NH Collection Taormina

Even for Sicily, Taormina is an extraordinarily pretty town, all sea-sidling cliffs, palazzos and piazzas, bougainvillea and wisteria climbing up the walls — and as if it didn’t already sound like a perfect amalgamation of every Southern European postcard you’ve ever received, the whole scene is framed by the picturesque ruins of an ancient Greek theater and the soaring snow-white peak of Mount Etna in the distance. Is it any surprise, then, that NH Collection Taormina feels like a hotel made of breezes and vistas? In a setting like this, a wise hotelier doesn’t go building some high-concept monument to human ego; the point is to get out of the way and let the surroundings speak for themselves.

That’s not to say that the hotel feels even the tiniest bit spartan. Quite the opposite; the sixty-three rooms are proof that with enough light and space worked into the layout, classic Italian luxury feels perfectly fresh. Windows are big, all the better of course for taking in the views, and all but the most basic rooms (which face the mountains) look out toward the Bay of Naxos. At nearly a hundred years old, the building recently underwent a massive renovation, and the materials that make up the rooms — Brazilian rosewood furniture, smoked oak floors, volcanic stone and Sicilian mosaics in the bathrooms — are as rich as ever, only now there are plasma screens and fog-free mirrors thrown into the mix, too.

They’ve saved the truly high technology, however, for the pool. Its walls covered in glass mosaic, it’s like a gallery of aquatic relaxation, with everything from hydromassage chairs and beds to water jets for counter-current swimming. Between the gadgets to play with in the water and a fine poolside bar and restaurant servicing all the surrounding parasol-shaded nooks, it’s genuinely tempting to skip the beaches altogether and remain at the hotel. At day’s end, there’s a fine, glass-walled restaurant (yes, with still more views) serving excellent Sicilian cuisine, and Corso Umberto, the town’s central promenade, is just outside for a post-prandial stroll. Be warned that the walk from the hotel is a little hilly, for after a lazy day in the sun at here, even the most fleeting moment of strenuousness can be hard to readjust to.