The Best Hotels and Resorts in the World: The Gold List 2024

"Regina Isabella is a volcanic island of verticals—all cliffs, summits and hairpins—so to find a five-star resort on the waterfront is surprisingly rare. That Regina Isabella’s marina, little beaches, sunbathing platforms, and pontoons offer such easy access to clear, emerald-colored sea is an obvious sell, as are the four swimming pools and legendary thermal spa. Marinated in the essence and spirit of its 1950s heyday, the hotel captures the golden era of Mediterranean sophistication and dolce vita glamor. The style and atmosphere continue in 128 bedrooms spread across three different units and buildings, completed between 1956 and 1963. Some still have vintage dressing tables, bedsteads and the cherrywood marquetry of built-in cupboards, with modernist iron-railed Juliet balconies—such as the one in room 370, from which Elizabeth Taylor famously hurled Richard Burton’s clothes following an epic row. The hub and raison d’être of the resort is the spa with indoor thermal pools and extensive facilities, where you can go for a quick-fix facial or a non-surgical filler, or have a personalized program and complete wellness overhaul. The location, between cliff and sea, and on the edge of the charming, short-stroll-away town of Lacco Ameno, means you can also experience life in a vivid, former fishing community. Here is a hotel that can be all things to all people: a destination spa and starred restaurant, a restorative retreat with natural thermal hot springs, and an intimate, relaxed family resort."