From sun-soaked Positano to sea-front Greek hotels, these are the must-visit European escapes of summer 2026
From the Riviera to the Florentine hills, Charlotte Sinclair spotlights the European escapes to make your summer sing.
Certain hotels and destinations seem to encapsulate the spirit of summer itself, distilling the essence of the season into a sense of ease and sunny bewitchment. This summer, storied hotels extend their charm with new places to stay and play, while openings by dynamic hoteliers offer fresh possibilities.
LE SIRENUSE
Founded in 1951, Le Sirenuse in Positano, Italy, was once the holiday spot for Elizabeth Taylor and John Steinbeck. It remains a hotel thick with legend — and celebrity visitors. Recent guests include Anne Hathaway and Julia Roberts. This summer the hotel’s appeal is augmented by the opening of a beach club, Le Sirenuse Mare. Best reached by water, it features a restaurant offering crustacea and crudi, trellis-shaded terraces, cocktails bars, sun loungers facing the ocean, an excellent boutique, and a bathing platform with a view. Specially commissioned artistic details — tiles hand-painted by Alba Clemente, Rose Wylie ceramics — add to the spot’s singularity.
CRILLION LE BRAVE
In France, Crillon Le Brave is a refined Provençal hotel housed inside a village of 17th and 18th-century stone houses, scattered on a hillside facing the summit of Provence’s highest peak, Mont Ventoux. The hotel is all Virginia-creeper draped stone and billowing clouds of jasmine. The latter perfumes the winding steps that lead to the pool and terrace restaurants. The expansive suites are understatedly chic — grounded colors prevail on thick linens and Indian block prints — and supremely comfortable. Further interior inspiration can be found a short drive away, at the antiques shops and renowned brocantes of L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. This year, the hotel opens nine new villas, a second swimming pool, and an expanded spa with Tata Harper products.
LUURA HOTELS
To Greece and Paros, where Luura Cliff spearheads the debut of a new hospitality brand under the Ennismore portfolio (Hoxton Hotels, Gleneagles, Estelle Manor). The 39 suites of this sea-facing hotel are dispersed among square-sided, white-washed buildings that tumble like sugar cubes across the hillside. Rooms are monastically simple, all plaster walls, dark beams and sunken seating. Rosemary-fringed paths lead guests to a pool, bar and restaurant, including a 1920s- inspired bar and sushi outlet, Mimi Kakushi.
ZANNIER ÎLE DE BENDOR
The Zannier Hotels group, owned by Arnaud Zannier, is known for creating hotels in unique, off-beat destinations — Cambodia, Vietnam, Namibia — that share a compelling sense of authenticity and considered design. It makes sense, therefore, that Zannier’s idea for an on-map summer destination, Zannier Île de Bendor on the French Riviera, aims to do things differently. The island resort off the coast of Toulon is the result of a five-year transformation of a sprawling property purchased in 1950 by Paul Ricard — he of the namesake Pastis and race-car track. The seven-hectare island reopens this summer, with 93 rooms spread over three locations, each with a unique ambiance and design, from 1960s’ Riviera charm to rustic villas. Serving the island’s vast footprint are eight dining spaces, a spa, beach club and diving center. It promises to be a truly transporting destination.
BELMOND VILLA SAN MICHELE
After an 18-month long, top-to-toe restoration, Belmond’s Villa San Michele reopened this spring. The former monastery, in the hills above Florence, is as old as the Renaissance. It is, itself, a creation of the great ferment of art and thought that rippled through the city — and outward into the world — in the 15th century. The hotel’s facade, where stone arches frame views of Brunelleschi’s Duomo, is attributed to the school of Michaelangelo. The hotel has been gently realigned by architect and designer, Luigi Fragola, who drew on Tuscan craftsmanship and local makers like Elena Carozzi, who contributed hand-painted tapestries and gloriously romantic frescoes. Re-imagined suites take their decorative cue from the verdant views, with pale green framed damasks, botanical motifs on fabrics, terracotta floors, and painted plant life, climbing the walls. A very successful renaissance.
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