Lido La Pigna — Restaurant in Taormina

We (couple) choose Lido La Pigna because of the reviews. But unfortunately our experince wasn‘t good at all aka quite bad.

Let me start with the good things: The location is good because it‘s close to the cable car stop. As they have QR codes at each umbrella you can easily order food or drinks to your place. We arrived there at around 4pm and they charge us 20€ per person (regular price would be 30€ per person) as it‘s already afternoon.

Google said it’s open until 7pm but that‘s not what we experienced.

This takes me to the bad points: The prices are higher than in central Taormina. For example: In the city centre you‘re paying 4,50€ for an Aperol Spritz. At Lido La Pigna you are paying 11€. The water is not that clean. It‘s okay but for that entrance fee I‘d kind of expect that they clean it a bit from the plastic that swims in there. To be clear: The plastic was really close and there were big chunks all over the water. Untill here these are mentioned bad points that we could live with.

But the reason why I can‘t recommend this beach club is that after staying there for around 1,5 hours the lifeguard asked us to leave because the beach was closing because many other guests had already left. When we said that we thought it was open until 7pm he just said „No“.

They never mentioned that they close when most of the guests leave. I maybe could‘ve been okay with that if they‘d given us a warning but neither there was a warning nor did they talk respectfully to us.

The lifeguards are also kind of harassing younger women at their will and without any respect.....

We have made Lido La Pigna our go to beach club every time we vacation in Taormina, Sicily. Our routine is simple: the complimentary beach club bus picks us up at our hotel at 9:30AM, we arrive at our reserved beach chairs by 9:50 AM. We swim and sunbathe until about 12:30, then the charming Luciano picks up in his sleek boat for our daily excursion of caves and other less frequented swimming holes around the Bay of Naixos. After our 90 minute private boat adventure, which always includes proseco of course, we are ready for a fabulous lunch at La Pigna's restaurant. The freshest fish, pasta and salads are a treat every time. After lunch a nap, or a massage from the Chinese ladies on the other end on the beach. By 4:30PM the bus takes us back to our hotel. This routine is repeated for our week long stay underscoring the theme of our Italian summer seaside vacation SOLE ! MARE ! AMORE ! Then we are off to Rome for...

We went to Iso Bella looking for a place to spend the day by the water on the sand, and this place was the best choice on the Mazzano side.

Glad we went here. Chair and towel rentals were reasonably priced at €30 for the day, drinks were reasonable between €8-15 and served on the beach. Food, served at the restaurant right off the beach with a view, was €50 for a full pizza, a giant octopus salad, a very nicely cooked swordfish steak, and a tasty Tartufo Affogato dessert. The swordfish was incredible and I was impressed by the freshness of the food considering this is a beach restaurant and in my experience these tend to be hit or miss. Definitely a hit in this case.

Right on the water and across the street from the gondola, and serviced by polite guys who double as lifeguards.

Recommend for a chill day...