Best New Luxury Hotels in Europe 2026: The Openings Worth Planning a Trip Around
- 5 days ago
- 8 min read
Europe’s most exciting 2026 hotel openings blend heritage, design and location beautifully, creating the sort of luxury stays that make even the most organised traveller start reshuffling plans for summer.
Danieli, Venice, Italy
Hotel Danieli has long occupied the most cinematic stretch of the Riva degli Schiavoni, with the lagoon, San Giorgio Maggiore and the edge of St Mark’s Square all within easy sight. The landmark is now in the final stages of an extensive restoration and will reopen on 26 August 2026 as Danieli, Venezia, A Four Seasons Hotel.
Its great appeal remains architectural theatre rather than showy excess. Three palaces, including the 14th-century Palazzo Dandolo, are being refreshed with a lighter interpretation of Venetian grandeur: Murano glass, terrazzo, Italian marble, and Rubelli textiles, while the celebrated pink-marble atrium and gilded staircase are retained. The first phase will include 120 rooms and suites, many of which look out over the lagoon, with a further 56 planned for 2027.
The rooftop Terrazza Danieli will return as the principal draw for long, view-heavy dinners and aperitivi, while Bar Dandolo promises a more intimate pause beside the lobby. A small Danieli Spa, with treatment rooms, sauna and hammam, is due later in 2026. This is Venice at its most formal and romantic: a hotel for early morning walks, late suppers and the pleasure of arriving by water.
Four Seasons Mykonos, Greece
Four Seasons Hotel Mykonos opens on 26 June 2026 with a welcome change of pace for an island too often reduced to late nights and poolside spectacle. Set above Kalo Livadi Bay on Mykonos’s quieter south-east coast, the 94-key hotel descends through six hectares of terraced hillside to a private beach, about 20 minutes from Chora and the airport.
Architect Nicos Valsamakis has imagined a Cycladic village rather than a resort complex: white cubic buildings, shaded stone paths, courtyards and indigenous planting, with interiors by Wimberly Interiors. Every room, suite and villa faces the Aegean, and many have plunge pools that make an early return from the beach very tempting.
The rhythm is deliberately relaxed. Two infinity pools, a seven-room spa, yoga pavilion and watersports sit alongside considered dining: wood-fired Mediterranean cooking at Álef, coastal Italian plates at Corbu, and Kafenéo for meze, ouzo and late-afternoon conversation.
Its appeal lies not in refusing Mykonos’s energy, but in offering somewhere to retreat from it. The private jetty makes Delos and quieter coves readily accessible, while the address keeps the island’s beach clubs within reach. Expect polished service, immense views and a calmer, more grown-up expression of Mykonos.
Mandarin Oriental Punta Negra, Spain
Mandarin Oriental Punta Negra arrives on Mallorca’s south-west coast with a confident sense of place, rather than the island’s familiar see-and-be-seen theatre. Opened in June 2026, this 131-room retreat occupies a pine-fringed headland in Calvià, close to Puerto Portals, with exclusive access to two small coves and sea views that feel purposefully uninterrupted.
The mood is polished but grounded. Across five low-rise buildings, hand-laid stone, sun-washed neutrals and a thoughtful art collection temper the brand’s usual gloss. Rooms and suites face the Mediterranean, while a handful of casitas, plunge-pool rooms and rooftop suites bring welcome privacy for longer stays or multi-generational escapes.
Food is given real weight: Mediterranean and Levantine cooking at Leppoc, terrace tapas at Sobretaula, and headline names including Matsuhisa and Dani García’s Leña. Elsewhere, the spa draws on Mallorca’s herb-led traditions alongside Mandarin Oriental’s precise wellness rituals, with nine treatment rooms, heat and water therapies, an indoor pool and sea-facing outdoor pools.
It is not a hideaway in the purest sense. Palma, the airport, and the island’s sociable south-west are close by. But the hotel's strongest luxury is its ability to cocoon guests within this energetic corner of Mallorca, and it does it very well.
Lake Como Edition, Italy
Set on Lake Como’s western shore, The Lake Como EDITION brings a contemporary accent to a landscape defined by grand hotels and a studied old-world formality. The 19th-century palazzo, newly opened close to Bellagio, delivers a very rare view that never becomes background noise.
Inside, the mood is less gilded spectacle, more composed modernism. Neri&Hu have worked with pale oak, walnut, Calacatta marble and soft lake-blue details, allowing the building’s original scale and restored French balconies to do the work. There are 148 rooms and suites, including two penthouses and a private villa.
The social heart is livelier than Como’s classic addresses. Mauro Colagreco’s first Italian restaurant, Cetino, gives the food programme real purpose, while Renzo’s pergola-shaded terrace is for long lunches and relaxed aperitivi. A private dock, floating pool and waterfront access keep the lake close at hand.
For wellness, The Longevity Spa pairs seven treatment rooms with diagnostics-led therapies, a vitality pool, herbal sauna and lake-facing terraces. The result is Lake Como with fewer velvet ropes and more breathing space, elegant without behaving as though it has something to prove.
Orient Express Venice, Italy
Orient Express Venezia makes its entrance by water, through a Gothic arch on the Rio di Noale, in Cannaregio. The address is not for those chasing the Grand Canal’s procession of cameras and launch boats. Instead, this is Venice at a more private, lived-in tempo, a short walk from Strada Nova but removed from its clamour.
The hotel occupies Palazzo Donà Giovannelli, a 15th-century residence revived after an eight-year restoration by Aline Asmar d’Amman. Its 47 rooms, suites and residences feel deliberately individual, shaped by frescoes, vaulted ceilings, theatrical drapery, Murano glass and marble. Six signature suites make the most of the palace’s grandest spaces, with gilded salons, antique fireplaces and canal or garden views.
The mood is opulent, though never careless. Il Corte del Conte, once an open courtyard, is now a cocooning living room of sculpted woodwork and chandeliers. Dining has real ambition: Heinz Beck Venezia brings the three-Michelin-starred chef’s precise Italian cooking to the former orangerie, while La Casati handles all-day meals beside a private garden. Later, the Art Deco-inspired Wagon Bar serves cocktails and cicchetti with pleasing ceremony.
For travellers who prefer Venice’s shadows, stories and craftsmanship to overt spectacle, it's an intimate new address. This has to be one of the best new luxury hotels in Europe for 2026
Airelles Palladio Venice, Italy
Airelles Palladio brings French hospitality to Giudecca, the quieter island facing St Mark’s Square. Reached by boat, it feels removed from Venice’s crowds and queues, yet the city’s domes and campanili remain close across the water.
The new maison occupies four historic buildings set among almost a hectare of gardens, a rarity in a city accustomed to stone, shadow and narrow passageways. At its centre is the 16th-century Palladio, designed by Andrea Palladio and later home to the Zitelle Institute. Inside, 17 rooms and 28 suites pair frescoes, antique furniture and hand-finished Venetian textiles with the kind of comfort that makes an afternoon indoors feel reasonable. A three-bedroom villa adds a private, family-friendly option.
Airelles has given the dining programme heft. Matsuhisa by Nobu, abc Kitchens Palladio by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and Villa Frollo by Norbert Niederkofler bring distinct culinary voices to one address, with Cédric Grolet overseeing the sweeter moments. Three pools and a children’s club give it resort ease, while a 1,700sq m spa is due to follow.
This is not Venice made quieter so much as Venice viewed from a more composed vantage point: richly detailed, gently secluded and still wonderfully connected to its enduring theatrical drama.
Zannier Ile de Bendor, France
A short shuttle from Bandol brings you to Zannier Île de Bendor, an island removed from the Riviera’s louder habits. Reopened in May 2026 after a five-year restoration. 93 rooms and suites spread across a car-free patchwork of paths, coves, gardens and low-slung buildings.
There's a pleasing lack of uniformity. Delos leans into the island’s 1960s heyday, with graphic stripes, vintage pieces and Mediterranean views. Soukana is softer and more grounded, its neutral, natural-material interiors set close to the wellness centre and Neptune’s Garden. Five Madrague houses, each with a private garden, give families and friends a more residential option near the harbour.
Life here is built around moving slowly between sea, shade and a good lunch. Le Grand Large looks across the water for polished Provençal cooking; Nonna Bazaar brings a village-brasserie warmth, while Soukana folds lighter, Vietnamese-influenced dishes into the mix. The 1,200sq m Rēsonance wellness centre adds hammam, indoor and outdoor pools, yoga, treatment rooms and tennis.
Bendor’s achievement is atmosphere. It has the easy, sociable feeling of a restored holiday island, with enough privacy, cultural texture and sun-faded glamour to make even the Riviera itself seem unnecessarily effortful.
Como Le Beauvallon, France
COMO Le Beauvallon brings calm to the Gulf of Saint-Tropez. Set in Grimaud, on a 10-acre Belle Époque estate, it looks across the water towards the village yet avoids its traffic, crowds and performed glamour. A complimentary eight-minute boat transfer from the private pontoon makes the distinction feel more useful than merely poetic.
The 1914 palace has returned as a 42-room hotel, treated with restraint rather than nostalgia. Rooms and suites vary in scale, from hillside hideaways to sea-facing spaces, with a residential feel. Contemporary art, including more than 300 installations across the estate, prevents the setting from becoming too museum-like.
Days naturally gravitate towards the 25-metre pool, the sandy Beauvallon Sur Mer beach club and the water itself. Yannick Alléno oversees the dining, bringing Mediterranean cooking, Asian influences and an appropriately social spirit to the beachfront restaurant, Winter Garden and rooftop lounge. There is also a COMO Shambhala retreat for treatments, yoga and more considered downtime.
The real luxury is the balance. Saint-Tropez is close enough for dinner, shopping or late-evening mischief, but not close enough to disturb breakfast. COMO Le Beauvallon feels Riviera in the old sense: spacious, graceful and faintly escapist, without needing to raise its voice.
Fairmont Cheshire, The Mere, UK
Fairmont Cheshire, The Mere opens on 10 July 2026 with the confidence of a countryside address that understands its appeal. Set within 157 acres beside The Mere Lake, near Knutsford and ten minutes from Manchester Airport, the estate promises a polished weekend escape without the journey or theatrical rural nostalgia.
The transformation has retained the resort’s sense of space while sharpening its finish. Its 116 bedrooms, including 23 suites, draw on a modern country palette, with lake views, generous proportions and enough comfort to make late checkout feel defensible. The 18-hole championship golf course is integral to the landscape, not a side note.
Wellbeing is impressively comprehensive: three pools, seven thermal experiences, a Technogym studio, outdoor classes, private cabanas and treatments spanning 111SKIN, Wildsmith and Kama Ayurveda. Dining is similarly ambitious. Gordon Ramsay at The Mere brings British dishes, Beef Wellington and robata-grilled cooking to the lakeside, while The Orangery shifts from afternoon tea to champagne and oysters.
This is not a hidden rural retreat. It's a sociable, well-connected resort designed for celebrations, golf weekends and restorative stays, where lake, fairways and landscaped grounds lend real breathing space.
The Newman, London, UK
The Newman sits on a comparatively quiet stretch of Newman Street, placing guests in Fitzrovia’s more characterful quarter while keeping Soho, Marylebone and the West End within easy walking distance. Opened in February 2026, the 81-room hotel is the first address from Kinsfolk & Co, with a distinctly neighbourhood-minded take on contemporary London luxury.
Its look is Art Deco-informed but never theatrical for the sake of it. Bedrooms, suites and apartments are calm, generously scaled and quietly detailed, with curves, tactile fabrics and tailored joinery lending a residential feel. The top-floor Penthouse, with its expansive terrace, private sauna and cold plunge, is best reserved for those prepared to take their city break seriously.
Downstairs, Brasserie Angelica handles the day with a relaxed European menu, moving easily from breakfast through dinner, while Gambit Bar, hidden below street level, is the moodier after-hours proposition, with cocktails, small plates and live music.
The greatest surprise is the full wellness floor. A hydrotherapy pool, sauna, steam room, ice lounge, halotherapy room, treatment spaces, gym and yoga studio provide a convincing counterweight to central London's pace. The Newman is a proper city hotel, sociable yet softly insulated, rooted in Fitzrovia rather than merely borrowing its postcode.
Best New Luxury Hotels in Europe 2026: The Openings Worth Planning a Trip Around, Article 2026
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