Hotel Villa Belvedere

Great pool. Good view. Recommend it. Loved it in Celafu. Visit the rock. Great food

What can I say about this hotel and try not to offend the 1 member of staff that was polite and welcoming to us. I found the rest of the staff members completely uninterested in making our stay a pleasant one. The decor was dated, bar badly stocked and very limited menu for breakfast, was like ground hog day every morning going for breakfast, different day same food, all cold no hot food. The shower in bathroom was so small, like tiny, and I mean tiny. We had no balcony, I had tried to make contact previous to our arrival by email, but no response back. Did contact the hotel by phone, only to be told email our request again to a different email address, they replied stating nothing available. Bar staff were rude, gave up tipping them. Unless you are fit, the hill to this hotel will do you in.! Certainly not 3 star. Find somewhere else to stay.

They say first impressions last but luckily for us with the Villa Belvedere they didn’t. We arrived mid afternoon after the 2 hour 15 minute transfer from Catania (not 75mins as stated by the travel agents!) Check is was easy, staff were great. We had booked a double room, with balcony and king size bed. I’d have to say it was the smallest double room we’ve stayed in, there was a double wardrobe with 3 coat hangers in and the balcony looked onto some garage roofs and a car park! I went to reception to ask if we could move to another room but was told the hotel was full (all politely), asked for some more coat hangers which seemed a strange request to the hotel reception staff but they sorted it and gave us another 5! When I say the room seemed smallish once our cases where unpacked there was nowhere to store them. As with most Italian hotels the room was basic, clean, as with a lot of the other reviews I have to say the bed was hard but that wasn’t an issue for either of us. Have to say the air con in the room was fantastic. The bar area is basic but nice same as the pool area. Pool area has plenty of sun beds, tables and chairs and shade if you required it. Pool is decent, snack bar is good, food is nice and good service. Breakfast room again is basic but nice with plenty of tables and seating, breakfast is your typical Italian continental breakfast with plenty of choice, meats, cheese, fruit, yoghurt, breads and cakes. Only one two slice toaster and more importantly only one coffee machine which caused queues, some mornings there was over 20 people in the breakfast room so as you can imagine there was quite a queue for coffee. Now the hotel location and the hill mentioned in many other reviews. The hotel is on a relatively steep him, walking down the hill to the main road takes around 8 minutes and then from there a further 10 minutes to the beach or 15 minutes to the beginning of the street that takes you to the plazza Del Duomo where the shops and restaurants are. I did the 3 peaks a few months ago so I’m not exactly unfit but after a few drinks a lovely meal we only walked back up that hill once and that was the first night. So bare in mind that you’ll need to get a taxi back to the hotel, cost is 10 euros or 15 euros after 11pm. I have added some photos to try and give a good idea of the walk back up the hill to the hotel. I have to say I find it poor that considering the location of the hotel they don’t have a shuttle bus to take you down to Cefalù centre even if it only did one drop off and pick upper night. The staff do make this hotel they are very good without being in your face, always there if you needed them.