Alberi Del Paradiso - Cefalu, Italy 

The Alberi was a delightful experience. The staff are efficiently professional and helpful and the facilities are excellent. A shuttle bus is available to take you into the old town centre and to the private beach which has plenty of sun beds and parasols. Food is what you would expect in a 4 star hotel.

We felt quite mixed about our stay at this hotel. We were a party of 3, and we booked a "deluxe" triple. Pros -There is a beautiful private beach available. The hotel shuttle takes you there, and we all felt it was one of the cleanest and most beautiful beaches we've been on in Europe. -Cefalu is a wonderful town to visit. -The hotel pool is nice, too. Cons -Our triple was a double with a cot! When I called to book the room, she told me, "We have one left." I find that hard to believe considering there was just a cot stuffed into a small room. -Air conditioning -- They have some environmental system that cools through the floors, and while the room wasn't stifling, you aren't able to control the temperature yourself. The three of us awoke sweating more than once! -Walk to town-It's far, farther than I imagined. I walk a lot, living in London, but I wasn't really interested in doing a 30 min walk uphill after dinner. The hotel shuttle stops running at 8:45pm, so if you want to come home after to dinner, you need to spring for a cab, which costs 10euro. (And they aren't easy to find.) Finally, after all this, we paid 250 euro a night, a small fortune! Save your money.