Hotel Baia Delle Sirene

“Good hotel in a town which is one large Tourist Trap!!”

The hotel is excellent; clean; friendly staff - with a horrible entrance for one arriving by car! The road (supposedly two way) is very, very narrow and goes straight down a hill by the sea. One in the hotel you have to leave your car since one must walk to the cable car which takes you to the ce… more

The hotel is excellent; clean; friendly staff - with a horrible entrance for one arriving by car! The road (supposedly two way) is very, very narrow and goes straight down a hill by the sea. One in the hotel you have to leave your car since one must walk to the cable car which takes you to the center of Taormina.......which, even in September, was full of tourists. The restaurants were also tourist traps - high prices, very poor service. I had been to Taormina years ago and did not remember ethat it was this bad. Never again!

less

“Could be so much better ...”

Stayed in this hotel with my partner for a short, one week break in September for a little sun and relaxation. . First the positives ... Good location - Just 15 minutes walk from the cable-car at Mazzaro, taking you up to the Old Town. (Note: Half of the walk is along a very busy road with no footp… more

Stayed in this hotel with my partner for a short, one week break in September for a little sun and relaxation. . First the positives ... Good location - Just 15 minutes walk from the cable-car at Mazzaro, taking you up to the Old Town. (Note: Half of the walk is along a very busy road with no footpath.) Good access to beach - Just two minutes walk under the railway tunnel to a shingle beach. Friendly staff - Staff did everything to help whenever asked. Not enough of them, but great customer service attitude (and even tolerated my very poor Italian). Room facilities - Good size room. Fridge for cold drinks, but no tea/coffee making facilities. Good size bathroom with towels changed daily. Air conditioning is effective. (Note: If you book a double bed then it's just two singles pushed together with no over-mattress. Always annoying in many hotels.) . Negatives ... Tired and under-staffed - The general upkeep of the hotel feels tired and in need of redecoration / refurbishment. Misleading photos - At best the official photos are 'staged'. At worse they are misleading. The sun terrace (with loungers on green astro-turf) does not exist. There approximately six sun loungers on the beach and two umbrellas. They are all in extremely poor repair and look abandoned rather than belonging to the hotel. This needs to be addressed urgently. Basic breakfast - Breakfast was included in our package but disappointing. Very few fruit options. Only scrambled egg and bacon for hot food (and this is slow to be replenished, so arrive early!) Fruit juices are little more than coloured water. But coffee is good! Room description - We had a triple room with "garden view and sea side". Firstly, the only window was in the door! Because we were on the ground floor near reception we didn't want people looking in the room so mostly had the window shutters closed. So we didn't really benefit from any views. (Note: The garden is also the car park.) Railway line - Nobody mentions this until you get to the hotel. It is around 200m to the railway line which runs between the hotel and the beach. The 5am train WILL be your early morning alarm. You will get used to this after a few days. . In spite of the above, we made the most of our stay and would recommend this hotel if it was more reasonably priced and the photos were more honest.

less

“Poor service”

I stayed at this hotel for a week in October. Our room had one plug which was in an awkward place to get to behind the TV so we had to move the table to get to the plug. There was another plug but when we tried to use it the plug came apart! The plugs didn't work to start with so we asked staff who… more

I stayed at this hotel for a week in October. Our room had one plug which was in an awkward place to get to behind the TV so we had to move the table to get to the plug. There was another plug but when we tried to use it the plug came apart! The plugs didn't work to start with so we asked staff who told us that we need to switch the light on for it to work which we were never told on check in. There was no bar at the hotel to go to in the evening. When complaining to staff about the electrics in our room we had to ask twice for someone to look at it! The hotel location was nice with good views over the sea but the hotel is a little dated and could do with some attention. There was a train near the hotel which we had to get used to as we could hear it every night when asleep. For someone who is a light sleeper this could keep them awake.

less