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European hotels come in every size, shape and budget – from luxuriously opulent heritage stays to chic hideaways in your favourite city.
This year has already seen a number of iconic hotel openings like Orient Express Palazzo Donà Giovannelli, with others like the Baccarat Hotel Rome planned for later this year.
For travellers looking for their next beautiful stay, Condé Nast Traveller has just released its 2026 Hot List, featuring the best European hotels in 2026.
Take a look at our favourites from the list.
A rustic stay at Tella Thera, Greece
Tella There, located among West Crete’s ancient olive groves, is a five-star boutique eco-hotel renowned for its “future primitivism” design which combines luxury with sustainability. This is done by using natural materials like wood and stone, as well as olive tree-topped roofs, along with low-waste systems and renewable energy.
Designed by Pieris Architects, guests can stay in sandy-toned, curved subterranean suites which are intended to reflect a natural extension of the surrounding landscape. The interior design also celebrates local Cretan artistry, including locally made ceramics and furniture.
Enjoy panoramic Aegean sea views while tucking into plant-forward, low-waste dining for an immersive, slow-living inspired holiday. Several ingredients are grown on-site, for a farm-to-table approach.
The hotel’s Destinesia Spa also emphasises natural, traditional relaxation methods, rather than high-tech ones, such as magnesium-rich baths.
Eco-luxury and sustainability at A Mandria di Murtoli, France
A Mandria di Murtoli, in Corsica’s Ortolo Valley, is another five-star, eco-conscious “reinvented village”-style hotel in the very private and luxurious Domaine de Murtoli estate.
Designed to focus on rustic-luxury slow tourism, travellers stay in converted traditional stone sheepfolds on a 2,500-hectare estate.
With only 10 rooms and suites, some with private pools, guests can have a deeply immersive and authentic sustainable travel experience.
Enjoy activities like horse riding, hiking, fishing, stargazing and golfing, or try the on-site L’Appuntamento restaurant for farm-to-table Italian cuisine with ingredients grown on the estate.
Bonus? The estate also has 6,500-year-old standing stones (menhirs), for an added dose of cultural wonder and history.
Artistic heritage at Collegio alla Querce, Italy
Already crowned the best new hotel in Europe by Esquire, Collegio alla Querce is making big waves in the hotel industry.
Located in Florence, the 83-key hotel blends 16th-century Florentine architecture with modern luxury.
Travellers can enjoy panoramic Duomo and Tuscan vineyard views, along with a 35-meter outdoor pool, a nature-inspired spa and Baroque gardens.
The building itself was once a Renaissance villa, as well as a prestigious boys’ boarding school, with the hotel seeming to imbibe the best of these different epoques. The original architecture, which includes a chapel, theatre, has been retained, while the former principal’s office is now a bar.
Guests can also enjoy some of Florence’s best fine-dining at La Gamella and Bar Bertelli, one of four restaurants on-site, but you’re also just 15 minutes away from the heart of the city centre and its world-renowned eateries.
However, the best experience of all might be the exclusive after-hour tours of Michelangelo’s David at the Accademia Gallery offered to guests.
A living gallery at Chesa Marchetta, Switzerland
A highly exclusive 13-room boutique hotel and restaurant, Chesa Marchetta in Sils Maria combines 16th-century Engadine architecture with museum-quality art curated by the founders of Hauser & Wirth, Iwan and Manuela Wirth.
The hotel functions as a “living gallery”, celebrating works by famous artists like Philip Guston, Louise Bourgeois and Gerhard Richter.
Chesa’s interiors are done by Laplace, highlighting natural wood like fragrant Arolla pine and traditional regional furniture, along with traditional sgraffito etching on the exteriors.
Enjoy Swiss and Northern Italian cuisine, like cavolo nero ragu and gnocchi, inspired by the former owners, the Godly family’s traditional recipes.
Benedictine convent turned boutique hotel at Castel Badia, Italy
Castel Badia, located in Italy’s South Tyrol, is a unique 11th-century former Benedictine convent transformed into a luxury boutique hotel with 28 suites.
As a powerful and ancient autonomous nunnery, it offers rich and vibrant history, along with stunning landscapes in the heart of the Dolomites and authentic design featuring wood and stone.
There is a preserved Romanesque crypt as well as 17 surrounding gardens, including a medicinal herb garden. In the spa, travellers can enjoy a candlelit sauna suite, heated outdoor pool and outdoor Finnish sauna, along with a range of treatments using local herbs.
Tuck into local South Tyrolean cuisine featuring traditional techniques and dishes cooked over an open fire.
Guests are also only 10 minutes away from the town of Brunico and the Kronplatz ski resort, with hiking in the summer possible too.
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