We reveal the best vacations for foodies in 2022, including city breaks, sunny island escapes, rural road trips, and lakeside getaways.
We’ve rounded up an inspirational list of hotels in Europe for your next foodie trip that will give your taste buds exactly what they want.
1. Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Starnberg, Germany
Ideally located at the gateway to Munich and a mere five-minute walk from Lake Starnberg, lies the Four-Star Superior, Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Starnberg. The service here is exceptional, and the cuisine is nothing short of extraordinary.
The 126 rooms and suites at this gourmet hotel are comfortably decorated. All feature free Wi-Fi and free use of the minibar and Nespresso® coffee machine. Tucked on the 5th-floor, you’ll find a delightful spa with a Finnish sauna, steam room, and a gym, which benefits from stunning, panoramic views of Starnberg. The hotel also offers the largest conference and banqueting area in the region. But it is the fine dining that should attract you to this beautiful hotel, and you can select a package offering seasonal and culinary-themed specials.
Savor the culinary arts in the gourmet Michelin-starred hotel restaurant, Gourmetrestaurant Aubergine, managed by Maximilian Moser. Gourmetrestaurant Aubergine has been awarded a Michelin star, joining the ranks of some of the best gourmet restaurants in Bavaria.
Gourmetrestaurant Aubergine offers incredible culinary experiences in a relaxing atmosphere. The chefs here continuously prepare special and out-of-the-ordinary meals. The extraordinary food creations, made with excellent ingredients, always focus on one ingredient, defined by season and inspiration, bringing it to its culmination with corresponding aromas, textures, and colors. Each time all the exquisite dishes are created around this one central focus so that a harmonious and always slightly surprising composition of tastes arise. This is a great way to discover excellent ingredients in a completely original way.
The attention to detail is what truly makes an evening at Gourmetrestaurant Aubergine so magical. From the presentation of each course, to the sommelier’s personal recommendations for paired wines, alongside anecdotes about fine spirits and selected cheese specialties – every moment is perfected down to the most minute of detail.
For excellent but less gourmet dining, Restaurant Oliv at Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Starnberg serves classic meals created with high-quality ingredients. Enjoy an after-dinner drink or two at the Hemingway Bar with its rather English ambiance and the largest rum collection in southern Germany (more than 150 different rum specialties from 37 countries)!
2. The Blue Bay – Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort, Monaco
The Blue Bay – Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort has been Awarded 2 stars by the prestigious Michelin Guide. Chef Marcel Ravin offers a bold repertoire at the restaurant Blue Bay, with cuisine that features a fusion of Caribbean and Mediterranean flavors.
Indoors, the open kitchen gives a glimpse into the chef and the brigade’s hustle and bustle behind the scenes. Outdoors, customers can admire the sea view from the panoramic terrace.
Marcel Ravin is one of the most talented chefs of his generation. With two Michelin stars and an innovative style, he passionately directs the Blue Bay’s kitchens. There is a bit of his native Martinique, a good deal of creativity, and an infinite love of taste and pleasure in his dishes.
Like the conductor of an orchestra, Marcel Ravin directs the flavors, blending them with an artistic flair, creativity, and passion. His gourmet aromas resound with originality and daring.
Examples include green papaya spaghetti carbonara; truffle and Jabugo jamón ibérico de bellota; the unmissable signature dish, organic egg with cassava, truffle, and passion fruit; and the Blue Bay classic Chocolate and passion fruit variations… As part of the Escapade Set Menu or à la carte, these Blue Bay dishes will take you on a culinary journey.
Even the tableware tells a story. Chef Marcel Ravin worked with a ceramicist from his native island to create bespoke tableware. It took Peggy Desmeules and Marcel Ravin a year to design and create these unique pieces – tangible, tactile, and inspiring representations of the depths of the Caribbean Sea – that are a focal point of the culinary experience the Chef offers.
A unique sensory experience… Take part in an experiment in spontaneity and bold flavors with La Table de Marcel, a tête-à-tête with the Chef and his team as they create an extraordinary menu just for you.
3. Almhof Schneider, Lech, Austria
If you are looking for a foodie vacation in Europe, another brilliant gourmet experience can be found in Austria in the pretty little Alpine village of Lech. Lech is the Austrian St Moritz or Megève, a place for the rich and famous to see and be seen.
The Almhof Schneider is one of our top hotel picks in Lech and is one of the best ski hotels in the world. It is also located in one of the best locations in Lech. It’s ski-in, ski-out, and only a few steps from the village, where you can enjoy apres-ski in the classy but lively bars, buy designer wear from Strolz or pick up essentials from the village pharmacy or supermarket.
The style of this hotel is a modern ultra-luxe chalet. Luxury hotels simply don’t get better than this, and from the moment you step inside, every member of staff tries to make your stay as easy as possible, from unpacking your ski gear to bringing you whatever you want, whether it is it’s on the menu or not.
The food here is exquisite, and the staff are warm. I particularly love the large windows which look down over twinkling Lech from the restaurants and bar. If you come here in the low season, you will be served the hotel menu (which is AMAZING) in the fine dining restaurant area, which is a real treat.
You can enjoy one of the best breakfast buffets imaginable in the morning at Almhof Schneider; smoked salmon and meats with around 15 homemade accompaniments. Loads of muesli and cereal choices, including choco pops for the kids, plus salad items and cheeses. Eggs made to order are bought to the table, and there’s a patisserie tray with the most delicious homemade patisseries, including homemade muffins, patisseries stuffed with cinnamon and apple, all so good that you feel obliged to take one or two back to the room to scoff once your stomach accepts food again.
In the evening, the food can only be described as exquisite and is delivered in one of the classiest fine dining restaurants I have experienced around the world. Beautiful Alpine decor is complemented by generous Alpine flower arrangements and six courses of deliciousness. It is one of the few menus that I’ve come across where the food is more beautiful and tastes even better than it sounds in the menu’s description.
Also within the hotel is a stylish pool, a smoking room with a pool table, a kids club, an impressive spa, a ski room, and as the hotel is ski-in, ski-out, there is nothing more you could possibly want or need.
4. Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa, Bath UK
Do you ever imagine the perfect English hotel? Would you be welcomed in by a doorman who insists on taking your baggage’s load and pain – even your handbag? How about the room? Immaculate contemporary furnishings cleverly mingled within the historic building where all the Georgian atmosphere and features have been retained and celebrated. How about a secret hotel garden with daffodils and forget-me-nots sprouting haphazardly out of the borders and edging their way into the grass. And the clientele? Sophisticated, well-heeled, smiling. And finally, the well-trained staff, presented in smart outfits, helpful and yet not too intrusive?
The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa, part of the Relais Chateaux group of hotels, in Bath is all this and more. It’s my favorite weekend hideaway.
Set to the center of the infamous and stunning Royal Crescent, this hotel is a chic city retreat looking over the historic city of Bath. The main hotel is based in one of the Georgian residences that make up the Royal Crescent. Inside the main building, you’ll find classic decor with a grandfather clock and traditional furniture, all pristine, all beautifully elegant, with sweet-scented fresh-cut flowers adorning every surface.
For dining, there’s a stylish bar and a fine dining restaurant which sit adjacent to each other. When the sun is out, the bar’s patio doors are opened wide to enable alfresco afternoon or evening drinks.
The beautiful restaurant offers excellent food excellent it is also exciting – a rare trick indeed; each dish, including the pallet cleanser, is a mixture of interesting textures and flavors that work so well together.
I often find that even the best restaurants are incapable of producing a decent desert. There are no such worries here. The deserts are the perfect mix of sweet and sour, crunch, and cream. Oh, and the dessert wine… you will want to bathe in this sweet but-not-too-sweet French tipple.
5. Theo Randall at the InterContinental
The award-winning restaurant Theo Randall at the InterContinental, located in the InterContinental London Park Lane, is one of my favorite Italian restaurants in the world, showcasing wonderfully flavoursome pasta and fish dishes.
Theo Randall at the InterContinental opened in 2006, and I must have been there more than 50 times since then, drawn in by his mouth-watering seafood plates of pasta that are so good that I could eat a barrel of the stuff! I’m not alone. Apparently, Sir Paul Smith, Agyness Deyn, and Theo Randall’s former River Café bud Jamie Oliver are all fans of Theo’s Italian cuisine.
Theo’s restaurant is located at the main entrance of the hotel, and in my opinion, serves the best pasta in the world. Theo consistently delivers some of the best Italian dishes you are ever likely to eat. The Linguine con aragosta and the Piccione al Forno are particularly delicious, and the amazing deserts are just yummy. The Amalfi lemon tart is also out of this world!
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