The World’s Most Extraordinary Casino Destinations 2026: Europe — The Coast

This is the second part of the series, after North America. The rule has not changed: a city does not get in simply because it has a casino.

The ten here share one thing — all of them are on the sea. French and Italian Riviera, Atlantic coast, Adriatic, eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea.

Europe split into two articles. The next part covers the Alps, the spa towns and the city breaks: Baden-Baden, Lugano, Montreux, St. Moritz, London, Prague and more.

Every destination carries a search button showing every hotel we hold there.

Monaco is a country of two square kilometres, and it manages to hold a harbour, a steep hillside, a Formula 1 circuit and one of the best known squares in Europe inside them. That density is not a flaw — it is the whole idea.

What surprises first-time visitors is that everything is close. You can walk from the harbour to the square, from there to the gardens, and from there to the old town on the rock, within an hour. Monaco is one of the few places on this list you can see in full in a single day.

The evening is the event here. The central square, the Belle Époque facades and the yachts in the harbour make a setting whose spirit has barely changed in generations — and that holds even if you go into nothing at all and simply walk around.

Bear in mind that prices match, and many people choose to sleep in nearby Nice or Roquebrune and come in by train. Search hotels in Monaco (opens in a new tab) and compare before you decide.

Cannes was built as a hospitality town from the start, and that is what separates it from the rest of the Riviera. The promenade, the private beaches, the harbour and the historic hotels along the front are not an addition to the town — they are its structure.

Most people know it for the film festival, but the festival takes two weeks a year. The rest of the time it is a Mediterranean seaside town with a local market, an old quarter on the hill and a view out to the islands opposite, which you can reach by boat in fifteen minutes.

The casino here fits into a world of luxury that already exists without it. That is the exact opposite of a destination built around a gaming floor: it is one more option for the evening, in a town with plenty of others.

Nice is half an hour by train, with Antibes and Monaco on the same line. Search hotels in Cannes (opens in a new tab) — the difference between the seafront and the streets behind it is significant in price.

Nice is the large city of the French Riviera, and unlike its smaller neighbours it functions as a real city all year round. It has a university, a market, a dense old quarter and an international airport — which makes it the most convenient base for the whole region.

The Promenade des Anglais, the seafront walk running the length of the shore, is the axis everything is arranged around. On one side the sea and the beaches, on the other the city. The old town behind it is a grid of lanes with a flower market, small restaurants and a local cuisine quite unlike the rest of France.

For the purposes of this article Nice is a perfect illustration of the principle: you can have a full, rich holiday here without thinking about a casino once. It exists, it is available, and it is emphatically not the reason people come.

Trains run from Nice along the entire Riviera, including to Monaco, Cannes and Italy. Search hotels in Nice (opens in a new tab).

Sanremo is known mainly for the music festival that carries its name, but the town itself is a long-established Italian Riviera destination in its own right. It sits on the Ligurian Riviera, very close to the French border, with a harbour, a promenade and a nineteenth-century hotel frontage.

The character is different from the French side of the same coast. Everything here is a little less polished and a little more everyday: a large flower market, an old town climbing the slope through covered lanes, and restaurants serving Ligurian cooking with pesto, fish and local olive oil.

The town’s casino has a long tradition and is part of that fabric, in a historic building on the hill above the promenade. But as in Cannes, it is only one of the layers — not the reason a whole town was built here.

Its position on the border makes it a natural crossing point between the French and Italian Rivieras. Search hotels in Sanremo (opens in a new tab).

Estoril sits on the line between Lisbon and Cascais, on a stretch of coast the Portuguese simply call "the Riviera". It is close enough to the capital to reach by train in twenty minutes, and far enough to feel like a resort town.

The difference from the Mediterranean registers immediately: this is the Atlantic, with real waves, cooler air and beaches running along the line of the coast. Neighbouring Cascais is a fishing town that became a resort town, and walking between the two along the promenade is one of the better ways to spend a morning.

The Estoril casino is a long-standing institution in the town and faces a well-kept public garden, but the real reason to come is the combination: ocean, wine, Lisbon a short ride away, and a comfortable climate almost all year.

Anyone planning a Lisbon holiday can sleep here and travel into the city daily, usually for less. Search hotels in Estoril (opens in a new tab).

Deauville is a Normandy seaside town built in the nineteenth century for Parisians who wanted the sea, and it still performs exactly that role. It is one of the cleanest examples on this list of a classic European resort that has not changed much.

Its most recognisable feature is the boardwalk above the beach, with its bathing cabins and the names written on them, and a wide sand beach running for kilometres. Behind it is a town of Normandy-style houses, half-timbering and steep roofs.

Deauville also has a long tradition of horses — racing, stables and sales — and in season that is inseparable from its character. The casino sits directly on the boardwalk, in a building from the period, and belongs to the same world of orderly, old-fashioned leisure in the good sense.

Paris is about two hours away, which makes this a classic weekend. Search hotels in Deauville (opens in a new tab).

Limassol has changed more in the last decade than any other destination in this article. From a port and industrial city in southern Cyprus it has become a holiday destination with a new marina, a rebuilt seafront and a skyline of towers that was not there before.

On 10 July 2023 City of Dreams Mediterranean opened here, an integrated resort built on an investment of more than 600 million euros with around 500 rooms, operated by the Melco group and reported in the coverage as the first integrated resort in Europe. That is why Limassol entered this conversation at all.

But what holds the city up is what was there beforehand: a long promenade, an old town with a castle, and wine villages in the Troodos mountains a short drive away. Cyprus is also among the easiest destinations to reach from Israel — a very short flight.

The season here is unusually long, and the sea stays pleasant well after the European summer ends. Search hotels in Limassol (opens in a new tab).

St. Julian’s is Malta’s entertainment centre, a small bay ringed by hotels, restaurants and clubs, within walking distance of Sliema and a short ride from Valletta. It is dense, loud in season, and remarkably convenient without a car.

Malta itself is the real reason to come. It is one small island holding fortified cities, temples older than the pyramids, swimming coves and a language of its own. You can cross it by car in an hour, which means you can sleep in St. Julian’s and see the whole island from there.

Tourism there is growing clearly: according to Malta’s National Statistics Office, 2,621,319 inbound tourists arrived on the island between January and July 2026. On an island this size that figure explains both the crowding in season and the volume of accommodation.

Anyone who prefers quiet can sleep in another bay and come here for the evening only. Search hotels in St. Julian's (opens in a new tab).

Budva is one of the Adriatic’s better surprises. It has a small walled old town sitting directly on the sea, beaches on either side of it, and mountains dropping to the water behind.

The whole Montenegrin coast is short — you can drive its length in a few hours — and that is an advantage: from Budva you easily reach Kotor in its bay, Sveti Stefan, and mountain national parks inland. It is a destination that rewards taking a car.

In summer the town is full and lively, with a nightlife that draws a young crowd from across Europe, and the casino is another part of that fabric. Out of season it is entirely quiet, and prices drop sharply.

Flights to Montenegro are relatively short and prices are significantly below the Riviera. Search hotels in Budva (opens in a new tab).

Batumi is Georgia’s resort version, a Black Sea port city that has acquired, over the last fifteen years, a skyline of towers that looks almost unrelated to the place. The result is strange and interesting: a long promenade, a seaside park, and eccentric buildings beside a low, older quarter.

The beach here is pebble rather than sand, and the Black Sea is cooler than the Mediterranean — this is not a classic beach destination. What it does have is prices far below European levels, Georgian cooking that is a reason to travel on its own, and wine from one of the oldest wine regions in the world.

From Batumi you can be in the mountain districts of Adjara within hours, among villages, stone bridges and waterfalls. That turns a beach holiday into a combined one without any particular effort.

Georgia is very easy to reach from Israel, and the season in Batumi is essentially the summer. Search hotels in Batumi (opens in a new tab).