been immaculately restored by designer Paulo Lobo to offer 20 rooms in the main house as well as a new building across the garden. There is a spa with plant-based Olivier Claire products, a sleek swimming pool, a bistro in the lovely internal tiled courtyard, and a restaurant helmed by chef Tiago Bonito, who earned a Michelin star for his work at Largo do Paço in Rio de Janeiro. Modern art overlaying the restored 20th-century stained glass and stuccoed ceilings comes from French owner Géraldine Banier’s Perspective Gallerie. From $365. —Mary Lussiana
Palazzo TalìahotelPalazzo Talìa — Rome
$$$ | Hot List 2025In Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino’s movies, houses are less locations than leads. The Italian aesthete set up his own interior design studio in 2017. For his first hotel project, he applied his talent for “dimensional storytelling” to the museum-like public spaces of 26-room Palazzo Talìa. It’s an ambitious renovation of a storied 16th-century Renaissance palazzo that, as Rome’s most prestigious patrician school, produced over three centuries of cardinals and dignitaries. The Talìa entrance is now a door into a singular cinematic world conjured by Guadagnino’s contemporary dialogue with the building’s past. The overall mood is curiously futuristic. A three-meter-high 1940s chandelier provides an interface of silvery light between old and new. Moquettes outfitted in berry pinks, hematite red, and Verona-green prints are modern reflections of frescoed ceilings. The modular armchairs on the 17th-century marble floor of the assembly hall recall 2001: A Space Odyssey. All that’s missing is the script. From $630. —Stephanie Rafanelli
JAKE EASTHAMhotelThe Pig – in the Cotswolds — Barnsley, England
$$$ | Hot List 2025Romance is definitely rose-tinted at this 17th-century Cotswolds country house near Cirencester that’s enveloped in world-famous gardens and has recently been spruced into shape by UK’s much-loved Pig Hotel group. Its designers have cleverly recalibrated the interiors and conjured up small but decadent sitting rooms. A tour of the Arts and Crafts gardens’ flower beds and follies is essential, as is time in the small spa Fieldhouse, hidden beyond its wildflower meadow. The conservatory restaurant delivers simple rustic fare with flair, while the 20 bedrooms are fabulously floral, with vintage furniture and quirky curios. The place is perfect for a celebration. From $262. —Susan D’Arcy
Chris Dalton/Hotel RomeohotelRomeo Roma - Rome
$$$ | Hot List 2025 Readers' Choice Awards 2025When you step into Romeo Roma, you will immediately find yourself in a truly unique place. That’s partly thanks to Zaha Hadid—there’s Carrara marble honed into bold curves, Makassar ebony, and a design reminiscent of a spaceship from the future. But also because it all takes place in a 16th-century palazzo where ancient artifacts were found, such as the marble head of Livia Drusilla, wife to the emperor Augustus. Only a few steps away from Piazza del Popolo, on Via di Ripetta, some of the 74 rooms and suites are decidedly futuristic, while others have original frescoes as a counterpoint to the modern bathrooms and the warmth of the Krion, the white material of the freestanding bathtubs in the middle of the rooms. And then there’s Alain Ducasse’s restaurant, the French chef's first major experiment since the launch of the sister hotel in Naples and the only part of the property open to the public. (The hotel will introduce a membership program to access the gym, the spa, and other on-site common areas.) Monsieur wins not just with his platter of oysters and artichokes and with puntarelle, a cult vegetable in Rome, but also with breakfast, a spread of rare refinement, prepared à la minute at the table. Try the omelet, splendid and as fluffy as a feather. Unmissable experience: the Sicilian salt detox chamber in the spa by Sisley Paris. From $2,500. —Maddalena Fossati
RosewoodhotelRosewood Schloss Fuschl — Salzburg
$$$ | Hot List 2025The view from the terrace stretches over two and a half miles to the opposite shore of Austria’s Lake Fuschl. The majestic mountain slopes rise up along both sides of the lake. No hotel in the Alps offers a better panoramic view than the Rosewood Schloss Fuschl. If it sounds like something out of a film, you’re right: The castle was actually the location for the first movie in the famous Sissi trilogy from the late 1950s. The original castle was built in 1461 and it was turned into a hotel in 1947. Since Rosewood’s lavish restoration, it has become an international hot spot. In the summer, the lake club (a huge wood jetty over the water with plenty of loungers) attracts guests from all over the world; in the winter, they can be found at the Asaya Spa (with indoor and outdoor pools, three saunas, and a gym with lake views). There are historic suites in the old tower and contemporary rooms in the new building. The cuisine is mainly local, with regional specialities such as Leberkäse (a beef, pork, and bacon loaf), schnitzel, and Kaiserschmarrn pancakes. Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart and home to one of the best festivals for classical music and performing arts, is just 16 miles away. From $680. —Dennis Braatz
Jiri LizlerhotelW Prague
$$$ | Hot List 2025Prague’s been having something of a hotel moment recently, with Andaz landing in a former sugar-insurance HQ and Fairmont moving into the old InterContinental digs. Arguably, though, this new opening has the best setting of all: behind the gold-embossed façade of the Grand Hotel Europa, whose winsome Art Nouveau details would doubtless thrill a certain pastel-jacketed film director. Some may be surprised to see the W logo above such a landmark building, but the group has matured of late (see its palatial Budapest outpost), and the careful restoration here—chandeliers replaced, mahogany panels repaired—is impressive. It’s not just a period piece, though: The Grand Café now hosts the steak-savvy Le Petit Beef Bar, the spa fizzes with hydrotherapy experiences, and in the new wing the lounge revels in futuristic surrealism with mushrooming columns and a fixture above the bar that resembles eyelashes. The W may be more grown-up but still knows how to have fun. From $335. —Rick Jordan
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