Ever since the Michelin Guide categorised its two-starred establishments as being worth a detour, ambitious chefs have been drawn to the allure of the out-of-the-way restaurant. The latest is Merlin Labron-Johnson, who last year relocated Osip (osiprestaurant.com) from buzzy town-centre Bruton to a former inn five miles away surrounded by nothing but fields. This June, the chef will open four upstairs bedrooms to allow guests to immerse themselves even deeper in the Osip experience, but why stop at Somerset? Some of the finest restaurants in the world combine mouthwatering cuisine with jaw-dropping scenery and a location that will make you feel that you’ve travelled to the end of the earth for the meal of a lifetime. Here are six of the best…
The Best Luxury Restaurants with a View Worth Travelling For
5th August 2025
From mountain tops to beneath the sea, these are the best luxury restaurants with a view, blending incredible locations with the finest dining experiences around the world.
UNDER, NORWAY
Dining at Under is like slipping into a dream. Half-submerged in the Njerve Fjord close to the most southerly point in Norway, the one Michelin-starred marvel is part restaurant, part research lab and part underwater observatory. Designed by Oslo architects Snøhetta, the sleek concrete structure, reached on foot across a 12-metre bridge, doubles as an artificial reef, inviting marine life to settle outside, while diners descend inside via an oak-and-steel staircase to a dining room sitting on the seabed five metres below the surface. An 11-metre-wide window reveals the icy North Sea waters in motion — cod and pollock swim by as a kelp forest sways with the waves — while on the plate, Head Chef Bernt Sætre draws from those same waters and the surrounding seashore: think langoustine with carrot and quince or monkfish with parsley root and peaso.
The tasting menu is as thoughtful as the textile-clad space itself, which darkens the deeper one goes down. With just 40 seats and views that rival any art installation, Under is a journey into the unknown — into flavour, into nature, into something primal.
How much: Lunch/dinner tasting menu £103/£138.
Where to stay: The modern Lindesnes Havhotell is a short walk from Under along the seafront and many rooms have the same breathtaking ocean views. Double room B&B from £156.
Under, 4521 Båly, Norway, under.no Lindesnes Havhotell, Bålyveien 50, 4521 Balveï, Norway, havhotellet.no
HOMESTEAD COTTAGE, IRELAND
On the wild west coast of Ireland — almost as far as you can go in Europe before hitting America — lies Homestead Cottage, a whitewashed gem that has withstood whatever the Atlantic Ocean has thrown its way for 200 years. These days, it is occupied by husband and wife Robbie and Sophie McCauley (he’s Scottish, she’s French), who created this cosy refuge two years ago. Indoors, it’s all flagstone floors, reclaimed wood and a roaring fire; outside, the terrace is perfect for pre-dinner drinks, with views that sweep towards the Cliffs of Moher.
Chef Robbie swapped Michelin kitchens in Edinburgh and Kilkenny for this remote outpost, guided by an instinctive pull home (his mother was from County Clare and his grandfather was a dairy farmer here). Sophie runs the floor with grace, while Robbie cooks thoughtful, modern dishes rooted in Irish terroir — Liscannor crab with turnip; Aran monkfish with cauliflower; and East Clare fallow deer with celeriac. Local, seasonal and regenerative is the ethos, from vegetables grown in the couple’s garden, to fish and seafood caught in nearby waters and tables made from old mill floorboards. The result is a place that feels not just rooted in Clare, but inseparable from it.
How much: Lunch/dinner tasting menu £73/£107.
Where to stay: The Doolin Inn is just a f ive-minute drive away in Doolin village, which is famous for its traditional Irish music scene. Rooms are comfortable and contemporary, while immense breakfasts involve a tray of pastries followed by a full Irish. Double room B&B from £197.
Homestead Cottage, R 478, Luogh North, Doolin, County Clare, V95 KH30, Ireland, homesteadcottage.com Doolin Inn, 1 Fisher Street, Ballyvara, Doolin, County Clare, V95 CC79, Ireland, doolininn.ie
WOLFGAT, SOUTH AFRICA
It takes two hours from Cape Town on spectacular coastal roads to reach Wolfgat, a tiny 20-seat dining room facing the ocean in the Western Cape fishing village of Paternoster — but the meal that awaits is worth every one of the almost 100 miles. Chef Kobus van der Merwe calls his cuisine “strandveld”, an Afrikaans word that means “beach scrub”: think shore herbs, seaweeds from rock pools and plants from the restaurant’s garden, picked and foraged daily by the chef and his small team from the unspoilt coastline a few steps away. These ingredients are joined by hyper-local seafood, lamb and venison on a seven-course tasting menu, which also includes elements that take several weeks to prepare.
Set in a whitewashed 130-year-old fisherman’s cottage, Wolfgat is a personal labour of love for van der Merwe: shelves of vinegars and flavoured salts line the walls of the sparsely furnished dining room, where diners watch delicious dishes being plated in the open kitchen; there is also a terrace overlooking the beach. Van der Merwe, a trained pianist and former classical musician, swapped Cape Town for this isolated spot on Cape Columbine, where his parents ran a grocery store. Wolfgat is quietly spectacular — refined yet unpretentious and entirely unique.
How much: Tasting menu £58.
Where to stay: The boutique Abalone Hotel & Villas is a seven-minute walk from Wolfgat and has 21 bright-and-breezy guest rooms, some with ocean views and a private pool. Double room B&B from £83.
Wolfgat, 10 Sampson Street, Kliprug, Paternoster, 7381, South Africa, wolfgat.co.za Abalone Hotel & Villas, 3 Kriedoring Street, Bek Bay, Paternoster, 7381, South Africa, abalonehotel.co.za
BRAS, FRANCE
Dining at Bras is like visiting another planet — albeit one built from earthly materials of slate, glass and granite and embedded in a hillside overlooking the Aubrac Regional Nature Park in the Massif Central. But while the twoMichelin-starred restaurant might look like something beamed in from the future, Bras has deep roots in the region. The family-run establishment was opened in 1992 by Michel Bras, himself the son of restaurateurs; today the chef’s son, Sébastien, continues his father’s culinary legacy with dishes as breathtaking as the view from the glass-boxed dining room.
The menu changes with the seasons, but always celebrates the produce that the Bras family have put on the map — Aubrac beef, garden herbs, wildflowers — presented with extraordinary precision. The famed gargouillou salad, often comprising more than 50 individually prepared elements worked on for hours by half a dozen chefs, is a perfectly textured hymn, singing with the freshest-flavoured ingredients. Meanwhile, the molten coulant au chocolat remains a globally imitated classic, never bettered than here where it was invented. Much of what ends up on the plate is grown in the gardens planted by Michel, where flowers and grasses thrive in a rugged landscape where nature is beautifully untamed.
How much: Tasting menus from £180.
Where to stay: Thirteen rooms onsite offer private patios, sweeping views, birdsong and pure escapism. The greatest luxury of all, however, is a babysitter to look after little ones while you immerse yourself in lunch or dinner. Double room B&B from £338.
Bras, Route de l’Aubrac, 12210 Laguiole, France, bras.fr
YNYSHIR, WALES
Why Ynyshir has only two Michelin stars is baffling — it ticks every box for three. The journey alone is epic: a two-and-a-half-hour train from Birmingham through the glowering Black Mountains then a quick taxi ride from the nearest station in the market town of Machynlleth, or it takes as long to drive from Cardiff. Either way, the arrival at the front door of a country pile painted in deepest goth black is, as the Michelin Man might say, “worth a special journey”, not least as check-in involves welcome drinks and canapés and a look at the raw materials for that night’s 30-course dinner: anything from foie gras and caviar to hamachi and a Milkybar.
Gareth Ward’s food is as theatrical as it is thrilling. Scallop barbecued and glossed in beef fat, or nigiri sushi deconstructed as bluefin tuna, truffle and rice. Even that Milkybar reimagined as white chocolate mousse with salted black beans — an umami explosion of savoury and sweet. In the open kitchen, Ward and his team slice and sear with ninja precision, occasionally interrupted by his kids’ bedtime routine. It’s all a bit mad — and completely magical.
How much: Dinner-only tasting menu from £462.
Where to stay: Ten guest rooms range from cosy options in the house to a trio of palatial alternatives in a new building sensitively designed to harmonise with the surroundings. A breakfast of Ward’s take on a sausage and egg McMuffin is delivered to the door. Dinner, bed and breakfast from £1,224 per couple.
Ynyshir Restaurant & Rooms, Eglwys Fach, Machynlleth, SY20 8TA, ynyshir.co.uk
MIL CENTRO, PERU
Virgilio Martinez’s MIL Centro, perched 3,600 metres above sea level in Peru’s Sacred Valley, redefines destination dining. A 70-minute flight from Lima and a 90-minute drive from Cusco are required to reach this unforgettable eight-course experience, crafted from the Andean ecosystems of the mind-bogglingly beautiful mountain landscape. Unlike Martinez’s Lima-based Central (number one on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2023), which sources ingredients from across Peru, MIL focuses exclusively on the local area, with an in-house team of anthropologists and researchers working with indigenous communities to preserve ancient crops and sustainable food practices.
Each course climbs through eight different Andean altitudes in dishes that reflect climates from scorching sun to freezing winds; add another £225 and a further three hours, and you’ll get a guided tour of the surrounding fields, hills and Inca ruins as well as an introduction to the restaurant’s research arm, Mater Iniciativa, where staff share the fascinating stories and science behind local produce. Once guests are seated at the table, the atmosphere is serene, with panoramic views of the astonishing Inca ruins of Moray, creating a dining experience that feels like the culinary equivalent of a trek up Machu Picchu.
How much: Tasting menu from £272.
Where to stay: The Adenia Boutique Hotel is a 45-minute taxi ride from the restaurant. Fourteen rooms, with a balcony or private terrace, are set in lush gardens with mountain views; Machu Picchu is a three-hour train journey away. Double room B&B from £183. MIL Centro, Vía a Moray, Maras 08655, Peru, milcentro.pe
Andenia Boutique Hotel, Carretera PisacUrubamba, 28B, Peru, andenia.pe
