Le Dune Beach Club

The food is excellent, and the small bungalow-style houses have great beds, showers, and big bathrooms. It’s a wonderful place to stay on a trip to sicily, with the camp right beside the beach and a swimming pool on site. There was also a little Easter surprise, a package of chocolate eggs kept as a secret. There’s another secret too, but I’ll let you discover it yourselves. We had some problems during our stay. The TV signal was poor from day 2, and the room service woman kept taking our soap bars. We opened them on the first day, found them gone on the second, asked reception for more, and those had disappeared by the next day too. Without a car, you’re pretty much stuck at the camp. A bus passes every few hours, less often during Easter, and Messina, the nearest village, is 3 km away. I wouldn’t recommend the swimming pool, but that’s up to you.

The beach is right beside the pool, and the hotel itself is lovely: clean, cosy rooms and stunning views. Meals are decent and tasty, though choices are limited. Breakfast gets repetitive, with the same food every morning and almost no vegetables. The biggest problem is the lack of shade. This area gets a lot of wind, but the beach umbrellas aren't made for it, so the lifeguard keeps closing them for safety. I understand the risk of an umbrella blowing away, but being stuck in the sun all day is a health risk too. There's very little shade by the pool, just a few palm trees that don't offer enough protection. For what a stay costs, I expected a comfortable holiday, not a constant struggle to avoid sunburn. The hotel should consider sturdier umbrellas suited to windy, tropical locations.

We really enjoyed our stay at Le Dune. It has all the essentials for a relaxing group holiday, with children or without: a pool, beach, bar, and animatore.

This place feels more like a campsite with mobile homes than a four-star hotel. The units look worn inside and weren't especially clean. The shower is cramped, its sliding doors stick and have to be lifted to close, and reported faults like the broken toilet flush and door lock were basically ignored at reception. The beach has sunbeds and looks fine, but the shore is stony, so bring swimming shoes. I didn't use the pool because I hadn't expected to need a cap. Pool towels cost 4 euros a day. Food was very basic, with little choice. Breakfast ham and cheese weren't refrigerated, which seems like a food safety hazard, and the biscuits were an odd choice. Lunch was often cold, with no fruit or vegetables, and much of it looked reused from dinner the night before. Dinner options were limited too, and you had to be lucky to find something edible. Dessert was either missing or came very late in small quantities. The all-inclusive bar package had no cocktails and very few soft drinks. Everything came in cheap plastic cups unless you paid extra for a glass. Staff only spoke Italian, which could leave non-Italian guests feeling like second-class visitors. If you want a nice holiday, I'd avoid this place.