Avalon Sikani

Do not stay here—this place is an unmaintained dump! It masquerades as a 4-star hotel because of a posh lobby, but it’s an absolute con. There is zero parking, the staff speaks minimal English, and they hit you with a hidden tourist tax at check-in. The journey to the room involves two foul-smelling elevators and a sketchy, unsafe bridge on the 4th floor. Once inside, expect no air conditioning and no Wi-Fi unless you sit in the lobby or by the pool. The breakfast is a disaster: no toast, no fresh fruit, cold and disgusting scrambled eggs, and shriveled, greasy bacon glued to the tray. This establishment needs to be closed down. Stay away!

BAD! My husband and I booked a double room with breakfast through lastminute.com. What lastminute.com failed to tell us was that we had to pay €200 in order to stay at the resort and access various facilities and benefits. I asked the staff, “What facilities does this include?” and they replied, “Well, for example, access to the pool.” If you are staying at a RESORT, you would expect access to the pool to be included in the price. Their website states that they have a gym with treadmills and free weights. In reality, it was a very small room with only treadmills. They also could have been much clearer about this additional fee. In the end, we used the pool ONCE! For such a large resort, they could at least have more sun loungers. The breakfast was OKAY! LOCATION: The location was far TOO FAR AWAY from everything! In the town itself, there were maybe 2–3 restaurants and one bar. YOU NEED A RENTAL CAR! If you want to get down to the beach, you need a car. Their supermarket, called CONAD, is also quite far away, so my advice is to buy water and drinks and keep them in your room. The refrigerator is far too small to even fit two bottles of water. If you want to explore Sicily, I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE. It is simply too far from Catania, Etna, Taormina and Palermo. STAFF: Extremely rude. IT COSTS NOTHING TO HAVE A SMILE ON YOUR FACE AND SHOW A LITTLE UNDERSTANDING! Honestly, it was awful! The locals in Sicily were a hundred times friendlier than the people working at the resort. CLEANING: TERRIBLE! BAD! They don't properly mop the floors, and if they do, it seems like they just push the dirt back and forth around the room. If you want clean bed sheets, take the sheets off the bed and put them on the floor. That seems to be the only way to actually get them changed.

I had read the reviews and wasn't sure what to expect but the Hotel looked it had plenty going for it and plenty of facilities. Hire a car if you want freedom to enjoy sightseeing but there is a train station with routes to Toarmina ( this had a shuttle bus outside to take you to the centre, €2.00 return), Messina and Catania as well as Cefalu and Palermo ( Trainline app worked perfectly, to order tickets and tells you platforms etc as in UK) . The staff were very helpful, with the shuttle bus from the hotel operating every 20/30 minutes or so, which not only took me to the hotel beach (which has amazing views too) but when asked took me to town centre and station. I had let the hotel know I was coeliac and would need gluten free items for B+B board. When asking head of the dining room he came and delivered to me a great selection of 'senza glutine' cakes, biscuits, bread and a muesli mix. Fruits, yogurts, meats, cheeses pastries cereals breads bacon eggs (scrambled and boiled). Tried the restaurant on one occasion and this too had a great variety. I'm not sure of previous reviews as I found no issues except that it is on a hill but with the shuttle bus running regularly this too was not an issue. The pool view is amazing, room was newly fitted with modern storage and a great fridge with Aircon and a great balcony to watch the fabulous sunsets. Room was kept very clean and daily, and cleaning staff friendly with daily fresh towels. There is also a mini supermarket not too far away too. Overall, hotel offers great value for the money.