Donna Carmela

We had a great stay at the Donna Carmela Resort. It's a beautiful property full with plenty of space and wonderful greenery. We were upgraded to a 2-floor room which allowed for space with our child. The pool is also wonderful and was very quiet while we were there. Breakfast was amazing, there is a huge table of Sicilian sweet treats to choose from, plus a small continental buffet and plenty of a la carte options. The resort is well-located between Catania and Taormina but the area itself around the hotel doesn't have much to offer, one really needs a car to get around.

Me and my family stayed at this place for the last 3 days of our vacation. So I would like to differentiate a couple of things. The service from the reception, in terms of helping out with excursions/restaurants & what to do is fantastic. You can manage everything on WhatsApp with the hotel which is really nice but everything is else is more or less disappointing. I am referring to the amenities which is basic, the restaurant which is supposed to be gourmet acts like a “wanna be” Michelin but far from it and I have been to a lot of Michelin star restaurants in my life. So I do have experience there. The waiters are friendly but not more than that. We arrived to the hotel at 16:00 when check in is 14:00 and they said my room is not ready yet which is really frustrating and disappointing when you come after a long journey and all you want is to shower, change clothes and relax. The pool is ok, not large but with beds with “leather mattress” which is really old school. The room it self and we choose our own cottage with a garden has really bad air condition. We had it at he lowest 18degrees the entire time and still it wasn’t cold enough in today’s heat. The bathroom had rust on the sink etc. I paid more money for this place then Masseria della Volpe which is by far 10x better in from all perspectives, not comparable! Too make a long story short, I will not be returning here if I choose to vacay in Sicily again.