Grand Hotel Faraglioni

“Faraglioni Heaven”

First the good : A very nice hotel. Excellent staff and customer Service. Cannot fault the clean nice rooms. Heavenly View. Great location. Nice communal areas. Modern and luxurious. Breakfast is great. Taxi distance from the airport. Now The Bad (minimal) : One night a private event meant poundi… Más

First the good : A very nice hotel. Excellent staff and customer Service. Cannot fault the clean nice rooms. Heavenly View. Great location. Nice communal areas. Modern and luxurious. Breakfast is great. Taxi distance from the airport. Now The Bad (minimal) : One night a private event meant pounding loud europop invaded our room till 10pm. The external terrace lounge area closed a week before we arrived. With no massive beach to speak of this would have been a godsend. There is a local lido and it is very nice but this costs. Finally the Practical : Worth shelling out for one of the few luxury bigger rooms on the higher floor. Bigger balconies and glorious views (see the faraglioni rocks). Utilise the local buses to visit Catania rather than the costly tours : tickets are €1 from Tabac shops (buy in advance redeem onboard) and the busstop is just down the road from the hotel (and the staff on reception will helpfully provide a timetable when asked) Would we return. Hell yes. We would just go one week earlier to get the sun loungers.

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“Perfect Location. Beautiful View”

A clean, modern, professionally-run hotel. Get a Deluxe Sea View Room if you can. There were none left so had to book a Superior Room Sea View 22sq.m. Has a small step-in balcony for 2 standing only & a large window by the desk (large by European standards). No pool. Great Michelin star restaurant… Más

A clean, modern, professionally-run hotel. Get a Deluxe Sea View Room if you can. There were none left so had to book a Superior Room Sea View 22sq.m. Has a small step-in balcony for 2 standing only & a large window by the desk (large by European standards). No pool. Great Michelin star restaurant next door (Faraglioni) that’s part of the hotel where the included buffet breakfast is also served. Must go out of hotel, turn right & up a couple of stairs. No wheelchair ramp that I could see. Buffet Breakfast there is excellent with hot & cold items, excellent cappuccinos. The other hotel restaurant “Canto Delle Sirene” is on the 2nd floor outdoor covered terrace in the main building (elevator access). We had dinner reservations there @ 8pm on a Friday night but they closed it down due to “high winds”. Well too bad. Went to Sicilia’s Cafe de Mar outdoor seafront terrace which was open. Dined under the stars, moonlight & buskers playing great music instead. Probably for half the price!! Desirée & other hotel reservation staff were great in getting back to us thru WhatsApp about room requests, dinner reservations etc. Got Rm 403 in back round tower behind the hotel’s front round tower. It looked out over the beautiful pool & outdoor terrace tables of the adjacent restaurant below (Sicilia’s Cafe de Mar - best view in Aci Trezza!) if you look outward not downward. Look down & you see the restaurant’s ugly roof as well. From our bed, look to your right & see the Cyclops rocks thru the glass balcony door. View may have been nicer in Rm 405 or 401 but beware that some rooms’ glass balcony door faces the side wall not the sea. Room seemed clean. Needed 2nd luggage stand so the hotel gave us a chair to put 2nd suitcase on. This room has no coffeemaker or kettle (book a Deluxe category for that stuff & larger room). Asked for a kettle but they wanted to charge us €6 for tea bags so bring your own instant coffee/ tea bags/ bottled water (€1.50 for 500ml from Sicilia’s Restaurant next door. Hotel bar fridge charges €3. for same size bottled water) & request the kettle for no charge. Drink bottled water in Sicily. Their municipal water is not filtered to a high standard. We loved strolling on the seafront boardwalk promenade across the narrow street. This hotel also has a beach club across the street. It’s wheelchair accessible to the beach lounge chairs but sea access is by stairs only. There’s a wheelchair ramp from road to hotel entrance & elevator. When booking, check the hotel’s website directly — they have some packages that are a really good deal like the Gourmet Experience (including Michelin restaurant tasting menu/ wine pairing/ 7pm late checkout, etc.). The hotel itself doesn’t have a dedicated parking area but it has a luggage /guest dropoff area & then u can try your luck for free parking on the streets or further down is a designated pay parking area fronting the marina. 30min. to Mt. Etna & Taormina. 30min. from Catania airport. Not as touristy busy as the Aci Castello area (it’s in Aci Trezza a bit further away) Highly recommend this hotel.

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“Buen hotel, pero aclarar todo antes de entrar”

Nos alojamos por 6 días. El conserje nocturno Antonio nos dio excelente atención, también el personal del desayuno, que es de gran nivel y muy completo, servido con vista al mar. El problema son los servicios no incluidos y no aclarados. No hay estacionamiento. Lo ofrecen, pero es a una cuadra y cu… Más

Nos alojamos por 6 días. El conserje nocturno Antonio nos dio excelente atención, también el personal del desayuno, que es de gran nivel y muy completo, servido con vista al mar. El problema son los servicios no incluidos y no aclarados. No hay estacionamiento. Lo ofrecen, pero es a una cuadra y cuesta 15€ al día, lo que se nos dijo recién estando allí. Tampoco hay playa, sólo piedras (scogli) a las que se accede por un lido. El acceso a ese espacio no está incluído. Lo utilizamos sin saberlo y nos cobraron 25€ por persona por día al irnos. No es playa (arena) sino piedras filosas. El mar y la vista son maravillosos. Vista única. El pueblo Aci Trezza vale la pena la visita y hay muchos lugares para recorrer. El hotel tiene pasticceria, bar y restaurant muy buenos y bien servidos.

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