Hotel La Tartaruga

We arrived late in the evening, checked in and had dinner. The Restaurant is great, staff there were nice. The rooms were old (think “fashionable in the summer of ‘65”) but clean and with a working air conditioning. The beds were comfortable. You can hear the next door neighbours, but fortunately they were not too loud. The shower doors required some tough love to close, shampoo was available in stingily low volumes, given to you in plastic satchels. Waking up and going to the breakfast was a whole experience. You walk down a staircase, descending into thick indoor cigarette smoke (again, probably once fashionable in the summer of ‘65). The lacklustre breakfast buffet spanned some sloppy bacon, half-empty water bottles with plastic cups that remind of urine sampling. The waiter makes you feel that any request (“1 espresso”) is one too many. Upon returning to my table with some fruit that was left over, I was greeted by a little worm who had gotten to my apricot before me. I stuck to bread. Breakfast is from 8-10, which they tell you. What they don’t is that they stop re-filling food from 9:15 onwards. Instead, they will start blasting music in the adjacent pool area. The hotel will prove an okay place to stay for one night if needed. People looking for a Sicilian holiday stay should look elsewhere, though.

This is our fifth stay at this nice hotel but first time with new ownership. I think it’s fair to say that we have seen improvements throughout the years but this year what really strikes us is the kindness of the staff and high service level! The breakfast is typical Italian however with a great variety of options. The restaurant with its lunch and dinner servings is amongst the best restaurants in Capo D’Orlando. Moreover, the bar serves a great coffee which you can enjoy at the saltwater pool. All in all I would recommend this hotel to all kinds of travelers as a great sleep at reasonable prices but with an unbeatable scenic view of the Mediterranean and Aeolian islands.

The new management, or the new owner, in my opinion has destroyed years of history of this place, incompetent, rude, and a bad heartless person. I have been going to this place for years and the deterioration it has suffered over the years due to bad people like them is clearly visible to the eye. I always regret the good old days, from worker, to client. Invest your money in something else. Happy Holiday Everyone's