Best Hotels with Pools in Taormina, Sicily for Families
5 family-friendly hotels with swimming pool in Taormina . Handpicked for families who want the best.
Taormina sits on a cliff 200 metres above the sea, and that detail changes everything for a family stay. The beach at Mazzarò is down there — you take a cable car that runs roughly every 15 minutes, costs 3 EUR one way per adult, and in July the queue at 11am is 25 minutes. Which means your real swimming happens at the hotel pool. This page covers five Taormina hotels whose pools actually earn their keep: big enough to swim, open late enough to matter, and with the kind of view you don't get at beach-level resorts. Prices run 235 EUR/night to 826 EUR/night. This page is part of our Sicily pool hotels guide — if you want the full island overview, start there.
Taormina is a pedestrian town once you're up on the ridge — Corso Umberto runs 900m end to end, lined with gelato, ceramics, and a Greek theatre at the eastern end where they stage summer concerts. Kids do well here: it's walkable, no cars, and the views are constant. The awkward bit is the beach. Mazzarò and Isola Bella are gorgeous but require the cable car down and back. Easier to treat the beach as a half-day excursion and the hotel pool as the daily routine. Getting here: Catania airport is 50 minutes south, there's a direct train to Taormina-Giardini station, then a local bus up (or a 15-minute taxi). Rent a car if you want to explore Etna and the Alcantara gorges.
🏊Why Taormina's hotel pools are the point, not a bonus
The pools in Taormina are compact by Sicilian resort standards. UNA Capotaormina has the largest at 25m on a cliff edge, with a separate smaller pool for children. Villa Fiorita's infinity pool is 12m and angled for the view, not for laps. Villa Belvedere has a 20m pool set in mature gardens, open 9am-6pm. Hotel Sirius has a 15m rooftop pool with Etna behind it. Hotel Mediterranée's pool is 18m, ground-level, surrounded by sunbeds and a snack bar that does actual lunch.
Two practical quirks to know. First, several hotel pools in Taormina stop accepting swimmers by 6pm or 7pm even in August — the staff want the deck cleared for dinner service. If your kids are late-afternoon swimmers like ours, check specifically. Second, the cable car to Mazzarò stops at 8:45pm in summer (last ride up at 8:30pm). Planning a beach day means watching the clock, and the hotel pool becomes plan B when you cut it too fine.
Price-wise, Taormina is the most expensive pool zone in Sicily. The 235 EUR/night at Hotel Mediterranée is the floor; most 4-stars with pool and sea view are 400-700 EUR in peak season. Boutique and 5-star hotels push well past 1,000 EUR. The trade-off is real: you're paying for the view and the walk into town, not for pool size. A family on a tighter budget can get more pool for less money in Cefalù or Campofelice di Roccella — see our Cefalù pool hotels page.
Parent's take
We spent four nights in Taormina in August 2023 with a 6-year-old and a 9-year-old. By day two we'd given up on the beach-every-day idea — the cable car queue in the morning ate the energy, and by the time we got down there the sand was already loud. So we rewrote the week: Mazzarò beach on days 1 and 4, hotel pool on the other days. The pool became the whole afternoon. We were at UNA Capotaormina, so the pool is cliff-edge and the kids would climb out of the water and lean on the railing staring at the sea. It was completely different from the boxed-in hotel pools we'd had in Greek resorts. The view matters here in a way it doesn't in most beach destinations.
Our Top 5 Picks
Hotels in Taormina with swimming pool, sorted by guest rating.
Villa Fiorita Boutique Hotel
Via Pirandello
Wonderful
492 reviews
A 13-room 1920s villa on Via Pirandello with a 12-metre infinity pool angled over the Ionian sea. The pool runs 10am to 6:30pm and is the central feature of the stay. Family suites have a fold-out sofa and traditional Sicilian ceramic floors.
From
€728/night
Why families love Villa Fiorita Boutique Hotel
We booked Villa Fiorita because the pool is spectacular in photos and in person it's better — you float 200m above the sea. Downside: pool only opens at 10am, and there's no kids area (1.5m throughout). Our 7-year-old was fine; a toddler would be held the whole time. Staff set up a floatie zone and brought plastic cups for pool-side snacks.
Hotel Villa Belvedere
Via Bagnoli Croci
Wonderful
267 reviews
A 50-room historic hotel on Via Bagnoli Croci, run by the same Sicilian family since 1902. The 20m outdoor pool sits in a mature garden with sunbeds under olive trees. Pool hours 9am-6pm. The lunch snack bar does kid-friendly pasta all afternoon, which matters when a 3pm pool break turns into hunger.
From
€826/night
Why families love Hotel Villa Belvedere
Villa Belvedere was the answer to wanting a pool in the centre of Taormina without the boutique-hotel price climb. 20m is long enough for kids to actually swim, and the garden feels like a proper park — we saw the same family of red squirrels every morning. Two things to flag: the pool is deep (1.6m throughout) and the kid buffet at lunch is good but overpriced at 28 EUR per child. Bring snacks.
UNA Hotels Capotaormina
Capo Taormina
Excellent
2,230 reviews
A 1970s resort built into the cliff on the Capo Taormina headland, with a 25m main pool, a separate kids pool, and a private beach reached by a lift that runs 7am-9pm through the rock. Three restaurants, a shuttle into Taormina centre every 30 minutes, and free parking.
From
€469/night
Why families love UNA Hotels Capotaormina
We stayed here four nights with two kids (6 and 9) and it became the easiest Sicilian hotel of the trip. The cliff lift to the beach is a kid-magnet — ours went up and down four times before we even swam. The 25m pool is rarely crowded because guests split between pool, beach, and spa. Downside: the building is 1970s concrete and the rooms feel tired. You're paying for the setup, not the decor.
Hotel Sirius
Via Guardiola Vecchia
Excellent
1,056 reviews
A 40-room hotel on Via Guardiola Vecchia, three minutes from Corso Umberto. The 15m pool sits on an elevated terrace with Mount Etna in the background on clear days, open from 9am until sunset — roughly 8pm in July. Family rooms have a balcony with garden or sea view.
From
€408/night
Why families love Hotel Sirius
Sirius was our pick for the late-pool thing. Staying open until sunset meant the kids could swim after the afternoon Greek theatre visit, which no other hotel in our shortlist offered. The pool is small-ish at 15m but it's never busy, and the Etna view from the water at 7pm in August is something we still talk about. Rooms are basic 4-star — nothing designer, nothing wrong.
Hotel Mediterranée
Via Circonvallazione
Very Good
748 reviews
A 60-room 4-star on Via Circonvallazione, the ring road behind Taormina centre. Set back from the cliff view but with an 18m outdoor pool that opens 8am and stays open until 7pm — the longest pool hours on this page. Family rooms are connecting doubles, and breakfast is the kid-friendly buffet type with cereal and pancakes.
From
€235/night
Why families love Hotel Mediterranée
The Mediterranée is where you stay if you want Taormina without the price jump. The pool is 18m — you can actually swim laps — and the 8am opening was what sold us (kids swimming before the day heats up). The trade: you're a 12-minute uphill walk from the pedestrian centre, so it's bus or taxi if you don't want to sweat the climb back after dinner. Worth the 235 EUR/night versus Villa Fiorita at triple that if you're on a tighter budget.
💡How to pick a Taormina hotel pool with kids in mind
- 1Book the hotel pool view, not just the hotel. On booking sites, the 'sea view room' often just means you can see water from a balcony. The thing you want is a pool on the cliff side. UNA Capotaormina, Villa Fiorita, Villa Belvedere and Sirius all deliver that. Mediterranée does not — its pool is inland, behind the hotel.
- 2If you want beach days, stay on the via Pirandello side of town — Villa Fiorita, Villa Mon Repos, Eurostars. The cable car station is at the eastern end of Via Pirandello, so it's a 3-5 minute walk to the cabinovia. Via Circonvallazione (where Mediterranée sits) is a 15-minute downhill walk to the cable car.
- 3Skip Taormina in May or early October if the pool is the main draw. Air temp is fine but pool water is cold — no hotel heats theirs. June 10th onwards is reliable. August is peak and you'll be sharing the pool. Mid-June and the first 10 days of September are the sweet spot.
- 4Kids under 4 will struggle with most Taormina hotel pools — they're 1.5m+ throughout. Only UNA Capotaormina has a separate shallow pool. For a toddler, consider booking a hotel further down — Hotel Kalura in Cefalù has pools with step-ins and a proper baby area.
- 5Parking is hell in Taormina. The town centre is zero-traffic. Most hotels have paid parking (20-35 EUR/day). UNA Capotaormina has free parking. Villa Fiorita has valet parking only (30 EUR/day). If you're renting a car, factor this in. The alternative is parking at Porta Catania garage and walking in.
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