The Athens Riviera landmark ranks No.27 in The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2026 making it the only Greek property anywhere in the extended Top 100.
Greece may be experiencing one of the busiest luxury-hotel booms in its history, but the latest edition of The World’s 50 Best Hotels offers a more selective picture. Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens has been ranked No.27 in The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2026, announced in Paris on September 15. It is not only the highest-ranked Greek hotel; it is the country’s sole representative across the entire extended ranking of 100 properties.
The Athens Riviera remains Greece’s strongest hotel address
Four Seasons Astir Palace occupies a pine-covered peninsula in Vouliagmeni, approximately 30 minutes from central Athens. The resort opened under Four Seasons management in 2019 following the extensive redevelopment of the historic Astir Palace complex.
Long synonymous with the glamour of the Greek Riviera, Astir Palace welcomed figures including Brigitte Bardot, Jackie Onassis and Frank Sinatra before reopening as a Four Seasons hotel in 2019. Its rise from No.35 in the 2023 ranking to No.17 in 2025 and now No.27 in 2026 adds another chapter to a seaside story that began in the 1960s.
The hotel continues to evolve rather than rely entirely on nostalgia: in 2026, Athens-born creative Rianna Kounou, founder of RIANNA + NINA, reimagined Zolotas Beach with a colourful design inspired by the childhood summers she spent at Astir Palace, accompanied by a new fire-led Greek dining concept. Avra also introduced an immersive, sensory cocktail menu developed in its own mixology laboratory, while the spa added Omorovicza treatments and Hydrafacial experiences. With 303 rooms and suites, three private beaches, two pools, a sea-view spa and restaurants ranging from Michelin-starred Pelagos to Taverna 37 and Mercato, Astir Palace remains both resort and city escape, a modern Athenian classic where a day can move from the Acropolis to the Saronic Islands before ending beside the Aegean.
Four Seasons Astir Palace Athens
Its appeal lies in a combination that remains surprisingly difficult to reproduce: the facilities and service of an international resort, direct access to the Aegean and proximity to a European capital. Guests can move from breakfast beside the sea to the Acropolis, central Athens or the galleries of Kolonaki without treating the two as separate trips.
Yet the hotel’s real advantage may be its location. The international transformation of the Athens Riviera continues rapidly, but Four Seasons Astir Palace still occupies the peninsula most closely associated with the area’s original jet-set identity.
One Greek hotel among 100
Despite the arrival of major brands and ambitious independent properties in Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, Crete and the Peloponnese, no second Greek hotel appears in the 2026 Top 100. This does not mean Greece has only one hotel of international consequence. Rankings reflect the visibility, voting network and recent travel experience of their panels as much as the quality of the properties themselves. The World’s 50 Best Hotels list is compiled through votes cast by more than 800 hoteliers, travel journalists, educators and experienced luxury travellers. Still, Greece’s solitary appearance is revealing. The country’s luxury-hospitality industry is expanding faster than its international recognition at the very top of the market. For now, the old Astir peninsula remains the address carrying the Greek flag.
See also:
Zolotas Beach: The Athens Spot That Even Riviera Insiders Will Want to Discover This Summer
TheHotelTrotter.com is curated by greek journalist and fanatic hotel lover Eleni Stasinopoulou. With the eye of a fashion and lifestyle editor, Eleni hopes to inspire all connoisseurs of traveling, focusing on stylish hotel moments around the globe.
