Etna Hotel

We really enjoyed our stay at Etna hotel. The whole place has got so much character and authentic style. The staff was so friendly and keen to help. We felt really relaxed there. And also the food in the restaurant was to die for!!! Have the Sicilian grill plate, we have enjoyed the food so much! It’s also really close to the beach and the beach there is lovely!

I have just returned from a lovely week here and I have to say that it exceeded my expectations. The staff are great, friendly and very helpful, quite a bit of English is spoken so it's fairly easy to get help with arranging things such as taxis, trains etc. It really helps when it comes to my general incompetence with the Italian language. My room was very clean and perfectly comfortable with air con which I imagine you will be very thankful of in the summer months! The pool area is also clean, tidy and well equipped with loungers and chairs, there's even a small bar where you can get what you need at a reasonable price. I chose to eat at the restaurant in the evenings and the food was excellent, a good selection and fairly priced in my opinion, portion sizes are also generous. There is a beach fairly nearby, say 1-2 km which you can walk to or there are bicycles available at the hotel if you are feeling confident, the roads are a bit "exciting", however this is not unusual in Sicily/Italy, there are always taxis and these are not expensive and probably safer. It is advantageous to have your own transport as it is a fair walk to the centre of Giarre and of course you will want to visit the many stunning sites on and around Etna itself, there is ample off-road parking at the hotel. In summary this is a fabulous place to use as a base to explore Etna and the many tourist hotspots up and down the coast, it's a very calm and relaxing place with a nice atmosphere, a good mix of nationalities and excellent food at a very reasonable price. It is the staff that made my stay so enjoyable, they are all lovely people and genuinely friendly, this to me makes a trip special and makes me want to return. Have a mentioned the lemon grove behind the hotel? You will have to go find out about that for yourself... Grazie mille Etna Hotel, see you next time!

Stayed for 5 nights here with my husband. Rooms are lovely and we had one overlooking Mount Etna. Comfortable bed, decent en-suite, fridge, safe and wifi. The staff are very friendly and incredibly helpful. They arranged an Etna tour (great guide and really interesting) and a boat trip for us. They also gave us suggestions of things to do. They were very helpful with bus times and can organise taxis for you if needed . The owner even gave us a lift to Giardini Naxos for our boat trip when the bus didn’t turn up. So kind! Irena was delightful and went above and beyond to make sure we had a great trip. There are plenty of sun beds and chairs around the pool area and the pool is nice. Very chilly this time of year but had a quick dip. We ate in the restaurant next to the hotel and the staff are lovely and the food tasty. There isn’t a lot to do in Giarre so would definitely recommend a car or use public transport. We took the bus to Taormina which was about 50 minutes- return fare was about €10 for two of us. Giardini Naxos is also on the same bus route and is a nice port and town. You can get a train to Syracuse but we didn’t have time to do this. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and managed to do a fair amount of outings and plenty of relaxing too.

Much needed week away. Lovely settling, superb restaurant. Ideal for a quiet break. If you need to see somewhere busier, then Catania or Taormina are a short train ride away. Only criticism is the beds are bit on the firm side, apart from that, Lovely.

Everyone has described the hotel to the point. Clean, amazing service, staff goes above & beyond! First impression of the Village was not great. Then we decided to rent a car, went back to Catania Airport (plenty car renting places which accept debit cards). Do not book online, make your way there in person- better deals, insurance included, no access fees. And this is where our journey turned out to be amazing! It was a constant pleasure to return to our clean room, meet pleasant staff & have a quiet evening in our terrace before bed. Breakfast was basic, so couple days we didn't bother to wake up for it (it's until 10am). Dinners at the restaurant are very good quality comparing to local restaurants. So we ate twice at the hotel instead of the local places.

A really lovely little gem - we felt so comfortable and relaxed here (we're a couple in our late 50s). The staff are very friendly and usefully speak English. The room was clean and large with a large queen size bed and extra pillows, quilts etc. The bathroom was also large and well stocked with a good hot shower. The buildings are eclectic and charming, every room seems to have its own little outdoor seating area with table and chairs. The breakfast was a really good spread with plenty of choice and all nice and fresh. We also ate dinner in the restaurant which was a good tasty meal and not expensive. We used the pool and sunbathing area and there's a pool bar where they'll bring you hot and cold drinks. We used the free bikes (which to be honest were a little bit past their best) to cycle down the lanes to the coast. The area immediately around the hotel is not especially interesting and you need to drive/cycle to get into Giarre where there are bars, restaurants and shops; it would be feasible to walk but the road is busy and there isn't a pavement all the way. There's a perfect view of Etna from the hotel of course and it is a great base to explore the area, Taormina, Catania, AciReale, Aci Castello, Alcantara Gorge. Highly recommend.

We’ve just spent 7 nights in Sicily with the Etna Hotel as our base. We hired a car from the airport and glad we did as it allowed us to travel about visiting some beautiful towns. Decent parking area in the hotel. 30 min drive up the coast is Taormina but you’ll have to park a 2 min walk away from the shops. We drove to the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento which was quite far but the Autostrada made it an easier journey. We also drove to Cefalu and it was worth the long drive. If you’re a confident driver (steep, hairpin bends etc) I recommend you drive through the mountains via Ucria as it’s simply stunning. Wouldn’t recommend going into Catania as it will spoil your experience of Sicily altogether. The hotel has excellent Wi-Fi in the room and restaurant. Our room was very clean and had a nice heating unit for colder nights. There was a hairdryer in the bathroom but not very powerful so if you’ve got long hair than bring your own hairdryer etc. The shower was lovely. The toilet sits a little higher than what we’re used to in the UK so if you’re short like me (5”4) than your feet won’t be touching the floor. The hotel has friendly, helpful staff. Their English is better than my Italian. Breakfast at the hotel is great. A variety of options to choose from. The restaurant is also lovely. One of our children is quite a fussy eater and unfortunately the menu was limited for him but the staff were accommodating and made him plain pomodoro pasta. There are a couple of shops within walking distance but plenty of supermarkets a short drive away. Highly recommend trip to Etna and taking the quad bike tour. The kids loved it, the highlight of their holiday plus it was cheaper than taking the cable cars up.

Lovely hotel, cute & clean with lots of character & charm. Friendly & helpful staff. Would not recommend hotel unless you’re hiring a car or willing to walk miles and miles along unsafe busy roads. Not much around other than a pub and cafe 6 minute walk. We took the bus to Taormina two days out of our four day stay. Bus stop is outside the St Mary La Strada cafe on the left hand side of the road (turn right out of hotel) timetables are hit and miss but the hotel with give you times which will give you a rough idea, under €10 return for 2x people so very cheap!! And takes around 50 minutes to get there. The only thing we found was that the hotel staff did not tell us we had to prebook the restaurant, so just a heads up to avoid disappointment, though we really didn’t like the food there, though the breakfast was nice.

We had a wonderful stay at this hotel as it was so peaceful and relaxing. Our room had a fantastic view of Etna and of the pool area. The room was very clean and always felt cool. The food was really good. Breakfast was excellent and the evening meal was always delicious, with a superb selection to choose from. The staff were brilliant and couldn’t do enough for us. We cannot recommend this hotel highly enough.