Città del Mare Holidays from £796

This was a fantastic place to stay in Sicily: Not only did it have a pool that we used constantly during the heat wave, but it's also a few minutes' walk from the beach, has AC, and has beautiful views of the island. Palermo is an easy bus ride away, and there are fantastic restaurants nearby. I would particularly like to call out the hotel staff for being immensely helpful. They answered all my questions, were quick to accommodate, and helped to make our stay extra enjoyable. Be warned the rooms are small, like some of the other reviews say, so if this bothers you, just upgrade to a bigger one when you book. I would absolutely stay here again.

The staff was amazing and very helpful. They moved our room after our first night because the people in the room above us were so loud we could hear everything. The rooms are nice but have some drawbacks: in order to have your windows open to get fresh air at night, the room is flooded with all the uplighting surrounding the hotel. The windows have wooden shutters inside which means in order to block out the light, you must close the windows and then close the wooden shutters. Either turn off the floodlights at night or provide some curtains. The walls are also very thin and you can hear everything in the room next to you. We couldn’t get any of the TV apps to work so only had access to Italian TV. Did a fun (but very long) cooking class. The pool area is interesting but not inviting. It’s in a corner in the main area of the courtyard and faces 2 walls so there is no view. Also not very private. There is no lobby bar or any soft seating to relax anywhere. There is also not a set restaurant at the hotel - you have to do a cooking class or a private chef cooking for you (which would be nice but it’s in the cooking class/breakfast room so you have to experience it while a class is going on beside you). It’s a very pretty hotel but not really designed for the best experience for guests.