Hotel Ariston

We paid 250 euros to stay here and were frankly shocked by the whole experience. First be careful: if you book the Ariston you may still end up in the annex further down the hill. In any case all the rooms are very basic. The rooms looked more like a hostel than a 4 star hotel. The bathrooms are very basic with no products. The communal parts are dark and smell like a hospital The dining room is large and industrial and the swimming pool is crowded and noisy. The ‘sea’ view we paid extra for was visible only if you are an acrobat and enjoy leaning over the car park ! During 3 weeks touring Italy this was the worst experience

Stayed here with my wife for a week in August. Generally have no complaints about the hotel. The grounds and hotel were clean and well kept, the room was clean and comfortable. We ended up in a first floor room which faced the cliff that the hotel is built into and thereby we didn’t have a balcony. But I can’t really complain about that, I had the option to pay for room upgrades but didn’t. The room was nice and comfortable for us, besides, who wants to spend all of your time in the room when you have the beauty of Taormina to explore?? The cocktail hour was good as they put out snacks and appetisers for free which was a nice touch. We only ate lunch in the hotel once, but the spaghetti vongole special had was really nice. Breakfast selection was good, there was plenty there so you can’t really fail to find something to eat. The fruit selection was incredible. The hot counter was ok, scrambled or boiled eggs, bacon, some boiled sausages and a changing vegetable option, to be honest I don’t think you find many European hotels that turn out hot breakfasts that the English will give the thumbs up to so if you’re expecting a full English every morning you might want to stay at home or go to Benidorm! But there was plenty cereals, pastries, and a great selection of cold cuts and cheeses. There were lots of drink options alongside the three coffee machines and there was always a few jugs of milk out to help yourself too. Also a few bottles of prosecco out if you fancied a morning livener! Whenever we had to speak to any of the staff we always found them friendly, no issues there for us. The hotel is well placed, with a 5-10 min walk either way out of the hotel to the Corso Umberto.

We stayed in Hotel Ariston for our honeymoon. It was clean, lots of friendly staff and definitely worth going half board as the evening meal choices have lots of variety. Happy hour between 6 and 7, cocktails were euros each! They also had evening entertainment every night which was very enjoyable. The hotel was situated by the bus terminal which is ideal but also it's a 2 minute walk from the main town. Beautiful views from the hotel but if you are taking children you need to be careful with the pool as it's very deep. We had a very enjoyable honey moon as there's also plenty to do!