Grand Hotel Miramare, Taormina

Advantages: Stunning views, well located.
Disadvantages: Poorly run, shabby and poorly maintained

...My wife and I returned on 09/09/2007, from a wonderful week in Taormina on the beautiful Island of Sicily. A wonderful week marred by one thing - The Hotel Bristol Park! We paid around £800 each for a weeks B & B at this establishment, provided through Thompsons. This Hotel passes itself off as a Four Star Hotel. *** LOCATION *** One of the greatest assets of this Hotel is its fabulous location. If you want a well located Hotel in Taormina, with great views of Mount Etna (the main reason we booked this Hotel), there won't be many better in Taormina. We had a room on the third floor with a 180 degree view of the sea, the town of Guarding Naxos below Taormina, and the town of Taormina itself. By far the most imposing part of the view though was Mount Etna - the view of this 10,000 feet active Volcano was magnificent. Most... Read review

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Advantages: Everything you could want under one (massive) roof
Disadvantages: Located at the southern end of "The Strip" - so a bit of a walk to some attractions...

...We stayed at the MASSIVE MGM Grand for a few days this time last year. The MGM Grand, guarded by a 45-foot-tall bronze lion statue has 5,005 rooms and used to be the largest hotel in the world, a claim recently stolen by the Ambassador City Jomtien hotel in Thailand with 5,100 rooms. It's still the largest hotel in North America, although I think this will soon be stolen by George Clooney's Vegas hotel development... (While we're on the subject of large hotels, 17 of the 20 largest hotels in the world are in Las Vegas ! So even if you don't stay at The MGM Grand, odds are you'll be staying somewhere big...) The MGM Grand is part of the MGM Mirage group, that also owns, among others, The Bellagio, The Mirage, Treasure Island, New York-New York (just across the street) and Beau Rivage hotels/casinos in Vegas. The first thing... Read review

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Advantages: historicaly interesting, prety town, great views
Disadvantages: long train journet from Palermo

...be navigated from the main drag of shops and restaurants. Typically for Italy there is a vast range of prices. This can also be quite a touristy town so it worth picking your restaurant carefully as quality sometimes suffers as a result of the high demand. If you like shopping there is a good range of shops from clothes and leather shoes to a myriad of shops selling local ceramics with very distinctive patterns. Again there is a vast range of prices so it is worth shopping around as you could find the same items in several different shops. If you only have a short time in Sicily I would recommend visiting Taormina from Catania rather than Palermo, but if you have a little longer then it is well worth stopping in Taormina for a few days to take in the atmosphere. There are plenty of hotels centrally located to choose from. We found a charming B... Read review

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