Taormina Hotel Villa Ducale — Hotel in Taormina

I Love Sicily, I Love Taormina! || I visited friends that were staying at other "Luxury" hotels by the Beaches of Taormina, but I was unsure when we booked Hotel Villa Ducale because of it's location, but THANK GOD we stayed at Hotel Villa Ducale. Like heaven in the clouds, high up on a mountain top, the view is a million dollar view of ALL Taormina. It's like a million miles away from all that is not as attractive of Taormina, crowds, tourists, hawkers and gawkers. The BEST value in Taormina, the BEST service, The BEST Location, nice people, so helpful. Your BEST bet in Taormina!||We made Taormina are last stop in Sicily before we came back to Chicago. Palermo, Agrigento, Taormina and then Palermo then home.| |The Hotel Villa Ducale is heavenly, the view is like looking down from heaven, away from the riff raff. My wife and I were traveling with my 28 year old son, who accompanied us through Sicily, meeting him in Palermo that he rented for 3 weeks, from a friend and we toured 12 days through Sicily then back to the Palermo Condo and back to the States. ||The check in was quick and efficient, and very nice people around the clock, becomes especially important when having some business back in the States that won't take a vacation. ||The room was a spacious, with a separate room with a king size bed, and a living room with a pull out bed my son slept on. Great room, KILLER View toward the Italian Coast from the bedroom, with a small balcony to sit and smoke a cigar. Lovely, view, lovely room set up, Bathroom, tv, etc., everything you could expect from a fine establishment. Very nice cleaning people very helpful, there for 3 days. ||The restaurant is signature, not only for the Food, Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, but the view is Scenic, picturesque, If you don't stay there, make a dinner reservation near sunset, and it will be the most Romantic dinner you will have in Sicily. The Volcano was erupting the night we had a romantic sunset dinner there. We did a walking tour up to the Volcano the next day with stops at Vineyards down the mountain, great time.| | They have a lovely pool, just the right size and perfect in the August heat, to relax after a trip to the Volcano, trip to the beach, trip to fighting the crowds on the Streets of Taormina. Lovely, relaxing. I must say it was hot, but thank god for the beaches, and easy access from the hotel, you pick the beach you want to go to and BOOM they set it up and you have pick up and delivery, and it's all white glove all the way back and forth. Very organized, very organized at the beach itself, when you arrive. Suggest do two different beaches if you get the chance, each in a little different location, lovely either way. ||As I mentioned easy pick up and delivery on any tours you book, Volcano, Churches, beaches, and wine tours. ||It's not easy traveling, I had a serious business closing sale for a client and it was going on day #2 into staying in Hotel Villa Ducale, of course everything is with time change of Plus 7 hours makes things difficult, I had my computer, etc., but there were certain things I needed printed out and even in this world of electronic signatures, some things with title transfers and documents, needed to be printed out and signed by me and sent back. It's 8:00 PM there and the people at the desk, I wish I could remember her name, could not have been more helpful. The back and forth, sending her an email to print out for me about 10 pages, then picking it up, reviewing it and signing it and having her send it back via fax, must of been an hour and a half, she was very helpful. I can't tell you how much it meant to me that even with a language challenge, everything went great. ||The next day, I met the owner when we were coming in for lunch, and I was telling the manager how thoughtful and dutiful the women was the night before, and he introduced me to the owner, a very nice guy, and he told me it was were he was born and raised, what a lucky guy. Great people working for him, that really appreciated helping visitors, and making sure they were provided with first rate service, it starts from the top, good management, good employees, good service, right down to the cleaning people. ||The food in the restaurant was of course 5 Star Quality for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but more so the wait staff, some of the people worked all shifts and even though I don't speak Italian, the warmth of the greetings we got, even my son mentioned when he ate without my wife and I was sincere and honest. ||It was a whirlwind tour of Sicily, I am sorry now that I writing this review in October, but from the moment I stepped off the plane, my life has been an express train with no stops. I can't tell you how much fun we had, my Father served under General George S. Patton, and unfortunately experienced Sicily with people shooting at him, I mentioned it to our guide of the Volcano trip and we stopped at the last remaining concrete machine gun bunkers and entry gates from the Volcano into the Taormina area, left from the War. My wife, a little short on history, thought the Italians were on are side, and I told her eventually they were. ||It says something that I carried the Hotel Villa Ducale business card in my wallet all this time, because at some point wanted to make a review, and I glad I had the time to do it. Travel is fun, it's not cheap, and when I do spend money, I want to have the experiences that money can't buy, friends, family, but I do not want to have a bad memorable trip because I tried to cut corners on habitation. It's hard from America and looking at all the options that are thrown at you, via travel agent, travel web sites, take my advice in Taormina, Sicily, make Hotel Villa Ducale the start of some of the most memorable experiences with friends and family that you will ever have, and you will never remember the cost, but the warm welcoming you get when you return to relax, and look down from a heavenly...

We are sitting in bed on our last night at Hotel Villa Ducale just reflecting on how amazing this experience has been. We came for our ten year wedding anniversary and have been at Hotel Villa Ducale for the last week enjoying ourselves to the fullest! From the moment we arrived, we were greeted by the friendliest staff who offered us beverages at their gorgeous restaurant overlooking Taormina. Daniel walked us through everything from the hotel’s service offerings, how their free hourly shuttle to/from Taormina’s center worked, how to reach them for any and every need we had, as well as recommendations for things to do around town, excursions and additional dining recommendations. He was truly so helpful, so kind and such a fun personality! Daniel, Santina and Giuliana were the staff we happened to interact with most and they were all so attentive, personable and hospitable. We really are going to miss them too as we always looked forward to seeing them in the mornings or at night when we’d return. The walk down to Taormina’s center for shopping, the Greek theatre and the gardens is beautiful and was very doable for us. Their shuttle also ran every hour and we could easily sign up for that by telling them in person or via WhatsApp (which was super helpful for when plans changed). They were very quick to respond and add us to shuttle lists or make dinner reservations on our behalf wherever we requested.

Speaking of dinner, the on-site restaurant is SO GOOD and the views are unmatched, in my opinion. The restaurant staff were the kindest, as well. We saw them for breakfast (a beautiful spread with lots of options) and for the 3 or 4 times we dined there for dinner. Everything we had was delicious. I highly recommend the beef filet, the swordfish, sea bass, tuna tartar and the tiramisu!

Our room was a corner room with a gorgeous king-sized bed, a side patio with lounger style chairs and another sitting patio facing the front of the hotel down to Taormina. Beautiful views everywhere. The housekeeping staff were also amazing. They always smiled and left a treat on our bed, restocked our towels, tidied and restocked supplies daily. Their shampoo/conditioner and body wash smell divine!

I seriously could go on and on about how heavenly our experience has been. It was picturesque in all the best ways, and the staff were such a highlight of our trip. You have GOT to book...

We spent a lovely couple of days at the Hotel Villa Ducale. The hotel is high up on a mountainside overlooking Taormina and Mount Etna. We were lucky enough to have a room with a view of both, with breathtaking sunrises over the strait of Messina and dramatic sunsets from behind Etna.

The service at the hotel is unrivalled. In particular, Santina and Daniel at the front desk were amazing - we arrived extremely early in the morning after a long and challenging train trip from Naples and a very strange taxi ride from Taormina Giardini and they were ready with big smiles and strong espressos to calm our nerves and soothe our stress levels. Max the bartender (and expert espresso maker) was so friendly and approachable and made our mornings every day. Our room also came with two free pairs of flip flops and a lovely branded beach bag, perfect for using the hotel pool, which was modest in size but also had amazing views of the straits of Messina (and was heated!)

The daily breakfasts were simple but perfect - including eggs, cheeses, cooked and cured meats and fish, fruits, but also Sicilian specialties like caponata and freshly-made cannoli (even days after leaving I can't stop thinking about those cannoli they were so good). Not to mention perfect coffees from Max and his team.

The hotel provides a regularly-scheduled shuttle service to and from the Porta Messina by the Corso Umberto, and from there you can walk to most parts of the town. There is also a walking path down to the Corso from the side of a nearby church with amazing views that only takes around 15 minutes or so (going up is a different story however).

In conclusion, we would not hesitate to recommend the Hotel Villa Ducale if you're looking for a slightly out-of-the-way luxury stay in Taormina. Between the top-notch service, amazing food, breathtaking views, and overall spirit of the hotel, this was by far the best hotel we stayed in during our two-week southern...