Bordighera, European Hospitality City 2026

Marzia Baldassarre, Mayor of Bordighera, represents the city recognised as European Hospitality City 2026 © European Hotel Awards 2026

Hospitality is not created by hotels alone. In the strongest destinations, it is present in the streets, gardens, restaurants, public spaces, heritage and everyday relationship between visitors and the people who live there. On the Italian Riviera, Bordighera has developed precisely that wider culture of welcome, earning the title European Hospitality City 2026 at the European Hotel Awards.

The City of Bordighera received the European Hospitality City 2026 distinction at the eighth European Hotel Awards, held on 28 September 2026 at Grand Hotel del Mare Resort & Spa. The Award is presented to the city and represented by Marzia Baldassarre, Mayor of Bordighera. It recognises a destination whose Mediterranean identity, human scale and long relationship with international travel make hospitality part of the city itself.

A city of palms between Liguria and the Côte d’Azur

Bordighera has long been associated with the image of the città delle palme, the city of palms. On the Riviera dei Fiori, between Sanremo and the French border, subtropical vegetation, sea light and a mild climate have shaped the city’s visual identity and its history as a place of residence and travel.

That appeal is not limited to the seafront. Villas, gardens, the old town, walking routes and cultural sites create a destination experienced at a slower pace. Bordighera works particularly well as a place to stay because the scale remains readable: visitors can move between the Mediterranean, neighbourhood life, heritage and landscape without the city losing its sense of intimacy.

© Bordighera

Gardens, culture and a tourism identity beyond the beach

Bordighera’s tourism identity is strengthened by places such as the Lowe and Winter gardens, the Pallanca exotic garden, the Beodo path, Villa Regina Margherita, Sant’Ampelio and the Clarence Bicknell Museum. The city’s connection with Claude Monet also recalls how strongly its light and vegetation have contributed to its international image.

This diversity gives the destination more depth than a conventional seaside resort. The Mediterranean remains essential, but it is combined with botany, architecture, art and local heritage. For hospitality, that mix is valuable because it gives visitors reasons to experience the city across different seasons and in different ways.

© Bordighera

A naturally European position

Bordighera’s geography gives it an unusually open character. France and Monaco are close, while Sanremo and the wider Ligurian Riviera remain part of the city’s immediate Italian context. Visitors, professionals and service cultures move naturally across this compact cross-border region.

That position makes European hospitality tangible rather than abstract. A traveller may arrive through Nice, Monaco or Liguria and encounter several Riviera traditions within a short distance. Bordighera retains a clearly Italian identity while participating in a wider Mediterranean culture of travel and welcome.

© Bordighera

Marzia Baldassarre and the city as a collective host

The Award is presented to the City of Bordighera, with Mayor Marzia Baldassarre representing the municipality. This distinction is deliberately territorial. It does not recognise one hotel, company or individual in isolation, but the wider ecosystem through which a destination welcomes its visitors.

Hotels, restaurants, retailers, cultural organisations, public services, tourism professionals and residents all influence the way a city is perceived. In this sense, hospitality becomes a collective achievement: the visitor remembers not only where they slept, but how easily they moved through the city, how they were received and whether the place felt coherent and generous.

© Bordighera

Why Bordighera received European Hospitality City 2026

The European Hotel Awards Board selected Bordighera because the city brings together a long international tourism history, a distinctive Mediterranean landscape, botanical and architectural heritage, a human scale and a genuine cross-border openness towards France and Monaco. These qualities allow hospitality to be experienced at destination level rather than only inside individual establishments.

The Award particularly recognises the way the city’s different layers reinforce one another. Gardens and promenades create a slower rhythm; heritage gives the stay cultural depth; the coastline anchors Bordighera in the Riviera; and proximity to several European territories gives the destination a naturally international outlook.

European Hospitality City 2026 is therefore not a ranking of European municipalities. It is a qualitative recognition of a city whose identity itself contributes to the visitor experience. Bordighera was chosen because Mediterranean living, culture, landscape and welcome form one unusually coherent destination.

Bordighera at the heart of the 2026 ceremony

The eighth European Hotel Awards took place in Bordighera at Grand Hotel del Mare Resort & Spa. The city’s recognition gave the host destination a place within the 2026 honours while keeping institutional responsibilities clear: the European Hotel Awards remain a private and independent initiative, and the Comune di Bordighera is neither organiser nor co-organiser of the ceremony.

The distinction is instead a tribute to the destination itself — a Riviera city whose relationship with travel and hospitality has been built over generations and continues to be visible in the way Bordighera is experienced today.

European Hotel Awards 2026 Partners

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