The Five Best Hotels in Europe for 2023

This week, U.S. News and World Report released its global hotel rankings for 2023, a list filled with some names travel advisors will know, and others they won’t.  

“Each hotel’s place in our rankings takes into account the aggregate opinion of published travel experts and the overall customer satisfaction expressed in online guest reviews provided under license by TripAdvisor. The highest-ranking hotels are typically those that both experts and users recognize for their exceptional quality,” U.S. News and World Report said. 

Earlier in the week, TMR took a look at the best U.S. hotels, which included properties in Florida, California, Arizona, and more. Today, we’re looking at European hotels, which also include properties across the region. 

Here is the ranking for 2023 for European hotels:

1. Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam – Amsterdam, Netherlands
One of Amsterdam’s most historic, and most iconic, properties top the U.S. News and World Report list.

The Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam is this year’s best European hotel. The property spans six 17^th– and 18^th-century canal palaces facing the city’s Herengracht canal, one of three of Amsterdam’s main canals, in the UNESCO area of the city.

The hotel offers 93 guest rooms and suites, each with high ceilings and large windows, starting at the 301 to 365 sq. ft. king superior plus room and going up to the 1324 sq. ft. Brentano Suite, a historic accommodation that has past guests including the Russian Emperor Alexander I, and King William I and Prince Frederick from the Netherlands.

Conde Nast Traveler calls the hotel “the epitome of good taste” and for good reason—there’s no lobby, but there is a private garden, the Guerlain spa, and one of Amsterdam’s best restaurants—the two Michelin-star Librije’s Zusje—on property.

2. Grand Hotel Tremezzo – Tremezzina, Italy
The five-star, Lake Como property, Grand Hotel Tremezzo, is the second-best hotel in Europe for 2023, according to U.S. News and World Report.

The historic hotel dates back to the early 1900s and has “old-world touches” including bow windows, marble bathrooms, and antique furnishings in its 90 guestrooms and suites. Most of the upgraded rooms and suites offer views of the surrounding Lake Como.

The property includes its own private beach for guests along with a floating pool set within Lake Como. For food and drink, it offers gourmet Italian-inspired food at La Terrazza Gualtiero Marchesi, wine and grilled dishes at L’Escale Trattoria, and casual bites by the beach or the Flowers Pool.

3. La Reserve Paris – Hotel and Spa – Paris, France
La Reserve Paris comes in number three on the list.

The property, which opened in 2015, is an urban mansion that once belonged to Napoleon’s step-brother with a private address between Avenue Montaigne and Rue du Faubourg St-Honoré. It is just off of the Champs-Elysées, a location that offers guests views of the Grand Palais, the Eiffel Tower, the Pantheon, and the Obelisk on the Place de la Concorde. 

The hotel is smaller compared to the others on the list with 25 suites and 15 rooms total, but offers a level of personalization, along with a bar, spa, and wellness center, that makes it one of the jewels of Paris’ hotel industry.

4. The Goring – London, U.K.
Coming in fourth on the list is The Goring, a luxury hotel in Central London with its own long history—the hotel was built by Jeremy Goring’s great-grandfather Otto in 1910 and has been run by the Goring family ever since.

The Goring also has a royal history—it holds a royal warrant of appointment from Queen Elizabeth since 2013 and was the hotel where Kate Middleton and her family were based at during her wedding to Prince William.

The hotel offers 69 rooms and suites, each uniquely decorated, with its top offering, The Royal Suite, coming in at close to 1,200 sq. ft. with a master bedroom lined with the same silk from the First Class Dining Room of RMS Titanic 1912.

It also includes The Veranda, which serves as host to the hotel’s afternoon tea services, one of the most well-known services in the city.

5. The Connaught – London, U.K.
Just a 10-minute drive or 25-minute walk from The Goring is the number five entry on the list, The Connaught, another London luxury hotel.

The Connaught sits in Mayfair just a couple blocks from Hyde Park and a short walk to Piccadilly, offering 121 rooms on the corner of Carlos Place and Mount Street, and a guest-to-staff ratio of one to three. It also has its own long history, tracing its roots back to 1815 and then through the First and Second World Wars.

Forbes Travel Guide says the hotel “feels more like a private mansion with shining marble floors and grand pillars, original wood paneling and a sweeping mahogany staircase that winds up through five floors.”