Best Hotels in Taormina: The Town Is Up, the Sea Is Down

Taormina sits on a terrace two hundred metres above the Ionian Sea, with Etna on one side and the water on the other. That position is the whole appeal and the source of every practical question about staying there: the town is up, the beaches are down, and the connection between them is a cable car.

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This guide covers what the different kinds of Taormina accommodation get you, rather than ranking hotels you cannot compare without dates. For the area question first, see where to stay in Taormina, and for the wider island, our Sicily itinerary.

Best hotels in Taormina: the three places to stay

The old town, along and around Corso Umberto, is the pedestrianised centre: shops, restaurants, the Greek theatre at one end and a public garden at the other.

Mazzarò and the bay, at sea level below the town, is where the beaches and the beach hotels are, connected to the centre by a funivia cable car that takes a few minutes.

Giardini Naxos, a longer resort strip further round the bay, has the most accommodation and the lowest prices, with buses up to Taormina.

Which to choose

The old town if you want to walk out into the evening, which is when Taormina is at its best. It is also where parking is hardest and prices highest.

Mazzarò if the sea is the point. You swim from the hotel and ride up for dinner.

Giardini Naxos if the budget matters. It is a ordinary seaside resort rather than a beautiful town, and it is a short bus ride away.

What the money buys

At the lower end, a room in a guesthouse on a side street of the old town, or a modest hotel in Giardini Naxos. Small, clean, no view.

In the middle, a hotel with a terrace and some kind of sea view, a lift, and air conditioning.

At the upper end, a terrace facing Etna, a pool, and a position on the cliff edge — which in Taormina is genuinely spectacular and priced accordingly.

As on the Amalfi Coast, the view carries the premium, not the room.

Four things to check before booking

Steps and slope. The old town is on a hillside and many properties involve a climb from the nearest vehicle access.

Parking. The centre is pedestrianised and parking is in paid garages at the edge. If you are driving Sicily, confirm what your hotel actually offers.

Air conditioning. Essential from June to September.

Seasonal opening. A share of Taormina closes from November to March, including some hotels and the beach clubs.

Getting there

Catania airport is about an hour away by bus or taxi, and it is the practical arrival point for eastern Sicily.

The railway station is at sea level below the town, with a bus or taxi up the hill — which is worth knowing if you arrive by train with luggage.

Buses connect Taormina with Catania, Messina and Giardini Naxos.

What you are here for

The Greek theatre, built into the hillside with Etna framed behind the stage, which is the most dramatically sited ancient theatre in the Mediterranean.

Corso Umberto in the evening, when the day visitors have gone.

Isola Bella, the small island below the town, reached from Mazzarò.

Etna, about an hour and a half away, with guided trips to the craters.

When Taormina is busy

July and August are hot, full and expensive, with the town crowded by day visitors and cruise passengers.

May, June and September are the best months by a clear margin.

April and October are quiet and pleasant, with the sea still cold in April.

November to March sees part of the town close, though the old town itself stays alive because people live there.

How many nights

Two nights covers the town, the theatre and a beach afternoon.

Three adds Etna, which is a full day. Four makes Taormina a base for Syracuse, Catania or the Alcantara gorge.

Staying elsewhere in eastern Sicily

Catania is a working city with baroque architecture, a famous fish market and much lower prices, an hour away.

Syracuse and its island old town of Ortigia are two hours south and arguably the better base for a longer Sicilian trip.

Taormina is the prettiest and the most touristed. A night or two here plus a base elsewhere is a reasonable way to see the region.

Taormina as part of a Sicilian trip

Taormina is beautiful, expensive and small, and it works best as two or three nights inside a longer Sicilian route rather than as a base for the island.

A sensible eastern Sicily trip: two nights in Catania or Syracuse, two in Taormina, and a day on Etna from either. Add Noto and the baroque towns of the south-east if you have a week.

Driving is genuinely useful in Sicily outside Taormina itself, which is where the parking problem begins and ends.

Etna, and how to do it

Europe’s largest active volcano is about an hour and a half from Taormina and is the main day trip.

Organised trips run from the town and take you to the Rifugio Sapienza at around 1,900 metres, from where a cable car and four-wheel-drive buses continue towards the summit craters, subject to activity and weather.

Independently, you can drive up and take the cable car yourself. Either way, take warm clothes: the summit is twenty degrees colder than the coast and the weather changes quickly.

Beaches below the town

Mazzarò is the bay directly below Taormina, reached by the cable car, with pebble beaches and beach clubs.

Isola Bella, the small island joined to the shore by a narrow causeway, is a nature reserve and the most photographed spot on this coast.

Giardini Naxos, round the bay, has the longest stretch of beach and the most sunbeds.

All are pebble rather than sand, and the beach clubs charge by the day in season.

Arriving and leaving

Catania airport is about an hour away and is the practical gateway, with direct buses to Taormina.

The railway station is at sea level below the town, on the Messina to Catania line, with a bus or taxi up the hill. If you are arriving by train with luggage, factor that in.

Ferries from the mainland arrive at Messina, about forty-five minutes north.

What the accommodation is like

Taormina’s stock is older and grander than most Sicilian towns, because it has been a resort since the nineteenth century.

Historic hotels in the old town are converted villas and palazzi with terraces, and they trade on the view.

Small guesthouses on the side streets are the value option and usually involve stairs.

Beach hotels at Mazzaro and Giardini Naxos are more modern, with pools and sea access.

Apartments are widespread and suit longer stays, particularly out of season.

Air conditioning is normal in hotels and less certain in apartments; lifts are common in the newer buildings and rare in converted ones.

Taormina in the off season

From November to March the town is quiet, the beach clubs close and some hotels shut, but the old town stays alive because people live there.

The compensation is real: the Greek theatre without crowds, Etna with snow on it, and prices a fraction of August. Days are mild by northern European standards.

If you come out of season, confirm directly that your accommodation and a few restaurants are open, and expect the cable car and some bus services to run reduced timetables.

Taormina with children

Better than the town’s elegant reputation suggests, mostly because of the cable car.

The funivia down to the bay is a short ride with a beach at the bottom, which solves most afternoons. Isola Bella has shallow water and rock pools. And the Greek theatre is outdoors and short, which is more than can be said for most Sicilian museums.

For a family stay, Mazzaro or Giardini Naxos give pools, space and sea access, and the town is a cable car or a short bus away for the evening.

Four things to check, again

Repeated because they are the whole decision in Taormina.

Steps and slope between the nearest vehicle access and the door.

Parking, if you are driving Sicily, which most visitors are.

Air conditioning, from June to September.

Opening season, since part of the town shuts from November to March.

Where Taormina fits in a Sicilian route

A practical eastern Sicily shape for a week: two nights in Catania for the market and the baroque centre, two in Taormina, a day on Etna from either, and two in Syracuse for Ortigia.

Taormina is the one place on that list where you pay a premium for the setting, and the one most worth staying in overnight rather than visiting.

Palazzo conversions, boutique rooms and the walk down to the sea

Taormina’s accommodation divides by altitude, and the vocabulary follows the geography.

Palazzo conversions in the old town are the characteristic Taormina room: a few floors of a historic building on or just off Corso Umberto, often with a terrace and almost always with stairs. Boutique in Taormina nearly always means this.

The grand hotels sit on the clifftop road with the Etna view, in buildings designed for the purpose in the nineteenth century, when the town became a resort.

Down at Mazzarò and Isola Bella, the sea-level properties have the beach and the water, and a cable car or a long series of hairpins between them and the town.

The walk is the decision. From the old town to the sea is a few minutes by cable car or a steep thirty-minute walk; from the sea back up at the end of an evening it is the cable car or a taxi, and outside summer the cable car stops running earlier than the restaurants do. Everything else about Taormina follows from which end of that you would rather be on.

The short version

Old town for the evening, Mazzaro for the sea, Giardini Naxos for the price, with a cable car joining the first two. Check the steps, the parking and the opening season. Two nights for the town and the theatre, three with Etna, and base the rest of a Sicilian trip in Catania or Syracuse where rooms cost half as much.

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Frequently asked questions

Where is the best place to stay in Taormina?

The old town around Corso Umberto if you want to walk out in the evening, Mazzarò at sea level if swimming matters more, and Giardini Naxos if the budget does. A cable car connects the town and the bay in a few minutes.

Is Taormina expensive?

The old town is, particularly for rooms with a terrace facing Etna. Giardini Naxos round the bay is considerably cheaper, as is Catania an hour away, and both are connected by bus.

How do you get from Taormina to the beach?

By the funivia cable car down to Mazzarò, which takes a few minutes, or by bus. The town itself sits about two hundred metres above the sea, so walking down is a long descent and walking up is worse.

Is Taormina worth staying overnight?

Yes. It is overwhelmed by day visitors and cruise passengers in season, and it becomes a different and far better place in the evening when they leave.

How many nights do you need in Taormina?

Two for the town, the Greek theatre and a beach afternoon. Three if you want Etna, which is a full day. Four turns it into a base for Syracuse, Catania or the Alcantara gorge.

Does Taormina close in winter?

Partly. Some hotels and the beach clubs shut from November to March, but the old town stays alive because people live there year-round. Check directly before booking out of season.