The Best Floating Restaurants to Visit in 2020

It's always nice to discover restaurants that have something a little different about them such as underwater restaurants and recently - given the time of year - festive restaurants. That's why, naturally, we wanted to round up the best floating restaurants for 2020 from all corners of the earth, with the best views and hearty menus.

Grand Banks, New York City

Relive the glamour of the roaring twenties aboard a remnant of the New York’s seafaring past. Hand-built in 1922, the F/V Sherman Zwicker is the last original saltbank fishing vessel in existence. It now plays host to Grand Banks, an establishment whose sensibility can best be described as Nantucket by the way of the French Riviera. Manhattanites can shuck oysters and sip craft cocktails beneath the yellow and white awnings and drink in views of the glittering downtown skyline, without even having to venture across the water to Brooklyn. Go during the week to avoid the weekend rush.

Grand Banks re-opens in May 2020.

Blue River Table was conceived when two Cornwall natives purchased Tethra, a 36ft long traditional Looe fishing boat. They have since renovated her into a working restaurant - everything is prepared on board as you cruise the Cornish waterways. Their hearty dishes of local seafood and fresh produce, inflected with Middle Eastern and Mediterranean flavours, are a perfect accompaniment to the rugged beauty of England’s southwest coast.

Blue River Table

Touted by some as the world’s best restaurant, this floating pizzeria off the coast of Fiji is accessible only by a 40-minute boat ride from Port Denarau. There’s no menu at the 100 person capacity restaurant – you just take whatever pizza happens to be on offer that day – and this relaxed vibe is carried through to the swimming, snorkelling and sunbathing that are encouraged in the sparkling azure seas surrounding Cloud9. As far as dream destinations go, this sounds like a little piece of heaven.

Cloud 9

Barge East is a tribute to the best of British produce, aboard a historic 114-year-old Dutch Tjalk. The barge, De Hoop, made an epic journey, travelling across the North Sea, via Holland, to its East London mooring. It has since been lovingly restored using reclaimed materials, and furnished to the height of Hackney-cool. Local ingredients and an expertly-tailored drinks menu showcase East London’s finest, accompanied by enviable views of the City and the River Lee. Barge East’s proximity to Victoria Park (and bottomless Bloody Mary’s) make it the perfect Sunday brunch spot.

Barge East

This award-winning seafood restaurant in Klädesholmen on the West Coast of Sweden has become a destination for sleek and smart dining straight from the sea. The house speciality is a traditional herring plate accompanied with boiled potatoes or, more adventurously, Schnapps, but we also love the sound of pan-fried cod with crayfish tartare, buttered shellfish broth and blackened carrot puree. Plus, if all that sea air becomes a little too much, there are 23 elegant rooms upstairs in which to rest your head.

Salt and Sill

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the City of Light is best seen Seine-side. Ever the aesthete, multi-Michelin star chef Alain Ducasse marries French Haute cuisine with the splendor of Paris itself, aboard his floating restaurant Ducasse sur Seine. Guests will cruise the river banks, taking in Paris’ historic monuments and bridges, culminating in a final stop in front of the Eiffel Tower. At the table, a menu fit for the Sun King unfolds like a play in five acts, imagined by chef Francis Fauvel. Entirely prepared on board, his cuisine is a love letter to all things Parisien. Take the Nuit Étoilée cruise and be swept away by the romance of Paris illuminated.

Ducasse sur Seine

Floating on the river Lek in Streefkerk, you'll find De Limonadefabriek moored alongisde the banks with beautiful panoramic views of the river. At first glance, you'd not think this a floating restaurant due to the fact it looks like a factory building set on the waterside, but it does in fact float. We'd recommend the top floor balcony which serves as a sun trap serving meals from the ever-changing menu of seasonal dishes from fresh produce to risottos and deer stew.

De Limonadefabriek