Atlantis Bay

What a beautiful spot nestled on the side of the cliff in a private bay right on the sea. The staff right from the beginning went out of their way to make sure we were comfortable. Walter, part on the reception team - always helpful, friendly and there when you needed him. The team down by the sea were outstanding. Huge thanks to Valentina for amazing service and for being so helpful and knowledgeable. A true asset to your team. Also to Lucca - always helpful and to Antonio and young Anthony who could never do enough to make you comfortable. So grateful to all of you and sorry for those of you whose names I did not remember. Do not forget your snorkel the sea is crystal clear with lots of incredible wildlife. The beds are very comfortable and we slept well. The view from the room was incredible. Thank you all for a memorable stay.

The location is 5/5, the staff are 5/5 (special mention to Sonia), the communal areas outside at the beach, the pool and restaurant are 5/5. For the high price, the rooms are however a little tired and could do with an uplift not to mention that the hotel backs onto a train track with trains running hourly from 5am giving the rooms a little shake!

We spent a week at the Atlantis Bay Hotel. The staff was very friendly and the service mostly excellent. Despite the following comments, we enjoyed our stay which is why I am giving this review 4 TripAdvisor points ("Very Good"). There are a few things that need to be said about this hotel. Although the property is located in its own private bay, the direct view to the Mediterranean Sea is blocked by a small peninsula right in front of the hotel. The rocks in the water don't make it easy to enter the sea for swimming. Bathing shoes are recommended. The next bay which among other hotel choices also accommodates the sister hotel to the Atlantis Bay may seem the better choice from that point of view. And, yes, the Atlantis Bay Hotel is built on a hillside and onto a train tunnel and trains regularly run through the tunnel from about between 5 am to 11 pm. It seems to be less or none during the night hours. From our room on the 4th floor the noise was bearable (for us). The hotel corridors could be noisy at times when people arrived/left/returned and this was especially disturbing in the later evening or during night hours. Also, if you need good room darkness to sleep, our room did not offer that. There are small blue and orange lights from the air conditioning control panel that illuminate the room and light from the hotel corridor shimmers through from the bottom of the door into the room. Walls also appeared to be "thin" when you could hear the TV from at least one of the rooms next door. I don't know when the hotel was built or last renovated. There must be an ongoing maintenance program but it is my guess that the last full renovation was probably +20 years ago. Bathrooms are small for this hotel category, and we would have preferred a walk-in shower rather than a narrow bath tub to step into. There was a problem with our ceiling right above the bed. There must have been some leak or other dampness problem in the past which still showed on the ceiling. Dry paint was loose and paint dust and bits trickled down to the floor and onto the bed over the period of our stay. When I pointed this out to reception on our second evening before going out to dinner, they said they would look at it. Surprisingly, when we returned from dinner about 3 hours later, they had freshly painted over and it appeared to fix the problem for the moment and the duration of our stay. Unfortunately, after 2-3 days the paint was dry again and started forming bubbles and come off again. The troubling thing was that one of the bad spots on the ceiling was right above where my pillow was on the bed and the small dusty color bits that became loose overnight fell directly onto where I was sleeping. Not a good experience I must say. When I reported this again, the maintenance man painted over it again a day later. The hotel was kind to offer to move us to another room but since it was on our last night, we decided to stay in the room. Because of this problem, the hotel gave us a small discount/credit on check-out. We had dinner at the hotel on our first and last evening and each time it was delicious. We also enjoyed breakfast and what it had to offer. We were happy with the booked services like airport transfer, taxis, restaurant reservations and the evening shuttle service from the hotel to the town center of Taormina. Overall, we would not rate this a 5 star hotel but a well run 4 star hotel or a "5 star hotel with some flaws". I think there a handful of alternative hotel choices in Taormina but which also come at a higher price. By the way, and separate from the Atlantis Bay Hotel, we fine dined a few times in Taormina and our first choice for fine dining on a next visit would be the Principe Cerami again rather than La Capinera or Timeo's main hotel restaurant (we did not try Otto Geleng).