Hotel Soleado, Taormina - Sicily hotel booking

Hotel Soleado, Taormina

Set in a peaceful part of Taormina, close to the centre of town, the Hotel Soleado is very affordable accommodation on this lovely stretch of eastern Sicilian coastline. The hotel has fantastic views down to the sea far below, with a panorama of the Bay of Letojanni and the coastline of Calabria across on the Italian mainland. The beach is reached via the cable car in the town itself, with the journey down taking three minutes. But you can sunbathe right here, with the hotel's ample outdoor pool surrounded by deckchairs and beach umbrellas. There is a snack bar and the breakfast room shares the superb views of the Ionian coast.

A holiday in Taormina is part sea, sand and sun but with a large dash of history and culture. This ancient city was (probably) founded by the Ancient Greeks - in the hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, eastern Sicily was an important centre of Magna Graecia, particularly around Syracuse and Messina. The spectacular legacy in Taormina is the Teatro Greco, an amphitheatre which sits on the hillside overlooking the ocean below, and where concerts and plays are put on to this day.

The centre of Taormina, with its spine being the old street of Corso Umberto I, is largely pedestrianised, and you can spend many hours dipping into the shops, cafes and bars, housed within a continuous stretch of palazzi which date from the early medieval to the 19th century. Tumbling down the mountainside, with steep alleyways joining the streets, Taormina is awash in flowers, and there are some lovely little parks where you can rest from the blazing Mediterranean sunshine.

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Double room from €78