Hotel Lido Mediterranee - Taormina, Italy     

This is a beautiful hotel in a beautiful location We stayed two nights during a whistle stop tour of Sicily, and our aim was clear – to chill out. We could not have picked a better location. When shown to our room, the very friendly receptionist opened our bedroom curtain to reveal a stunning view out over a beautiful bay. We never tired of this view. Downstairs, there is a small private beach, with sun lounges and a bar service. This leads down from a wonderful terrace / verandah – which also includes the restaurant area. It is an extremely pleasant experience to have breakfast or evening dinner overlooking the sea and the bay – which are extraordinarily picturesque (I filled almost a full memory card with photos of that view). Bedrooms are good quality – clean, air –conditioned, TV and mini-bar. At 140 euro a night for a double, they are not the cheapest in the area, but well worth the expense. A short walk from the hotel leads to a cable car, which whisks you up to the mountain village of Taormina. The town is both beautiful and historic – which, of course, means its wall-to-wall with tourists, and the consequential tourists shops, bars and restaurants. We ate one evening in Maria Rossas, which was recommended in our guide book, but was basically of average quality. That said, there is no shortage of eateries in the town – and all of them quite busy. Would definitely go back.

We just returned from a 12-day vacation in Sicily -- due to a snafu, we arrived in Taormina without reservations. There's a tourist help-desk in the center of town that called around and arranged for our 3-day stay at this hotel. This is a beach hotel, and is not in the center of Taormina. That was OK with us, especially since Taormina can be quite crowded. The hotel was OK -- yes it was a little dated, but it was clean and friendly. The breakfast buffets were good, while the dinner was not as good -- I'd recommend having dinner elsewhere. Two of the nights there were fireworks at a next-door hotel during a wedding -- we enjoyed the display. Wireless internet access is available with an hourly charge. We enjoyed our ocean view, and used the hotel as a base for exploring Taormina's Greek Theatre and Mt. Etna. We didn't use the beach or the ocean.