The Best Hotels in Taormina

A former Dominican convent perched on a cliff above the Ionian Sea, this Four Seasons property in Taormina has been hosting the kind of guests who don't carry their own luggage since Audrey Hepburn was young, and season two of The White Lotus more recently. The 111 rooms look out over Mount Etna and the winding town below. Excursions range from private dinners on the volcano to yacht tours of the Aeolian Islands, which sets a certain expectation for the bill.

The ancient Greek amphitheater sits right at the door, so the view from this Belmond hotel has been making people feel like extras in an epic for a very long time. Terraced gardens, marble interiors, and a pool that earns every photograph frame the stay. Mount Etna looms over the whole scene, which gives even a lazy afternoon by the water a faintly dramatic edge. A Forbes Four Star property.

A former family villa on the bay of Taormina Mare, this 66-room Belmond hotel keeps its private-residence feeling intact, right down to an exclusive beach on the Sicilian coast. Marble staircases, Baroque heirlooms, and pink geraniums fill the common spaces, while the team organizes boat trips and village tours in vintage Fiat 500s for guests who can't sit still. A Forbes Four Star property, with Etna looming agreeably in the distance.