Hotel d'Orange d'Alcantara  

The english speaking receptionist was very helpful with directions and provision of a local street map. Car parking is close by, off road and safe. The hotel exceeded our expectations and our post-arrival swim in the roof top pool was heaven after a stressful drive across the mountains from Cefalu - especially as we had the place to ourselves. The twin room was a good size with comfortable beds, a safe for valuables, a fridge, hairdrier, reasonable internet access (ask for key on arrival), plus a balcony with seating overlooking the road. My only negative comment would be the road noise at night which kept us awake - this is reduced if you roll down the shutters. Breakfast is substantial with cereal, juice, coffee, tea, cheese, ham, salami, bread, croissants, jam, yoghurt ... the hotel restaurant and Pizzeria serve tasty, reasonably priced meals. There is a local shop next to the hotel where you can buy bottled water, juice, chocolate, biscuits etc. (There were no tea or coffee facilities in our room). We chose this hotel on our tour of Sicily for it's location - approx 30 mins from Etna and from Taormina. Although the cable car on the north side of Etna is out of action we drove our compact car to the end of the road at Piano Provenca? parked for free at the ski lift and hiked up the north slope through the beech woods following the cable car lines. We had the mountain trail to ourselves. fantastic views and interesting insect life and lizards. Most visitors stopped at the official car park (where there are a couple of touristy shops with snacks and postcards) just below the now defunct cable car/ ski lift ( due I believe to recent eruption damage) and either walked or took a ride to the crater in one of the big 4 x 4 people carriers. Etna was one of the highlights and the distant view of the mountain framed by the Greek Theatre at Taormina will always stay with me.

I enjoyed the rooftop pool the views were amazing. The food is very good value for money, large portions very filling and tasty. The hotel staff are very helpful and friendly, rooms very clean would definitely recommend this hotel.

If you agree to pre pay for your meals at 14 euros per head for a three course meal and do not have meals that day, you can not have a refund, you must have two meals another day, which is quite frankly too much food. The word refund when used to explain this actually means replacement of meal not a refund in money. As the word refund was used to advise what would happen if we did not have meals meant we were expecting cash back at end of stay, instead we paid for food we did not have. That said I believe it was a genuine mistake on Guiswppes behalf when explaining or lack of communication between both parties. The hotel is family run and I believe honest.

It was a good location if you want to explore this part of the island especially Etna North. However, it is close within 20 minutes driving to Giardini Naxos and Taormina, and one hour drive from Catania. Our room had some excellent views.

The bathroom could have been bigger.

The general architecture was nice and a good ambiance. Quick to respond to needs.

Initial dirtiness of room and generally everything seemed tired and in need of a good clean

the family and staff really nice and helpful people,they provide with all the information we needed to explore the east of the island,especially taormina,giardini naxos,messina and ofcourse the gola d'ancantara. When we wanted to change the room,they promptly done it I recommend this hotel to anyone who likes the country side.

the breakfast always the same things but no eggs,bacon.

Modest hotel for modest price. No problems with parking on the road outside the hotel. Good location for attractions nearby: Etna, Taormina, etc. Rooms are on the smallish side, however they are clean and have a/c, a small fridge and a balcony. Bfast not impressive at all, horrible coffee from a selfmaking machine, we found hard to find something edible to be honest, however since we didnt pay very much for 2 nights there so we didnt mind as we went out and had a great coffee and a pastry in one of the pasticceria.

Friendly staff Clean rooms Good food Free parking

* The usual hotel problem: no mosquito net. * Elevator was extremely slow, could only serve one request at a time. * The chimney on the 4th floor, near the swimming pool needs to be fixed, as there was quite a bit of smoke.

The hotel was clean and comfortable.The staff are really nice & helpful. We wanted to visit Naxos & Taormina so the 25 minute drive is fine except at night since the main road (strade principale) road is practically absent from lights. This hotel is really good value for the money we paid. We strongly recommend you use a car to get around.

The room we had lacked a full size mirror (as recommended by their interior designer we were told) and the TV was small. The dividing walls do not provide enough insulation so we could hear the TV's of the neighbouring guests. Breakfast could be better.

This hotel is located 20 minutes from Taormina, 10 minutes from Gola d'Alcantara and is a good place to see Etna and Etnaland.Swimming pool on the roof is filled with cold water. Staff speaks italian but is very helpfull.

Walls are very thin so it might be loud.

Excellant Customer Service

The friendly staff

That it is in the middle of a build up location witch does not show on the pictures from the website

A very nice hotel in beautiful countryside. The staff were very pleasant and helpful. The hotel restaurant is worth dining in. Excellent meals and good value.

A wonderfull room with a balcony, incl. breakfast and all of this for 30 euros a night! Perfect location for trips to Taormina, Giardini Naxos and the Etna.

They should restyle/redecorate the restaurant. It's an oldfashioned dark and brown location, not very cosy and nice to have your dinner.