Hotel Ariston

Review I thoroughly researched which hotel would suit us best for our stay in Sicily and we decided on Hotel Ariston in Taormina. Taormina is lovely, a pretty and very historic town, very busy during the day time and early evening with visitors in the shops, bars and restaurants and cruise ship visitors as well. After dark it’s just a little quieter, but still busy with tourists and locals. There are plenty of nice bars and restaurant to choose from. Our favourite bar was Licchio’s, where friendly service and a warm welcome was guaranteed each time we visited. They serve complimentary tapas, crisp, nuts etc with drinks. We visited the ancient amphitheatre in Taormina, which is very good and well worth a visit 10euros entrance fee. There are also some ruins of an Odeon (small theatre) behind the tourist information office, which is free, but was locked although can be viewed from outside and two popular squares off the Main Street. We took a bus to Castelmola 3 Euros return, which is high in the hills, it’s small but worth a visit. We also took a bus down to Giandini Naxos 3 Euros return, but this area is very touristy with lots of traffic along the beach. Again, worth a visit. Easy to get the bus from Taormina bus station, but not easy to get the bus back as the bus stops are on a busy dual carriageway and stop signs are hidden, so difficult to see and bus times cannot be relied on either. We took the cable car down to Iso Bella beach 6 euros return, reached by long steps in a grubby area. Pretty views, a lot of steps down towards the beach and back up, it much else there though. We walked through the gardens of Florence Trevelyan, just in front of the hotel on a road that leads into the town. It’s very old, has few caged birds and lots of koi carp in a fountain pond. Interesting place to walk around. The Ariston Hotel had very good reviews, but we were not impressed and would not stay there again. We stayed in a standard room with a very poor view overlooking the refuse store. We were woken every morning by the refuse collection at 6am and another very noisy collection at 1am. The swimming pool, room, beds, breakfast etc are basic and I’d class it as 3*. The sun loungers are hard and uncomfortable, the pool has no shallow end and is ice cold. You have to enter the hotel via stairs, lifts and via the busy bus station, which is not ideal and definitely unsuitable for anyone with walking issues. The best rooms would be those with a balcony, but these were fully booked. WiFi is chargeable and keeps dropping out every few days. No wifi by pool. The halls are very dingy and grubby looking with dull lighting and stained carpets. Housekeeping spray loads of cheap air freshener everywhere, which is not a nice smell. There is a 7 euro city tax charge as well which is not evident on booking, but charged on checkout. There were loads of nearby hotels which would be more suitable. Taormina is a lovely area and well worth a visit. Four nights would be sufficient.

Warm welcome and breakfast is over the top good. Friendly staff and willing to explain the surroundings. Though the interior is some what dated, very good beds and pillows. Breakfast is superb, a lot. The view of the Ionian Sea is stunning!

The hotel was good value for money, great location, staff were very helpful. We upgraded our rooms to have balcony & sea view which was a great decision. The food was ok, plenty of choice and they catered for Celiac’s .