Hotel Ariston & Palazzo Santa Caterina

“Comfortable, well located hotel with friendly staff and good food.”

I’ve stayed at the Ariston twice now on a Jet2 holiday – late June 2025 and late April 2026, with slightly different experiences on both due to the rooms and weather/ time of year. I had a really great holiday here and have tried to be objective to ensure that I haven’t over-scored the hotel beca… more

I’ve stayed at the Ariston twice now on a Jet2 holiday – late June 2025 and late April 2026, with slightly different experiences on both due to the rooms and weather/ time of year. I had a really great holiday here and have tried to be objective to ensure that I haven’t over-scored the hotel because of the holiday, although the hotel was a big contributor to this. The location of the Ariston is ideal if you’re looking to explore the area, which we were, but perhaps not as convenient fit you're planning to spend the holiday on the beach. The entrance to the hotel is from the Taormina bus terminus, where you can catch local service buses, the open-topped tour bus and is also the main pick-up location for any tours that go further afield. The Messina Gate/ city centre is about a 7-minute walk away and the cable car that takes you down to the beach and Isola Bella, around 5 minutes. The main train station is 1.1 miles away, which takes around a 30-minute walk, but this is steeply downhill and there will be around a 200m steep height gain on the way back, so a longer walk using the cable car may be a better option. The hotel is built on a hill and the entrance is unusual, with a steep short road from the bus station leading to the entrance (you can call for assistance with bags from here and a small truck will be sent to collect them), with a further steep ramp leading to a long corridor that runs beside the swimming pool with underwater windows. At the end, there is a lift that takes you up two floors to the terrace, which leads to the bar. Up another floor (lift available), takes you to reception, with 4 further floors of rooms above. There are stairs that lead around the pool if you want to avoid the lifts. Check-in was quick with a friendly, helpful receptionist. The room was large with a large sideboard and plenty of wardrobe space, with a safe. A large bathroom had a bath with overhead shower (walk-in shower in the standard room we stayed in last year was much smaller) and plenty of storage space. Plenty nice toiletries from local company Ortigia. Really good lighting and plenty of charging options. There is a small fridge, which was full of mini-bar items, but we emptied this and filled with items from the local supermarket, with no issues. Large, comfortable bed. In June 2026 we had booked a standard room, which had access to a shared terrace, with a very limited view, looking towards a wall below the Greek Theatre. This time we booked a sea view, which had a small private balcony with two chairs and a table. Fantastic views towards Calabria and up toward the straight of Messina. The sea view room was a lot larger in terms of both the bathroom and the room itself, which had a large space in front of the bathroom/ wardrobe, before moving towards the bed area. There was a small TV in the room, but it was never used. There was wifi, which I found to be reasonably fast, but there was also a really strong 5G signal. Breakfast had a large variety of hot (bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns) and cold (full continental with various bread, meat, cheese, vegetable and fruit options). There was also freshly squeezed Sicilian orange juice, which tasted fantastic. In June 2025 dinner had been a la carte outside on the terrace (3 choices for starter, main and dessert), with a gala night on the Wednesday, involving a huge selection of local produce cooked outside and served buffet style, accompanied by live entertainment from local musicians. Sitting on the terrace, enjoying good food and watching the view was really special and there was a really good atmosphere. In April 2026 it was too cold to be sitting out in the evening and dinner was a buffet in the dining room where breakfast was served. This involved a huge selection of anti-pasta or soup to start, 3 mains, 3 pasta dishes and 3 or 4 desserts plus ice cream. The quality and variety of food was really good. The prices for wine and drinks are very reasonable for a hotel, particularly in the Taormina area. There is a small swimming pool with sunbeds around it, which is open from 09:30 – 18:00. The staff were in the main exceptionally helpful and friendly, with a particular mention to Daniel, one of the waiters, who exemplifies good hospitality. Good to see recycling options in place, with a dedicated plastic/ metal bin in the bedrooms and glass, paper/card and food waste recycling bins in the corridors. Was it perfect? No, but the issues that I’ll mention didn’t detract from a 5-star review, in my opinion. There are parts of the hotel where the décor is a little dated and there is evidence of wear and tear, although there were staff constantly cleaning and maintaining it. There were some casual staff that weren’t quite as friendly as the permanent staff – not rude, but by comparison to the friendliness of the permanent staff, this stood out. Due to location and layout of the hotel it can take up to 5 minutes to get down to/up from the entrance. This hotel has already passed my "would I stay again" test, with a second stay this year and we had planned to book again for 2027, however it's no longer on offer through Jet2 and there is no availability on the hotel's own website at present.

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