Grand Hotel Miramare - Taormina

Avoid at all costs! This is not a 4 star hotel and by no means is it Grand. I arrived here to be met by arrogant, unmotivated, reception staff sitting almost hidden behind a raised counter behind reception desk. No porter to help with luggage so we had to haul it up ourselves. The foyer has been upgraded but beyond that the entire hotel is dated and old. The room allocated was vile, dated, grotty, no sockets but overloaded ones with several plugs all in one. We had to unplug lamps to plug our phones in. Horrible smell. Worst of all there was black mould in the bathroom. A build up particularly around the bath which was just covered with silicone. Hairs in areas! It turned my stomach. We requested an immediate room change and it was getting late and I was with my son. We were taken to an equally grotty room, top floor same problems just bigger with balcony with no outside light and extremely high up. An excess supplement was going to be charged to us of €500 for this awful room. The only good part was the view. We had to go into Taormina having travelled all day to get food. Breakfast next morning was utterly horrible with small boxes of cereal suitable only for a campsite and tinned fruit. Greasy cold bacon, sloppy eggs, watered down juices and poor coffee. There was hardly anything there in fact and no freshly cooked options we would expect in a 4 star accommodation. The staff were abrasive and rude and totally unhelpful. We saw maybe 4 other people there sitting at tables with dirty cloths which had been left out overnight we found out. Next we discovered there was NO pool as advertised. Construction workers with diggers were at the pool area which was out of bounds. We have photos. The hotel has no restaurant, no tennis courts, no bar so we had no services basically and we had paid high costs in advance for our stay. Manager was dismissive and rude when confronted re the lack of any services. He only laughed into my face! Furthermore we discovered more construction work beside our upgraded room. Drilling occurring and workmen passing our room. We were absolutely appalled. Corridors showed mould and evidence of damage probably from leaks. We contacted our travel operator to get us out as a matter of urgency. Do not go here it is a place that needs to be closed and undergo a complete upgrade/refurbishment. After couple nights of suffering we managed to exit to our relief from this place. They are luring people into it through completely false advertising in their website! It is scandalous. Avoid avoid avoid. Dreadful place.

This hotel is definitely not grand as it states in its name. The entrance into the hotel has been redesigned and modern ,but the rooms definitely need an upgrade. The staff were unfriendly and unhelpful, but the cleaner was lovely.I had booked a room with a balcony only to find that the is was a Juliette balcony that I could not sit out on. When I asked for a room that I had booked they said it would be €250 extra.The pool was out of order and when I asked if there was another hotel’s pool I was told to use the sea. To get to the sea you have to use the cable car which cost €10 per day, get on the bus or walk down the steps which takes 50minutes. I’ve stayed in 4 star hotels lots of times but this is definitely not a 4star establishment.

Had a quiet and relaxing stay here. The rooms are large, with comfortable beds and an ample sized balcony to sit on for morning coffee. Fantastic views of Isola Bella and the coastline towards Forza D’Agro. A short walk to the bus terminal for taking excursions. A couple of good restaurants nearby if you don’t want to walk into town. The town is about 15 minutes of slow walking away, and is full of restaurants, shops and historical buildings and churches. Easy walk to the huge greek theatre. The only need for the nearby cable car is if you want to go down to the beaches, otherwise this is not needed to get up into the town. We had a very warm welcome by Salvatori, who has looked after us with passion and warmth. The breakfasts are good (a lot to choose from) with a choice of sitting in the dining room or outside. Rooms have aircon if needed, but you can sometimes hear your neighbours if they have loud voices.