Palace Hotel Costa Del Sole

We spent a week here with family in July, and nearly everything was bad. I thought it would be an active season, but apparently the hotel didn’t see it that way. The beach in the photos looked fine, but there were no sunbeds or umbrellas when we arrived. Once they were installed, hotel guests had to pay for them. The beach and water themselves were okay. The pool is tiny, like a flower vase, and the pool bar shown in the photos wasn’t operating when we were there. The rooms looked okay at first, but the safe didn’t work, the mini fridge barely cooled anything, and the air conditioning worked whenever it felt like it. The bathroom was cramped. The hotel is in a slum, and there were lots of smokers and creeps in the hotel. There were also lots of barking dogs that kept us from sleeping well. The staff were nice, but even when we spoke basic English they didn’t understand us, though they could speak it too. They also seemed ignorant, which was frustrating. The location was very inconvenient, with no connection to other cities. A taxi to Catania airport cost 50 eur. Breakfast was unacceptable. There was almost nothing to eat, just some croissants and random buns that didn’t seem fresh, plus boiled eggs, cheese, and ham. Even then, half the items were gone, sometimes including the eggs, ham, and cheese. You had to ask staff to bring out food. Couldn’t they see it needed replacing? Or make a list for guests to ask for items? The hotel says it has parking, and it does, but random bums park there and leave their cars all day, so we had to park outside. The staff issues, the facilities, the food, and the price all made for a nightmare. I’ve stayed at better three star hotels. Stay away.