Michelin's final Green Star list names 59 Spanish restaurants

Michelin’s final Green Star count in Spain was 59 restaurants. That number appears in Michelin’s own 2026 Spain guide materials, published on November 25, 2025, months before the company moved to retire the sustainability-focused distinction. Michelin’s Spanish-language guide said five restaurants were newly added in the 2026 selection, taking the countrywide total to 59. (guide.michelin.com) The immediate news is not a new batch of awards, but the closing snapshot. Michelin’s 2026 Spain list now stands as the last full Green Star roster for the country before the program is phased out, according to reporting cited in the briefing and Michelin’s published guide pages. (guide.michelin.com) ### Where does the number 59 come from? Michelin’s own Spain 2026 Green Star article gives the figure directly. In the Spanish text, Michelin wrote that with five new establishments — four of them in the Basque Country — “ya son 59 los restaurantes con Estrella Verde” in the Spanish selection for the 2026 guide. (guide.michelin.com) That makes the number more than an estimate or secondary tally. It is Michelin’s official count for Spain in the 2026 edition, published as part of the guide rollout tied to the November 25, 2025 ceremony. (guide.michelin.com) ### Which restaurants were among the final additions? Ama, in Tolosa, and Bakea, in Mungia, are named in Michelin’s Spain 2026 Green Star article as part of the five new additions. Michelin described Ama’s approach under the phrase “lo local nos protege,” and said the restaurant’s weekly tasting menu changes with seasonal supply from nearby producers. Michelin said Bakea’s menu is built around local and seasonal products and a wood-fire kitchen designed by chef Alatz Bilbao. (guide.michelin.com) Garena, in Dima, appears on Michelin’s official restaurant pages as a one-star restaurant in the 2026 Michelin Guide España, and the briefing identifies it as one of the final Green Star additions in the Basque Country before the award’s retirement. (guide.michelin.com) ### What exactly is Michelin retiring? The Green Star was Michelin’s sustainability distinction for restaurants whose practices the guide said combined culinary standards with environmental or social commitments. Michelin’s Spain 2026 article framed the award around biodynamic gardens, endangered local breeds, and social and environmental projects. (guide.michelin.com) The May 19 guidance cited in the briefing said restaurants could continue using Michelin’s green clover logo until updated national guides are published in each country. That means the symbol does not disappear everywhere at once; it remains visible until each national guide cycle catches up. (guide.michelin.com) The briefing attributes that guidance to Michelin. ### Does Michelin’s expansion elsewhere change this story? Cleveland’s addition to Michelin’s American Great Lakes guide shows the company is still expanding geographically even as it drops the Green Star program. Michelin said the new regional edition will cover Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh, and that the inaugural restaurant selection will be revealed in 2027. (guide.michelin.com) Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin Guide, said inspectors had already begun scouting restaurants across those cities. Michelin said the full selection will be unveiled at a 2027 ceremony to be announced later. ### What should readers watch next? The next concrete milestone is each country’s next Michelin guide update. Michelin’s May 19 guidance, as cited in the briefing, says restaurants may keep displaying the green clover logo until those national guide updates are published. In the United States, the next visible Michelin expansion step is the American Great Lakes rollout. (guide.michelin.com) Michelin said inspectors are already in the field, and the inaugural Cleveland-inclusive selection will be announced in 2027.