2025 looks like a year of new horizons for Beso Beach. The chain of restaurants and beach clubs originally from Formentera and with a location in ses Salines in Ibiza is working against the clock to open at least three new locations in 2025 and in very different latitudes.
“We have three projects for 2025. Baqueira Beret, Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) and Bodrum (Turkey),” confirmed to La Voz de Ibiza the co-founder of the iconic restaurant that attracts celebrities everywhere, Rafa Viar. “We are expanding internationally,” he summarized in relation to these last two destinations. Viar has avoided going into details due to confidentiality contracts with his partners. But he summarized that both Punta Cana and Bordrum “follow the line of business: they are places of beach and quality tourism. They have made proposals to us and we have found them to be in line with our brand”. He has not been able to specify which of the new locations is closer to opening. “It depends on how the works progress, I suppose that in a couple of months we will have more details,” he said.
Beso, from Formentera to the Caribbean and the snow
Punta Cana and Bordrum will not be Beso’s first forays into the international arena. The brand had landed in Tulum (Mexico) in 2018, but two years later it closed its Caribbean location after denouncing breach of contract by the local partners with whom it started the adventure. On the other hand, the one in Baqueira Beret will be the second Beso location located far from the sea, after the opening of Sierra Nevada in 2023 in The Mountains hotel, where they offer an experience of luxury, comfort and entertainment in the middle of the snow. In addition, from this location, Beso has created Beso Sports, a project to support sports, in this case those linked to snow (for this, it has partnered with the Cerogrados ski school in Sierra Nevada). This opening in Sierra Nevada was made possible by Meliá, as part of a project to open around 30 Beso locations in the chain’s hotels. Although everything indicates that the openings announced by Viar for next year are not linked to that project, the founder of Beso did not want to specify it. Although Beso Beach, as its name suggests, is associated with the beach and summer, for Viar, moving the concept to winter tourism areas is far from being a drawback. “After a while, we have achieved a very good location (in Baqueira Beret) that responds to the demand of our own customers. Because those who visit the islands in the summer go skiing there in the winter. The idea is that they have as much fun in winter as in summer”, said the businessman in relation to Baqueira Beret. The path is the same that Cala Jondal has taken and, as La Voz de Ibiza has advanced, has opened a restaurant in the Austrian Tyrol.
No summer without a kiss: Beso Beach
Beso Beach is a brand recognized for its fusion of Basque and Mediterranean cuisine, but, especially, for being a place visited by numerous celebrities: from Orlando Bloom, Alejandro Sanz or Mariano Rajoy to Lionel Messi or Paul McCartney, among others. The famous bench with the highly Instagrammed caption No summer without a kiss , the staff of male waiters who were models and the festive atmosphere of the after-dinner meals have boosted the price of the successful product. Beso’s last opening was in May 2024, also by Meliá. This was its first establishment in Barcelona, located in the Hotel Torre Melina Gran Meliá, in the Pedralbes district. This has been added to the locations in Formentera (the first), Ibiza, Estepona, Sierra Nevada, Mallorca and Sitges.