Romano Palace Luxury Hotel - Catania, Italy 

Stayed at this 5 star at the end of my tour of Italy. Really nice hotel complex with everything you could possibly need and a whole lot more: private beach, sailing trips, horse riding, swimming pool, restaurant, bar, the list goes on and on. It’s not in the city centre, that’s the only down side – if you want the cultural experience it’s a lot of taxis, but on the other hand it’s very near the airport. I’d highly recommend this hotel to people who want a fully pampered beach holiday in a beautiful place with everything at your fingertips. Catania is a wonderful city with a great nightlife and a fantastic character all of its own that you don’t find in the rest of Italy. Mount Etna is obviously well worth a trip too if you have the time.

My husband and I stayed at the Romano Palace for a week and had a great time. Lovely balcony, pool with jacuzzi jets, and breakfast options. The staff were excellent with good English and they appreciate any novice attempts at Italian too. The service is excellent at this hotel with the rooms being cleaned twice a day on most days. The staff around the pool were happy to put on music when asked (which varied dramatically from XFM to Sicilian classical!), and they also brought round plates of melon and pineapple for the sunbathers every so often. Lovely! The have an agreement with the Lido Excelsior across the road for all their guests to use their beach free of charge which we did on a couple of occasions. There was an excellent little cafe there too with cheap and cheerful lunch options - just make sure to get a free pass from reception to hand in when you get to the Lido. The hotel is ideally situated for getting into Catania and a taxi will cost around 15 euros. The bus is free on the way into town, and 90 cents on the way back. (However the bus service is fairly sporadic so you can wait anything from 5 to 20 minutes for one) Catania itself is wonderful - (once you get off the busy roads where the residents seem determined to wreck the air with fumes from their little cars and mopeds). My advice is to find the piazzas for the best experience. The parks are sweet too and the Bellini gardens will be amazing when the bit of work they're doing at the moment is finished. - Catania train station runs a regular service to Taormina which is teeming with tourists but absolutely beautiful. Our only complaint about the hotel was the lack of information in the rooms. There was nothing regarding things to do in the area when the restaurant opened or what time breakfast was served- although the staff were very helpful with everything when we asked. The restaurant and bar were also a little expensive. We turned up for dinner too early (the restaurant opens at 8pm) so had a glass of dry white wine each in the bar beforehand. The bill came to 20 euros. Yikes. Should've made sure to ask for the wine list! On the whole, staying at the Romano Palace was a wonderful experience and the staff are doing a great job. On our way there from the airport, the taxi driver gave us the thumbs up when we told him where we were going and said 'good hotel!' good hotel!' ...an excellent start.