Grand Hotel Des Etrangers- The Leading Hotels of the World

Beautiful rooms and facilities in particular the rooftop. Very nice spa as well.

Pool closing at 6pm

Everything was superb. The staff were so helpful and accommodating to our needs, the breakfast was delicious, everything was sparkling clean and the location for Ortigia was unbeatable.

The price of wine at the hotel bars. It was €18 for a glass which is pretty extortionate considering the beer was only €7. In the mornings, from our room on the first floor, we could hear staff making lots of noise while they were working and talking very loudly. Luckily, this was only that noticeable closer to the door which is not where our bed was.

Beautiful location, lovely hotel, fantastic breakfast (with helpful attentive staff) and lovely infinity pool.

Despite booking a tour to Taormina and an Etna winery through the hotel months in advance, and being reassured all was booked (including a high chair) - we found out halfway through our day tour that the winery of our choice was not booked and was full so we were diverted to another “better more expensive winery” (which we were paying for!). So rather than going to Gambino (Google 4.9/5) we were redirected to Cantina Murgo 1860 (Google 4.4/5). When checking out, the bill for the day tour appeared to have been reduced which, under the circumstances, would have been totally appropriate but i later found out that my guests, whose room I had booked and paid for, had had 1/2 the cost of the tour applied to their room without any discussion/ consultation! This was frankly very embarrassing!! The reception desk, whilst helpful, were also pretty limited in their suggestions for local restaurants.

A beautiful hotel right in the centre of Ortigia.

There is very little to dislike. I didn’t like the high service charge that is automatically added on to your bill.