Partners

About

SUBLiME 100 was created to offer a broader, more meaningful perspective on extraordinary hospitality around the world.

Hospitality takes many forms. From celebrated institutions to independent neighbourhood favourites. From intimate spaces to huge-scale spectacular destinations. From the world's great capitals to smaller cities with equally remarkable experiences to offer.

SUBLiME believes extraordinary hospitality deserves to be recognised on its own merits, wherever and however it is delivered.

A fresh approach to recognition

At the heart of SUBLiME is a distinctive approach to evaluating hospitality, bringing ranking and independent rating together in one system.

Our ranking draws on people with genuine knowledge of the places they vote for to create the SUBLiME 100 lists. The independent rating goes beyond: it evaluates the qualities that define extraordinary hospitality and the standards establishments must continue to uphold to retain their recognition.

Together, ranking and rating create a system where excellence is not simply celebrated once a year, but recognised and maintained over time or permanently.

Comparing like with like

Not all extraordinary experiences look alike, nor should they be judged as though they do.

A brilliant 40-seat neighbourhood bar and an exceptional 400-capacity lifestyle destination can both represent hospitality at its best, but in very different ways. SUBLiME recognises these distinctions, comparing like with like and giving different expressions of hospitality the opportunity to be celebrated on their own terms.

Once the awards are over, the tile remains

SUBLiME is more than a position on an annual list. Recognition carries lasting significance, represented by a physical tile connecting extraordinary hospitality destinations across the world.

Once awarded, the SUBLiME tile remains a mark of distinction, provided the venue continues to uphold the standards that earned it recognition. Rather than competing for a new position every year, recognised venues become part of an enduring global collection.

As that recognition endures, so too does the tile itself. The first tile is forged in brass by Spanish artisans, then it evolves after five and ten years to copper and bronze to reflect the longevity of the achievement.

The result is a richer, more expansive picture of global hospitality. One that celebrates established excellence while creating space for new discoveries. One that values the experience itself above the reputation that precedes it.

For those who love hospitality, SUBLiME offers something more than a list of names. A way to explore, discover and experience extraordinary places, with the confidence that each has earned its right to be there.

Places worth crossing a city for. Places worth crossing the world for. Places you've returned to for years. Places hiding in plain sight.

Story

SUBLiME was born in Barcelona.

A city that has spent generations challenging convention. In architecture, art, design and, perhaps more than anywhere else, in food and drink.

Spain changed the way the world thought about restaurants. From the revolution of modernist gastronomy to a new generation of chefs, bars, dining rooms and hotels, the country has produced some of the most influential and iconic hospitality of our time. Yet while the world's guides and rankings have historically emerged elsewhere in Europe and the US, no truly global hospitality awards have emerged from Spain.

SUBLiME changes that.

Our story begins on the streets of Barcelona, where small red flower tiles set into the street mark the ‘Ruta del Modernisme’. More than decoration, each is a marker: an invitation to look up, look closer and discover something extraordinary. Follow them through the city and they guide and connect locals and visitors with the Modernist buildings, ideas and creations that came to define one of the world's great cultural movements.

That idea became the genesis of SUBLiME. A physical marker of the extraordinary and a route mapped by connecting those markers together.

Our emblem takes its inspiration directly from those streets. But where Barcelona's red tiles lead people towards extraordinary architecture, SUBLiME's will lead them towards extraordinary hospitality.

Venues recognised by SUBLiME will receive their own physical floor tile, cast in brass and forged by Spanish artisans. Designed to welcome guests, each tile marks somewhere worth knowing. Across restaurants, bars, cafés, nightclubs and hotels, from famous capitals to places far beyond the established hospitality map, those individual markers will begin to trace a new route around the world.

As the tiles appear in extraordinary venues across cities and continents, they will create an ever-expanding map of extraordinary hospitality venues.

The journey begins in Barcelona, where SUBLiME was born and where the inaugural awards will take place in July 2027.

From there, the tiles go global.

Awards

The SUBLiME Awards rethink how the world recognises exceptional hospitality. Bringing together diverse global perspectives, embracing destinations of every scale and comparing like with like, SUBLiME creates a more considered and inclusive approach to celebrating excellence and community.

Recognition goes beyond the awards ceremony. Each venue awarded SUBLiME status receives a permanent, Barcelona-inspired tile cast in brass: a lasting mark of distinction that connects exceptional hospitality experiences across the world, from Bars and Cafés, to Restaurants, Hotels and Nightclubs.

The inaugural awards take place in Barcelona on 6 and 7 July 2027, celebrating outstanding bars and cafés, with further categories to follow.