Excelsior Palace

"This is a lovely hotel in many ways: faded grandeur, old fashioned charm, amazing grounds. Amazing views. Here are the things wrong though: - the pool is incredible. Huge and lovely and stunning views. But it seems ridiculous that it isn’t heated. This means that it is far too cold to make use of for 6 months of the year. It’s such a waste because it could well be the best pool in Taormina but if you chose this hotel because of the pool out of season, it’s a complete waste of money. Please get it heated! Also, the pool attendants were almost non existent, 2 out of three times nobody was there to provide towels. - ⁠decorating: it could do with an upgrade. My single room had a shower that was very awkward: an attachment fixed to the side wall so it was hard to move around while having a shower. More pillows would be nice. - ⁠breakfast - the woman greeted me at 10am, near the end of breakfast one morning, when it was almost totally empty and was trying to get me to move from my table set for 3, to a table set for 2. I mean what a nice way to greet someone on their own arriving for their first breakfast! Very petty. Also, why keep the net curtains closed in the breakfast room? It’s so lovely to see the view! - ⁠sockets: there was only one socket in my room, miles away from the bed."

"Great place, great location, old world charm with wonderful amenities. The grounds are heavenly, the restaurants and bars are comfortable, the staff is extremely helpful and friendly. Although older, it has kept up its interior and exterior wonderfully"

"We are here now at this fabulous hotel, in a perfect location just off the main shopping street, quiet hotel but literally steps away from the lively shops and restaurants. The hotel was built in the 1920,s the rooms are big and airy with high ceilings, our room looks freshly painted and is immaculate, view is looking over the sea towards mount etna stunning. I forgot my plug adapter whilst here and the hotel helped locate a spare, thank you Costa for going above and beyond. The pool area is the jewel in the crown, absolutely beautiful. A couple of downsides I would say breakfast is pretty basic, it’s fine but not exceptional and the shower isn’t much good husband said a watering can is more powerful 🤣 that being said it’s still 5 stars from us and will come again in the future"