We stayed at Hotel Villa Ducale in Taormina, Sicily from 30th August to 6th September 2011. Without doubt it was an experience we would love to repeat!

We arrived at night and were warmly greeted by Luca who, after serving us with a welcome glass of Prosecco, showed us to our room which was No. 23. Our first impression was the wonderful smell in the room. The bathroom was superb, the bed comfortable, the furnishings rustic and it was decorated in typical Sicilian fashion. Our terrace was extremely large with two sun loungers of very high quality, a Sicilian table and two wrought iron chairs. It was gorgeous and we were absolutely delighted to be spending a week in this room.

Our room was cleaned thoroughly every day, we had clean towels and bath mat twice daily and our bed was turned back for us in the evening. What more could you want?

Breakfast is an experience in itself. It is something that you really do not want to miss. The food really is exactly as depicted on the web site EVERY day. There is so much choice and it is all displayed very attractively. We looked forward to breakfast.. We were asked what we would like to drink immediately we arrived on the terrace, such is the high level of service supplied by ALL the staff.

Villa Ducale also provide complimentary cakes and drinks at around 4.00 p.m. every day in an informal atmosphere. From 6.00 p.m. complimentary canapes are served and these really are delicious.

We ate at the hotel. The food is superb – it really is. Everything is cooked to order – there is nothing already made just sitting waiting to be reheated. We enjoyed every single meal and it is cheaper to eat at the hotel than in Taormina and the food is better. In the evening the terrace is illuminated by candle light. Tea lights are lit on every table and there are lanterns of various sizes everywhere. It really is a wonderful sight and adds to the ambience. We loved it!

Paolo is the Manager of this hotel and he performs his role to perfection. ALL the staff are proud of Villa Ducale and it shows. It is very much a team spirit. Ilie’s main role is waiter and he definitely goes the extra mile to ensure that guests’ every need is met. He has a wonderful sense of humour and enjoys talking with the guests and definitely added that special something to our dining experience.

Absolutely everything is provided before you have even thought about it by Paulo and his team.

The trip to Mount Etna to view the sunset is well worth doing and, again, the staff at Villa Ducale are more than happy to arrange this for you.

Give it a try, all the complimentary reviews are true there is no more which we can add except to say thank you to everyone at Villa Ducale for a most memorable week and we cannot wait to stay with you again.

www.villaducale.com

We stayed at the Taormina hotel Villa Ducale from 15th August to 23rd August. A transfer from the airport was arranged for us by the hotel. We arrived very late on a flight from Gatwick and the staff greeted us with a glass of Prosecco and invited us to sit down and take in the views. The following morning Paolo spent some time with us explaining the local area and where to go & what to see. We decided to take a walk into town down the steps which although it was very hot was very enjoyable. We spent some time in Taormina and then decided to walk back up. It was very hot and I wouldn’t recommend doing this in the height of Summer! The following day we decided to take the courtesy shuttle into town and back as this is a free service provided by the hotel and is a very good option for those that prefer to relax!

The staff are all amazingly friendly and helpful and they were only too pleased to banter with us and help us with our stay. The view from our room was amazing, looking directly towards Mount Etna as well as the sea. The room was clean and was cleaned daily. We asked for a parasol so we could sit in the shade on the balcony and they were more than happy to oblige. We ate at the hotel most nights as we found the prices to be very reasonable in comparison to the town and the food was delicious. We took a tour to Mount Etna which was also enjoyable.

The best thing about this hotel is it’s simplicity in the sense that you can relax and come and go as you please. The staff are always willing to help and nothing is too much bother for them. It is almost as if you are staying with friends.

The food was delicious and I particularly enjoyed being able to get away with eating the complimentary cakes for breakfast as well as in the afternoon! The villa also provides complimentary appetisers in the evening. With such a large breakfast we didn’t need to eat lunch and enjoyed the cakes in the afternoon when returning back from town. We then only needed to arrange dinner and we ate directly off the menu as all the food was really good.

We visited Isola Bella, and the hotel arranged sun loungers for us at Pizzachella beach club where the snorkelling was very good. The hotel will also arrange sun loungers with other beach clubs.

We don’t normally go back to places once we have visited them as we tend to try new places each year. However, we will definitely be returning to the Villa Ducale and hopefully bringing some more friends and family with us next time!

A massive thank you to Paolo, Alessia, Luca, Antonio, Ilie and all the rest of the Villa Ducale staff for making it such an enjoyable stay!

Lydia & Garry England

www.villaducale.com

Unlike any other hotel awards programs in the world, TripAdvisor® Travelers’ Choice® winners are based on the millions of real and unbiased reviews and opinions about hotels.

Taormina, January 28th 2012 – Hotel Villa Carlotta was chosen again as a Best Luxury Hotel by TripAdvisor® in its 2010 Travelers’ Choice® awards. Now in its tenth year, the TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice awards honor the world’s best hotels, earning their distinction from those who know them best – real travelers.

For reviews on the Hotel Villa Carlotta go here .
For the complete 2012 Travelers’ Choice list, go here.

>> View the full article <<

My husband and I and our 7 month old daughter spent 3 nights at this fabolous Taormina hotel in July. We have done a lot of travel around the world and stay in mostly 4 and 5 star accommodation. I would say this hotel met all of our expectations. The staff were very helpful and made up a lovely cot for our daughter. The buffet breakfast is amazing, huge range of fresh and cooked foods, and the rooftop setting is beautiful. The whole hotel is very well maintained. Our room was big enough to allow us to put our baby to sleep in one part during the day and we could also relax, read books etc in the bedroom or on the balcony. All rooms facing the sea have beautiful views.
The only (minor) negatives are the pool area is quite small, the hotel is about 10 min walk from the main part of Taormina, we had to negotiate stairs with our stroller to get to the pool and from our room to the lift area that takes you to the breakfast room, and we paid quite a lot for a room, but it seems most Taormina accommodation is quite expensive.
Also I recommend the rooms above ground floor with balcony (not juliette). Overall we had a fabulous time at villa Carlotta and would stay here again.

www.hotelvillacarlottataormina.com

It is with great sadness about the end of our magical holiday that I write this review. This review is written with thanks to all the staff, the location and the food at Taormina Hotel Villa Ducale where I stayed with my husband, our little 3 yo daughter, sister and new husband. As you can imagine, we are all at different stages of our lives, and all unequivocally loved our experience. The warm welcome everyone talks about is not overstated – of course, being from London, we were sceptical about the “we treat you like guests in our house” thing we were offered by our beautiful welcomers. And how wrong our scepticism was. This beautiful hotel, which paid attention to every detail, its beautiful staff who attended to our every need no matter how small or large, who knew the region like the back of their hands, the food by Mama Santina, etc etc. I cannot rave enough about this place. My one concern was that it was far out of town, but please don’t ever worry about that – the shuttle service is impecably designed and served all our desires for travel. In fact, it was a much nicer alternative to staying in town or driving our own car. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Best wishes to all of you there, and thank you from all of us (Chris, Jinan, Mia, Lara & Greg).

www.villaducale.com

As my friend and I arrived from a long and strenuous journey from Palermo Airport to the Taormina Hotel Villa (in hindsight we would of gladly paid the extra £150+ on the flight to Cantania Airport, which is the closest to Taormina), we were greeted with a warm and gentle smile by the lovely receptionist, Alessia. She made us feel so welcomed and offered us the customary free glass of Prosecco, each, and nimbles while we waited for our room to be ready. The moment my friend and I sat in the hotel lounge (breakfast/dinner) terrace while we waited and admired the spectactular view (one of the best views throughout Taormina, in my opinion) I knew deep down that we made the right choice picking this Taormina boutique hotel.

The rooms and great service: are very clean and are of a decent size. I was to be honest, apprenhensive at first when we went into our room, because despite the room being very nice and clean the wastebin lid in the bathroom was broken and the side window didn’t have a modesty net curtain, which meant that we’d have to close the main curtain when changing or walking out the bathroom, not that I’m a prude, it’s just that I didn’t want anyone being put off their breakfast/dinner from seeing my jiggly bits, Lol! Then the next morning the door wouldn’t lock properly. So we mentioned this to the lovely Luca, at the reception desk, and straight after breakfast the door was being fixed by the one and only, lovely Paulo, who happens to be the manager.

As throughout in August, in Sicily/Italy it’s the holidays, so it was very difficult for lovely Paulo to organise for someone to fix and make a modesty curtain at such short notice. To be honest my friend and I would of gotten use to not having a net curtain on the window, but however, without us not having to ask or mention a thing, lovely Paulo offered us a FREE upgrade. Let me tell you this, lol, the upgrade room (23) was amazing! The personal terrace outside the room was 4 times bigger (than the other terrace/room that we originally stayed in), it had two lounge beds (so you could chill and sunbathe) and obviously table and chairs facing the beautiful views. What great service and thoughtfulness! ^_^

Also, I would definitely recommend that you have dinner at the hotel lounge terrace at least one or two evenings. The food is scrumptious/bellisimo, that is freshly made not by some pompous chef i.e Gordan Ramsey et al, but by the one and only, lovely Santina, the cook. As that saying goes “just like mama use to make!”
Real honest Sicilian food, to die for. You can even have certain food requests made for you, freshly made by Santina, as long as you mention what you want to the lovely reception staff the day before. The service is great, and the lovely and humorous Ilie (the waiter) makes you feel at ease and is very efficient.

The hotel provides a free shuttle bus service that can take you to the town centre or the beaches. Great service. Take advantage of it, you save money on taxi fairs!!

This boutique hotel, is not only for families and loved up couples on their honeymoon or celebrating their anniversary. This boutique hotel is also for the single independent woman/man and friends that wants to be pampered and enjoy a bit of luxury with great and fantastic service, once in a while. Why not, eh!? Definitely worth every penny and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to stay at such a wonderful boutique hotel. Carpe diem!
- Norah.

www.villaducale.com

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We recently stayed at the Taormina hotel Villa Carlotta with our two daughters aged 11 and 15. We are a well travelled family with high expectations and Villa Carlotta lived up to them enabling us to have a wonderful time!
The staff were all very friendly and helpful offering great recommendations for dinner (all the restaurants we went to were excellent) and helping us organise a day trip to the beach and also Mount Etna (a must see) as well as a vineyard for a wine and food tasting which was memorable. Charming Taormina is a short walk away oozing history and charm from every corner. We looked forward to returning to our clean comfortable air conditioned room each afternoon before going up to the terrace for pre dinner drinks and nibbles all the while enjoying beautiful views of the sea and Mount Etna in the background.
The breakfasts were incredible! Their was a huge amount to choose from, with many savoury choices, Sicilian salami, cheeses, ham, egg dishes, breaded courgette and aubergine, buffalo mozzarella with the ripest tomatoes I could go on and on as this barely scratches the surface of what was on offer! Also, there were many typical Sicilian “dolcis” – cannolis, almond torte, cassatta, cream filled croissants – all delicious, as well as fresh, ripe fruit and juices. This really was quite an amazing spread of food, all of top quality. The room was beautifully decorated with lovely painted furniture in shades of gray, cream and faded orange with iron urns filled with lemons on each table. So many hotel do not give the feeling of the place where they are but here one could only be in Sicily!
Our flight home was at 10 pm which was not ideal but the hotel was more than happy to let us use the pool and shower so we could fully enjoy our last day although we had checked out.
I would highly recommend Villa Carlotta for anyone wanting to visit Taormina. The whole experience was delightful!

My friend and I decided to go on a quick getaway in Taormina. We booked the Hotel Villa Carlotta Taormina through American Express Travel last minute and didn’t really know what to expect. But what an incredible surprise! The hotel is intimate and elegant. The food is fantastic and the staff is extremely helpful and professional. And the view from the rooftop terrace is undeniably breathtaking, rendering us both speechless (with the exception of ‘OMG’) on more than one occasion.

My only regret is that we couldn’t stay longer…we tried, but the hotel was sold out
This Taormina hotel is definitely a place I would recommend without hesitation. And I will definitely be back.

www.hotelvillacarlottataormina.com

My husband and I stayed at the Taormina hotel Villa Carlotta for 3 nights early August. Not only is the villa and all the rooms beautiful, the service is unmatched. I am very much a “hotel snob” and this place did not disappoint. Every individual was more than willing to go above and beyond to provide service or information. The 3 restaurants that the hotel recommended were some of the best during our trip. The hotel pool was fabulous after a day at the beach. The hotel is a short walk to the center of Taormina which we found to be a bonus as it kept the hotel area quiet at night as well as allowed us the opportunity to walk off each meal. I would highly recommend this hotel and would absolutely return if my travels should take me back to the area.

www.hotelvillacarlottataormina.com