Torri Pepoli Resort - Erice, Italy 

We stayed at Torri Pepoli last month and highly recommend it. The castle has been beautifully restored, and the location is stunning, with views of the town of Erice, the ocean, the salt pans of Trapani, and the Temple of Venus. The rooms are spacious and well-appointed, without being over-the-top. If you can manage lots of stair-climbing, I would recommend the Tower Room, which is (literally) at the top of the tower, with stunning 360-degree views. It is reached by a series of narrow passageways and staircases, which is all part of the fun. There is also an excellent restaurant at the hotel. You may want to try the wines produced by the owners of Torri Pepoli, under the Adragna label, which are very good. They also produce a really tasty olive oil, which we bought two bottles of to bring home. Erice is a beautiful town to explore, and has some amazing pastry shops. We also visited the Greek temple and amphitheatre at Segesta from Erice, and if we had more time, would have visited the Egadi Islands and Zingaro nature reserve. So there are a lot of things to do over a few days in Erice.

Once in a while you stumble upon a special experience while travelling and the Torri Pepoli was exactly that for me and my wife Situated in the beautiful town of Erice, it is a former castle renovated to take in guests. While the rooms are relatively simple but very comfortable the views were breathtaking. From our window we had a view of trappani, the salt pans, the sea and the egadian islands. The grounds the hotel is situated in were lovely and again had breathtaking views in every direction. The hotel staff were incredibely helpful and charming. In a wierd way because the hotel is so small and off the beaten tourist path it seemed like they were less polished and jaded than in the other luxury hotels we stayed in and so you were left with just genuine hospitality and kindness that was really touching. The town itself is a gem although I would say that given the small size you probably would not want to spend more than a day or two there. Loved the hotel and cannot recommend it, the staff, or the town itself more highly.