16 Best Hotels in Sicily: Every Budget, One Catch Each

Our top picks at a glance

• Best overall: Grand Hotel Timeo – Taormina, next to the Greek Theatre
• Best splurge: Rocco Forte Villa Igiea – Palermo seafront
• Best for a first visit: Palazzo Villelmi – Cefalù, under 30 meters from the Duomo
• Best for couples: Algilà Ortigia Charme Hotel – Ortigia, Syracuse
• Best beach resort: Mazzarò Sea Palace – Taormina's Mazzarò Bay
• Best for families and golf: Verdura Resort – southwest coast near Ribera
• Best countryside stay: Masseria Degli Ulivi – near Noto
• Best base for Etna and Catania: Palazzo Sangiorgio – Catania historic center
• Best budget hotel: Hotel Gutkowski – Ortigia waterfront
• Best hostel: A Casa di Amici – Palermo, near the Politeama

How we chose the best hotels in Sicily

Every hotel here scores at least 8.8 on Booking.com. Most have more than 300 reviews. The exceptions are four five-star hotels (Grand Hotel Timeo, Villa Igiea, Mazzarò Sea Palace and Verdura Resort), which have 160 to 237 reviews each, and we kept them because they are the island's best-known addresses and score 9.1 or higher. We checked scores, review counts and street addresses on 4 November 2026.

The list runs in our order of preference, top pick first, with a mix of luxury, mid-range and budget hotels across ten bases. We did not read live nightly rates, so prices are shown as tiers: € is a budget bed, €€ is mid-range, €€€ is upscale and €€€€ is luxury. Those tiers are our judgment, not checked rates. We found no opening dates on the hotel sites we could read, so confirm the dates for your trip before you book.

The 16 best hotels in Sicily

1. Grand Hotel Timeo – Taormina

A Belmond hotel that began in 1850 as a guesthouse for painters and now stands next door to Taormina's Greek Theatre, with a 9.7 that is the highest score of any Sicily hotel on this list.

€€€€ · 5 stars · 9.7 on Booking (168 reviews) · Teatro Greco 59

Best for: a splurge where the view is the point. Skip it if: you want to swim in the sea from your hotel: the beach needs a shuttle.

The hotel lists 67 rooms and suites, 21 of them in Villa Timeo, plus a heated outdoor pool, a second infinity pool at Villa Timeo and a Dior spa.

Otto Geleng is the restaurant, and the hotel says it holds a Michelin star for 2026.

A free shuttle runs to the beach club at Villa Sant'Andrea.

Taormina has its own hotel page on our site, where we cover the town's other famous five-star, San Domenico Palace. The Taormina travel guide covers the town itself, and the Teatro Antico di Taormina is a minute away.

Tip: ask which rooms face the Greek Theatre and the sea, and whether you are booking the main hotel or Villa Timeo.

Check rates at Grand Hotel Timeo

2. Rocco Forte Villa Igiea – Palermo seafront

The Florio family bought this seafront villa in 1899 and had Ernesto Basile design the building that stands today, which makes it the most storied hotel in Palermo and one of the grandest in Sicily.

€€€€ · 5 stars · 9.3 on Booking (237 reviews) · Salita Belmonte 43

Best for: a Palermo splurge with a history. Skip it if: you want to walk to the markets: the hotel describes itself as sitting at the perimeter of the city.

It has 72 rooms and 28 suites, an outdoor pool open 9:00 to 19:00, a spa with four treatment rooms and three places to eat: Florio, the Terrazza bar and Alicetta. Family suites sleep up to five adults and one child.

For the city itself, see our Palermo travel guide and the list of things to do in Palermo. If you would rather sleep in the center, Casa Nostra below is the better base.

Tip: plan your sightseeing around a taxi or the bus, because the historic center is not on the doorstep.

Check rates at Villa Igiea

3. Palazzo Villelmi – Cefalù

A 15th-century residence in Cefalù's old town that scores 9.6 from 477 reviews, the second-highest score on this list and one of the best-reviewed hotels in Sicily.

€€€ · 4 stars · 9.6 on Booking (477 reviews) · Cefalù old town

Best for: a first Sicilian beach town without a car. Skip it if: you want a pool or a spa, because the hotel lists neither.

The hotel's own site puts it under 30 meters from the Duomo and a few minutes' walk from the beach, and breakfast is served on a terrace. It has five room types and keeps things small.

Cefalù is a day trip from Palermo for many visitors, but sleeping here means the town is yours after the day-trippers leave. Our Cefalù travel guide has the town, and best beaches in Sicily lists where to swim.

Tip: book a room facing the old town rather than the street if you are a light sleeper; ask the hotel which rooms those are.

Check rates at Palazzo Villelmi

4. Palazzo Sangiorgio – Catania historic center

A five-star palace hotel with just 25 accommodations, in the part of Catania rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake and a short walk from Piazza del Duomo.

€€€€ · 5 stars · 9.4 on Booking (780 reviews) · 1 Piazza Cardinale Pappalardo

Best for: Catania and Etna on a boutique scale. Skip it if: you want a swimming pool: there is a rooftop jacuzzi minipool, not a full pool.

It has the Magma Harmony spa, the Basalto restaurant and a rooftop bar with a small jacuzzi pool. It suits a night either side of a flight into Catania.

Use it as a base for Etna too: our guide to Mount Etna covers the volcano, and Catania airport covers the arrival. The Catania travel guide has the city.

Tip: book a night here either side of a flight, then collect a rental car on the way out.

Check rates at Palazzo Sangiorgio

5. Algilà Ortigia Charme Hotel – Ortigia, Syracuse

A 60-room hotel in the middle of Ortigia, the small island that holds old Syracuse, with the sea a few steps away according to the hotel.

€€€ · 4 stars (the hotel says 4-star superior) · 9.2 on Booking (531 reviews) · Via Vittorio Veneto 93

Best for: couples who want to walk the island at night. Skip it if: you plan to arrive by car: Ortigia is a limited-traffic zone, so ask about parking before you book.

The hotel's own site was only partly readable when we checked, so we can confirm the room count, the category and the Booking score, but not the facilities. Check the pool, spa and parking details before you book.

Our Syracuse and Ortigia travel guide covers what to see.

Tip: ask whether the hotel can register your car plate for the limited-traffic zone, or leave the car outside Ortigia.

Check rates at Algilà Ortigia

6. Verdura Resort – Southwest coast, near Ribera

Rocco Forte's beach and golf resort has about 2 km of private coastline, a 60-meter outdoor pool, a 20-meter indoor pool and a 4,000-square-meter spa, according to its 2021 factsheet. It also has three golf courses, eight restaurants and bars and a kids' club called Verdùland.

€€€€ · 5 stars · 9.1 on Booking (160 reviews) · SS 115 Km 131, Ribera

Best for: families and golfers who want one big resort. Skip it if: you do not have a car or a transfer: the hotel's factsheet puts it 80 minutes from Palermo or Trapani airport and 3 hours from Catania.

The factsheet lists 156 rooms, 29 suites, 6 pool suites and 20 private villas, but the current hotel page gives no totals, so treat those as 2021 figures. Searches for the resort by name run about 1,300 a month in the US, so it is a destination in its own right.

This is the one hotel on the list you stay at for the hotel, not for a town. Pair it with Valley of the Temples and the rest of the southwest coast.

Tip: pre-book an airport transfer, because the nearest airports are far away. Welcome Pickups is the one we link.

Check rates at Verdura Resort

7. Masseria Degli Ulivi – Noto countryside

A farm estate in the olive and carob country between Noto and Palazzolo Acreide, with a pool among the trees and a spa with three hydromassage biopools.

€€€ · 4 stars · 9.2 on Booking (439 reviews) · Contrada Porcari, SS287

Best for: a quiet base in the baroque southeast with a pool. Skip it if: you want to walk into a town for dinner: it sits on the SS287 road between Noto and Palazzolo Acreide.

The restaurant cooks with produce from the garden, and the hotel offers candlelit dinners. This is the agriturismo-style stay that the editorial lists we read mostly skip.

The estate's own site does not say how far it is from Noto or the beach, so plan on a car. For more on the southeast see the Sicily itinerary.

Tip: ask the hotel whether the garden restaurant is open on the nights you stay.

Check rates at Masseria Degli Ulivi

8. Villa Athena Resort – Valley of the Temples, Agrigento

An 18th-century noble residence inside the Valley of the Temples park, with a pool, a spa built into an ancient Greek cistern and three restaurants. The hotel's Italian site puts it about 200 meters from the Temple of Concordia.

€€€€ · 5 stars · 9.2 on Booking (1,411 reviews) · Via Passeggiata Archeologica 33

Best for: sleeping inside the Valley of the Temples. Skip it if: you want a lively town at your door: Agrigento's center is a few minutes away.

It scores 9.2 from more than 1,400 reviews, which is the biggest crowd of happy guests among the luxury hotels here. See Valley of the Temples for the site itself.

Tip: ask the hotel which rooms face the temples.

Check rates at Villa Athena

9. Mazzarò Sea Palace – Mazzarò Bay, Taormina

Taormina's beach hotel, on Mazzarò Bay below the town, with a private beach, a pool and the Hyd'Or spa. It has 61 rooms and 9 suites, according to the listing from Leading Hotels of the World, which also lists on-site parking and babysitting.

€€€€ · 5 stars · 9.4 on Booking (236 reviews) · Via Nazionale 147

Best for: families and beach lovers who want Taormina's coast. Skip it if: you want to be in the old town: the bay is at sea level and you ride the cable car or a taxi up.

The hotel is now branded Mazzarò Sea Palace, so older articles call it the Grand Hotel Mazzarò Sea Palace. The hotel describes itself as a short distance from the cable car to the town above.

Between this and Grand Hotel Timeo you get both sides of Taormina, the beach and the view. More options sit on our Taormina hotels page.

Tip: ride the cable car up in the evening and come back by taxi, rather than walking.

Check rates at Mazzarò Sea Palace

10. Casa Nostra Boutique Hotel & Spa – Capo, Palermo

A boutique hotel in the Capo quarter, near the market and the Teatro Massimo, that scores 9.3 from more than 1,200 reviews.

€€€ · 9.3 on Booking (1,216 reviews) · 134 Via Sant'Agostino

Best for: a well-reviewed Palermo base near the Capo market. Skip it if: you booked for the spa: the name says spa but we could not confirm what it offers.

Its own website did not give stars, room counts or facilities when we read it, so we can vouch only for the address and the score. Check the spa and pool before you book.

If your plan is food, markets and baroque churches, this is the base. Our where to stay in Palermo page compares the neighborhoods.

Tip: ask for a quiet room, because the Capo market starts early.

Check rates at Casa Nostra

11. Itria Palace – Ragusa

A 4-star hotel in Ragusa that scores 9.0 from 1,670 reviews, the biggest review count among the mid-range hotels on this list.

€€ · 4 stars · 9.0 on Booking (1,670 reviews) · Corso Don Minzoni 6

Best for: Ragusa and the Val di Noto on a mid-range budget. Skip it if: you need facilities detail: we could only confirm the address, category and score.

We could not read an official site for it, so we are not describing rooms or facilities. We include it for the score, the review count and the Ragusa location.

Tip: ask the hotel about parking before you book.

Check rates at Itria Palace

12. Hotel Kalura – Cefalù

A 4-star hotel in Cefalù with a pool, the Almaris sea restaurant, terrace breakfast and a private cove reached by a path cut into the rock.

€€ · 4 stars · 8.8 on Booking (1,549 reviews) · Via V. Cavallaro 13

Best for: a Cefalù beach stay with a pool. Skip it if: you have trouble with steps: the private cove is reached down a path cut into the rock.

It has seven room types and scores 8.8 from more than 1,500 reviews. Pair it with Palazzo Villelmi above if you are deciding between the old town and the shore.

Tip: ask for a sea-view room, since the hotel's sea restaurant and cove are the reason to stay here.

Check rates at Hotel Kalura

13. Baglio Buccellato – Scopello

A 4-star baglio (a fortified farm complex) near Scopello, on the west coast, scoring 9.0 from 337 reviews. It is our west-coast pick.

€€ · 4 stars · 9.0 on Booking (337 reviews) · C/da Piano Vignazzi

Best for: the west coast near Scopello and the Zingaro reserve. Skip it if: you want facilities detail: we could confirm only the address, category and score.

We could not read an official site, so we are not describing the rooms. See Sicily travel guide for how the west fits into a longer trip.

Tip: plan on a car: the address is a countryside road, Contrada Piano Vignazzi.

Check rates at Baglio Buccellato

14. Hotel Gutkowski – Ortigia, Syracuse

A 26-room Sicily budget hotel in two late-19th-century buildings on the Ortigia seafront, restored in 1999, with breakfast included every morning on a roof terrace (served 7:30 to 10:15) and a lift. There is no pool.

€€ · 3 stars · 8.8 on Booking (401 reviews) · Lungomare Vittorini 18

Best for: the cheapest good bed on Ortigia's waterfront. Skip it if: you are sensitive to heat: air conditioning is centralized and runs on set schedules, the hotel says.

The Duomo is a few minutes' walk. It is the best-value answer to Algilà above.

Tip: book early in summer and ask about the air conditioning schedule.

Check rates at Hotel Gutkowski

15. Simonetta's Rooms – Noto

A small guesthouse on Via Nunzio Nasi in Noto's baroque center that scores 9.0 from 550 reviews.

€ · 9.0 on Booking (550 reviews) · 26 Via Nunzio Nasi

Best for: a cheap, central room in Noto. Skip it if: you have a lot of luggage: the rooms are on the second floor, so ask about a lift.

We found no official website for it, so we are not describing the rooms. We include it because a 9.0 from 550 reviews is hard to find at this price in Noto.

Tip: ask the host about parking before you arrive.

Check rates at Simonetta's Rooms

16. A Casa di Amici – Via Dante, Palermo

A boutique hostel and guesthouse a few steps from the Politeama theater, with private en-suite rooms and dorms. The hotel's site lists seven private rooms and four dorms, one of them women-only, though a meta tag says eight private rooms.

€ · 8.9 on Booking (1,480 reviews) · Via Dante 57

Best for: the cheapest bed in Palermo, with a private room option. Skip it if: you want hotel service: it is a hostel and guesthouse.

Reception runs 8:00 to 22:00 and later arrivals use self check-in, according to Hostelworld. It has air conditioning and Wi-Fi, and only a cappuccino and a croissant are included, and only on direct bookings.

Tip: if you land late, tell them in advance so you get the self check-in details.

Check rates at A Casa di Amici

Which area of Sicily should you stay in?

Our where to stay in Sicily page covers the bases in full. In short: Taormina for views and beach hotels, Palermo for food and the city, Catania for flights and Etna, Ortigia for walking at night, Noto and Ragusa for the baroque southeast, Cefalù for an easy beach town and Agrigento for the temples. If you have been searching for Sicily holidays, expect to pick two bases and a rental car rather than one hotel.

Should you split your Sicily trip between two hotels?

Yes, if you have more than four nights. Most people who search for Sicily hotels end up pairing an east-coast base with a west-coast one. Pair Taormina or Catania with Palermo, Cefalù or Agrigento. Pair Ortigia with Noto. Keep it to two. Every extra move costs you a morning. For routes and timings see Catania to Palermo and the Sicily itinerary, and read Sicily tours if you would rather have someone else drive.

What do Sicily hotels cost, and when should you book?

We did not read live rates, so we cannot give you a nightly price. The tiers above are our judgment of each hotel's category: the five-star resorts are the €€€€ end and the hostel is the € end. Prices move by season and by date, so check the dates you need on the Booking page.

Palermo's tourist tax, per person per night from July 2025 per the Comune: €5 for 5-star hotels, €4.50 for 4-star, €4 for 3-star and €4 for rentals, capped at four consecutive nights. We could not confirm current amounts for Taormina, Syracuse, Catania, Cefalù, Noto or Agrigento, so ask your hotel.

How do you get to these hotels in Sicily?

Catania airport has the Alibus to the center, which costs €4 per the city transit authority AMTS. Interbus runs direct buses from Catania airport to Taormina about every 30 minutes. In Palermo, the Prestia e Comandè airport bus runs every 30 minutes all year and stops at Stazione Centrale, Via Roma and the Politeama. Taormina's train station is at Giardini Naxos on the coast, about 1.3 km from the town's bus terminal in a straight line, and the town is 204 meters up, so plan on a local bus or taxi for the last stretch.

A car makes sense for Verdura Resort, Masseria Degli Ulivi, Baglio Buccellato and any trip that mixes the coast and the interior. DiscoverCars is the one we link. Our how to get to Sicily page covers flights and ferries, and Catania to Palermo covers the road and rail link between the two big airports.

Our final pick

If you want one hotel, book Grand Hotel Timeo in Taormina. If you are watching the budget, Hotel Gutkowski in Ortigia is the one to book. Whichever you choose, pair it with our Sicily travel guide and the list of things to do in Sicily.

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