We have just spent 5 glorious nights at Villa Ducale and I would like to thank Vagabonda and KenBoston for their recommendations! We have travelled extensively throughout Europe and Asia and have stayed in many 5 stars hotels but nothing compares to the level of exceptional service, warm hospitality, beautifully decorated rooms, delicious food and superb location that Villa Ducale has to offer. On arrival we were greeted by many enthusiastic and friendly members of staff and were treated to a glass of prosecco as well as some cheese and olives. This was a very nice touch that many hotels do not offer. There intentions are to make you feel like family and that they do with their warm hospitality and sincere interest in helping you with any requests or daily activities. The breathtaking views from the terrace where we ate breakfast and dinner have to be seen to be believed….truly sensational! The complimentary afternoon tea and oerderves were a real treat after spending most of the day sightseeing. During our stay we visted Castelmola which is a beautiful town above Taormina. Make sure you visit Bar Turissi and have a glass of almond wine! Roza who owns Bar Turissi also has an antique shop called Turissi Antiques where we purchased some beautiful jewellery. We also did a tour of the Aeolian Islands to Panarea and Stromboli. It was a long day but well worth the trip. On our last day the staff at Villa Ducale organised a private tour of Mt.Etna and we visited a couple of small villages on our way back to Taormina. Free return shuttle service is offerrred to Corso Umberto which is the main shopping strip in Taormina, however if you wish to walk it only takes about 15 minutes. All in all we had a wonderful time and would like to sincerely thank Rosaria and her wondeful staff for making our stay so enjoyable and memorable. We will return and will highly recommend Villa Ducale to all our friends. We will miss you! Room Tip: We had room 14 which was a junior suite and loved it! It was also very quiet!

This was the first place we wanted to stay on our trip through Sicily, having read the good reviews on TA, expectations were quite high. But high expectations are no problem for this place: the hotel itself is very charming and the staff is amazing, they are all excellent hosts; you feel immediately very welcome, we got installed on the terrace, got a prosecco, nice !!. We drove in by car directly from Catania airport (takes less than an hour) and did find Villa Ducale without much trouble, it’s indeed a bit out of Taormina, but once you’ve seen the view from the terrace you understand why.. wow.. and anyway there’s a shuttle to the town center, so you can leave your car on their small parking, (indeed 10€, but safe !), alternative is taking the stairs down to the town, easy and you’re immediately in the center. Our room was on the other side of the street, also with view on the sea, large room, very comfortable with all imaginable goodies you can think of.. The breakfast is great with excellent choice, the snacks in the evening are a nice gesture and the view makes it certainly worthwhile to have an evening drink !! As we wanted to eat in town, they recommended us a nice restaurant called Osteria Rosso di Vino, and must said we found this one of the best restaurants of our trip, excellent food and atmosphere, very local and a nice terrace . We would certainly recommend this hotel to everyone, ok it’s a bit more expensive, but then again it’s certainly matched by the service and great staff.

Hotel Villa Ducale in Taormina was not only the best hotel we stayed in during our 16 days traveling throughout Sicily, it is one of the best hotels I have stayed in over many years of travel. The views from the terrace for breakfast, tea time and cocktail hour were breathtaking. The breakfasts were an incredible variety of Sicilian meats, cheeses, vegetables, pastries as well as cereals, bacon and eggs — never needed to have lunch in Taormina. The staff was hands down the best ever – multilingual but willing to help me as I used my basic Italian. Antonio was great on our arrival – felt immediately and warmly welcomed as he sat down with us on the terrace with a glass of wine and carefully explained everything we needed to know about our stay in Taormina. The rest of the staff were just as helpful with our questions, restaurant recommendations and calling for reservations. The shuttle service down to the town by very skilled drivers was invaluable although the walk down and back up the stairs was not that bad if you like to get some exercise after all the food you will eat there. I would definitely return here just to see again the beautiful city of Taormina and stay at the Villa Ducale.

Spent 4 nights at the Villa Ducale in Taormina. Room 16 (the rooftop suite) is very large and beautiful and has fantastic views & whilst Villa Ducale has only 17 rooms, this is a suite & I understand there are many nice rooms feels like your in your own home due to privacy & great facilities. Many people comment that its a little removed from the town centre, but we found that its location actually gives you more to do, being very close to the Castle , old Monastery & beautiful hilltop village above called Castelmola. Villa Ducale has a free transfer that operates regularly to and from town centre, but you can take a great walk down past the Monastery to town, easy blue bus up to the hilltop village etc. By doing this we really got to appreciate & understand the town & what it has to offer. Tip, dont spend 1 night make it 3 or 4 at least if you can.

We always heard that Taormina was special but staying in the right hotel also makes is even more magical! We arrived at the hotel after driving on the autostrada from Siracusa driving up the gentle hill to the hotel in a stressful state that it was so lovely to be greeted by handsome Paolo and Alessia (sorry if this is wrong)! Being the passenger in the car (my partner was enjoying the driving) I was so relieved to have arrived in one piece!!!!! Therefore the Hotel Villa Ducale welcome drink was just what I needed to put myself together again… we stepped on to the terrace and all my stress just flew out of my body!!! WOW! What an AMAZING view of Taormina and its coastline !!! The view was breathtaking… our start to our four day stay in Taormina began beautifully. Our room was spacious and comfortable with an amazing view (room 16). The staff were amazing and so very kind. They made you feel so at home which is very rare. A special thank you to Santi forall your help also for helping our friends get a taxi on such short notice. We were told that Sicilians were kind, it’s even more than that – they love Sicily and their kindness reflects that, which is so touching. We ate 3 nights of the 4 we stayed there and ordered special menus cooked by Mamma Santina- sooooooo good and we recommend that you do this – discovered dried tuna roe pasta, just out of the world and her salt crust baked fish was divine!!! Our waiter (all my apologies for not remembering your name) made it all so wonderful too. During tea time they pamper us with cakes and at aperitif time to canapes. Everything was just soooooooooo delicious. Breakfast was a real feast with so much to eat! My favourite moment was the Campari soda time on the terrace for aperitif… If you are just visiting Taormina, we recommend that you do not rent a car unless you wish to travel to other places. We had a rent a car because we went to Siracusa before Taormina but once it was parked for us, we never took it out of the car park! The hotel can arrange for pick ups to/from airport. The hotel organises free transport to the town centre throughout the day and if you want to go the the beach, there are free pick ups also. Everything is just so well organised and you hardly have to worry about anything. This was very much appreciated. My partner and I are now working out how to get back, we loved it so much. It will not be until next year unfortunately owing to work schedules, however we definately will go back to enjoy the wonderful Villa Ducale again. A very big thank you to Paolo and his team, WE LOVED IT!