We loved this hotel. Just like it looks on the website. Breakfast in the lovely garden, Reception gentleman SO kind. Lovely sun area to lie in, lovely little beach just down a path from the hotel. Cable car into town a short walk away and runs every 15 minutes. Costs 6E each return. The beach, supermarket and some restaurants near the hotel. Taormina is a VERY VERY EXPENSIVE TOWN. Top tip if you are backpacking like we were.... Walk through town as far as you can get, to a public square with a huge fountain. Turn down an alleyway off the left corner of the square to a takeaway - the likes of which you have never seen before. FANTASTIC. Bought 4 pieces of yummy pitza and two bottles of beer for 11E. Then did what everyone else was doing - sat on fountain to eat them and watched the world walk past. Taxi to train station 12E. Takes 5 - 10 minutes. Car park in the hotel. Taormina is my favourite place on earth and I hope heaven is just like that!! cathathowells@yahoo.com

This was an experience that will not be forgotten. From the moment of check in, Maria, the owner/manager was unpleasant. Our room did not have a space for one peice of luggage, and we travelled with four suitcases. We were able to clear a table for one and use a chair for another, the other two could not be opened and had to sit in a corner. The shower, two feet by two feet, was shared by the toilet. It had a folding accordion door that when used, revealed a sheet of mold on the inside. The cup provided at the sink, was a children's plastic cup that looked like the inside was used to pour water out of a fish tank, and it was cracked also. When we checked in we were told that electricity was very expensive and we were not to use lights or air conditioning unless we were in the room and only if it was necessary. When we were out for the day, our room was entered to see if we were obeying all of her rules. When we left for the day the hot water tank was shut off also. The assistant, Dario was pleasant and tried to accomidate but there was only so much that he could get away with before she showed up. The second day we asked him for ice and glasses for our group of six out on the patio so we could make our coctails and relax before dinner and he accomodated us. The next day when we asked again in her presence, she wouldn't allow us to have any ice, and told him to ask what we did with two missing glasses. They were in our room and we were asked to return them ! A cou;le trevelling with us had a twin bed in their room and put a suitcase on it and were told to not do that, it was not permitted !! A neighboring business owner asked where we were staying, when we discussed Villa Caterina he said that she was a "mean person", he had heard about her from other patrons. This property is one to stay away from. I don't believe that this place deserves one star.

Die Erfahrung in diesem Hotel wird uns in unvergesslicher Erinnerung bleiben. Schon bei unserer Ankunft war Maria, die Inhaberin/Geschäftsführerin, unfreundlich. In unserem Zimmer konnte man auch nicht ein einziges Gepäckstück unterbringen, und wir waren mit vier Koffern unterwegs. Den einen mussten wir auf einem Tisch ablegen, den zweiten auf einem Stuhl, aber die anderen beiden Koffer konnten nicht aufgemacht und mussten in einer Ecke abgestellt werden. Der Duschraum, 60 x 60 cm, beinhaltete auch die Toilette. Er hatte eine Falttür, bei der man im aufgefalteten Zustand einer Schimmelschicht gewahr wurde. Der Becher am Waschbecken war ein Kinderbecher, dessen Inneres so aussah, als sei er dafür benutzt worden, Wasser aus einem Aquarium zu schöpfen; außerdem war er gesprungen. Bei unserer Anmeldung teilte man uns mit, dass Strom sehr teuer sei und wir Lampen und die Klimaanlage nur benutzen dürften, wenn wir uns im Zimmer aufhalten würden und dann auch nur, wenn dies nötig sei. Als wir tagsüber unterwegs waren, kam jemand in unser Zimmer, um nachzuprüfen, ob wir die Vorschriften auch befolgten. Auch der Warmwassertank wurde abgestellt, als wir tagsüber nicht da waren. Der Assistent, Dario, war sehr nett und bemühte sich, den Gästen entgegen zu kommen, aber er konnte nur soviel unternehmen, bevor sie wieder auftauchte. Am zweiten Tag baten wir ihn um Eis und Gläser für unsere sechsköpfige Gruppe, damit wir uns draußen auf der Terrasse unsere Cocktails machen und vor dem Abendessen ein wenig entspannen konnten, und er kam unserer Bitte nach. Am nächsten Tag stellten wir in ihrer Anwesenheit dieselbe Bitte, und sie ließ nicht zu, dass wir Eis bekamen, und trug ihm auf, uns zu fragen, was wir mit den zwei fehlenden Gläsern getan hätten. Die waren in unserem Zimmer, und wir wurden aufgefordert, sie zurückzugeben! Ein Ehepaar, das mit uns zusammen unterwegs war, hatte ein Doppelbett in seinem Zimmer und hatte einen Koffer darauf abgestellt. Man forderte sie auf, dies zu unterlassen, es sei nicht erlaubt!! Ein Geschäftsinhaber in der Nachbarschaft fragte uns, in welchem Hotel wir wären, und als wir über die "Villa Caterina" sprachen, sagte er, sie sei eine "knauserige Person", er habe schon von anderen Gästen von ihr gehört. Von diesem Hotel sollte man sich fernhalten. Meiner Meinung nach hat es noch nicht einmal einen Stern verdient.

We stayed at the Hotel Villa Caterina October 8-10, 2004. What a disappointment! We had to run the air conditioner in order to block out the street noise. The air conditioner in our friends' room was broken and the owner's attitude was, "Oh, well, some tourists broke it." She wouldn't try to fix it. Our friends had to leave their window open and were eaten alive by mosquitoes (of course no screens). Even sitting outside during the day was impossible for the same reason. The towels provided were worse than old dish rags. Everything reflected poorly on the owner, who didn't want to be bothered with her guests! The location of the hotel was poor because every time you wanted to go into lovely Taormina, you needed to take the funicular up the hill (or risk life and limb driving up the winding roads). The only decent thing was breakfast. Not worth staying here just for that! Taormina is lovely; stay in the town and not "down below."