Restaurants Worth Flying For: Unique Dining Experiences in Five Cities

About Restaurants Worth Flying For

Restaurants worth flying for are the ones where the meal is the reason for the journey. Unique dining experiences of this kind combine a kitchen with a clear point of view, a room that could not be anywhere else, and a table that takes planning.

This guide covers six restaurants in five cities, all listed at two or three stars in the 2026 editions of the Michelin Guide: DiverXO in Madrid, Disfrutar in Barcelona, Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, Fifty Seconds in Lisbon, and Sorn and Sühring in Bangkok. The Michelin Guide describes three stars as exceptional cuisine worth a special journey and two stars as excellent cooking worth a detour, and all six make the journey easy to justify.

Unique Dining Experiences in Spain

Spain holds two of the most talked-about tasting menus in Europe. DiverXO in Madrid, led by chef Dabiz Muñoz, holds three Michelin stars and ranked fourth in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025. The Michelin Guide describes an unconventional tasting menu that blends global cuisines with Spanish ingredients, and an evening there feels closer to theatre than to a dinner out. Our guide to Michelin star restaurants in Madrid covers the city’s other starred rooms. DiverXO lists its booking details on its own site.

Disfrutar in Barcelona is run by three chefs — Oriol Castro, Mateu Casañas, and Eduard Xatruch — who worked together at El Bulli. It holds three Michelin stars, ranked first in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024, and ranked second in 2023. The Michelin Guide lists two tasting menus, Classic and Festival. Three more restaurants in the city hold three stars, and our guide to Michelin star restaurants in Barcelona shows how to plan a second evening around one of them.

Bucket List Restaurants in Italy and Portugal

Among bucket list restaurants, Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence has one of the longest histories. It was founded in 1972 by Annie Féolde and Giorgio Pinchiorri, grew from a wine shop into a three-star restaurant, and now occupies a seventeenth-century palazzo on Via Ghibellina, with paintings, frescoes, and fresh flowers in the dining room. The restaurant’s own site has a booking page, and our guide to Michelin star restaurants in Florence covers the rest of the city.

Fifty Seconds in Lisbon is a newer kind of destination. It takes its name from the time the lift needs to reach the top of the Vasco da Gama Tower, and the dining room sits 120 metres above the city, according to its official site. Chef Rui Silvestre earned a second Michelin star in the 2026 Michelin Guide Portugal, and the tasting menus draw on the sea, with spices that reflect his Mozambican and Indian roots. Our guide to Michelin star restaurants in Lisbon lists the city’s other two-star kitchens.

A Restaurant Bucket List in Bangkok

Thailand’s only two three-star restaurants are both in Bangkok, which makes the city an efficient stop for a restaurant bucket list. Sorn, led by self-taught chef Supaksorn Jongsiri, serves southern Thai cuisine on Soi Sukhumvit 26 and was the first Thai restaurant to earn three Michelin stars. Sühring, in a villa in the Chongnonsi district, is run by the twin brothers Mathias and Thomas Sühring, serves German-inspired cooking, and was promoted to three stars in the 2026 guide, announced on 27 November 2025.

The two could hardly be more different, so the choice is a matter of taste. Our guide to Michelin star restaurants in Bangkok covers the full list, and Sühring shows its current reservation details on its own site. For Tokyo, where the best tables are often small counters, start with our guide to the best restaurants in Tokyo.

Where to Start

• Choose the table before the flight. The restaurant sets the dates, so settle the reservation first and book the flights and the hotel around it
• Check the days it opens. Several of these restaurants are closed on certain days of the week, and Fifty Seconds, for example, lists dinner from Tuesday to Saturday
• Ask about the booking window early. Each of these restaurants manages its own reservations and sets its own terms, and the most sought-after tables go first
• Add a second dinner in the same city. One anchor table and one quieter evening make a better trip than two long tasting menus in a row
• Check the current guide close to departure. Stars are reviewed every year, and restaurants can change their menus and opening days, so we check the current status before we confirm the trip

How We Help

We choose the restaurants and the unique dining experiences that suit your taste and your dates, request the table, and tell you plainly if it cannot be arranged. We also arrange transfers, book the hotel, and plan the days around the meal, so the flight, the dinner, and the stay fit together. One Private Advisor stays your single point of contact from the first message to the last day.