Top 10 Gran Canal Hotels

The room is fully equipped and the living environment is comfortable and pleasant! Beautiful surrounding environment

Great location, great service, lovely room (204), very good food. Breakfast was very good for our needs and it was great to sit outside. The location is ideal for a few days in Syracusa. We did the hop on hop off tour, a boat tour and saw the sights. Plenty of great restaurants close by, some look classier than others but all had very good food and service, including the hotel restaurant. Don Antonio, Cod da Saretta and La Bracioletteria were all worth visiting. — would visit them all again. The room was a good size an and the bathroom a little small as is often the case in Italy. The bed was very comfortable and the AC was perfect. Noise in the streets starts at 6 am — a small price to pay for the location and was not a real problem for us. Parking is difficult but there is a well organized private car park close by for €20 per day — book before you travel but if you can with todays prices it might be easier and cheaper with shuttles and taxis.

Great hotel, very friendly staff. Highly recomended.

The room is super beautiful and the view is charming! After entering the room, I immediately decided to change the itinerary and stay one more night! The service is very good! I'm still walking around at the door, the charming lady at the front desk will come out and I will take it in. There is a public parking lot at the door, and you can also use the hotel's valet parking for 30 euros a night! The breakfast is also good! The shortcomings must be said, that is, slightly tired, the room is on two floors Is the second floor of the room slightly tired!

We booked a ”villa” with a pool at this resort in May 2023 so that we could stay in one place with our son, daughter-in-law and toddler grandson. The pool had no shallow end, and was freezing cold. The villa had no ”kitchen” or ”family/dining room” area, except for a tiny table near the coffee maker at the back patio door. The weather vacillated between warm and cold temperatures, sometimes rain, and the resort has no amenities for families except for the beach. The beach and sea were nice, when the weather was good. There is no bar, no game room, no casual dining area open all day. The front lobby is a big, pretentious marble-floored atrium. There is no life in it, except for one person at the front desk. The resort was understaffed. The dining room was cold and unfriendly, with no variety in the morning buffet food. We never ate dinner there because it did not open until 7:30 p.m., past our normal eating time, especially with our toddler. The only other option for eating during ”off” hours was to have food delivered to the villa, which we had to do for several lunches and dinners. Eating restaurant plates of fancy food on your lap or tiny table squeezed into a tiny corner of the villa got old very quickly! The resort is not close to any other restaurants that are open all day or on the earlier side of the evening. The drive into Ortigia is about 20-30 minutes, including finding parking -- we did that a couple of times. We stayed at Minareto for 5 nights, and honestly, could not wait to leave. It was unbelievably expensive for the very poor set-up. It was not a good experience and I would not recommend for families. On top of that, the resort required us to pay a 50% deposit in advance through a bank transfer (which involved a trip to the bank, payment of a fee and a lot of hassle with my bank to get it right) -- it did not accept a credit card for the advance. We were allowed to pay the remaining balance by credit card when we checked out.

If you are looking for some peace and quiet near to Syracuse then you can't get much more peaceful than Caiammari Boutique and Spa Hotel. With its immaculate gardens, two huge swimming pools, good sized rooms and absolutely lovely and anazing staff, it really is somewhere to unwind and relax. The breakfast is very good and includes homemade cakes made by the owners fair hands - it's work it just for the cake! The restaurant offers a limited number of anti pasta, first course and mains. All were a very good standard and traditional with a modern twist. As the menu doesn't change, if you are staying longer than say 3 days it is advisable to start to look outside the hotel for dinner options. The restaurant is closed one day per week, so again it will be necessary to leave to hotel (although the owner volunteered to come in an cook pizza for those guests that had no car). This leads me to my next recommendation - transport. The property is close to Syracusa and Ortiga but is a car/taxi journey away. This includes some of the nearby restaurants. A taxi ordered via the hotel is €25 one way, a taxi return from the rank was €35. All taxis come from Syracusa so its roughly the same cost regardless of destination. For the odd night, it's OK, but to do this for several nights becomes a little costly, hence why a car is thoroughly recommended. Regarding the state of roads and fly tipping, which you may have read in other reviews, this sadly is endemic across Sicily in non-tourist areas - even the road to the British War Cemetery is littered with rubbish. This is way beyond the control of the hotel and they should not be held responsible for something out of their control. It certainly does not detract from the property itself. Finally bring some mosquito repellent - the little rascals are across Sicily - inland, Mount Etna, the seaside - they love the taste of tourists.

Selfishly - Part of me doesnt want to write this review because id prefer for the Hotel not to become too popular! But i promised to sing its praises - so i shall… It’s a real gem of a place - exactly as the description says, full of antiques and art and dripping in an effortlessly elegant, palatial, charm. Our early arrival didnt phase the reception staff, on the contrary, Francesca warmly assured us our room would be ready an hour before check-in time. Complimentary drinks offered by the drlightful Erminia and served on the grape vine festooned terrace helped ease our frazzled spirits and sink us into the calm, quiet elegance that is Henrys House. We had a city facing room which was modestly sized but with everything we needed to be comfortable. Towels plus beachtowels and parasols were an unexpected perk. Bathroom was gorgeous and clean. The fact there are several sea facing sheltered terraces to sit on meant we felt able to meander, spread out, and chill with the most fabulous sea views at every turn. Its a perfect ‘watching the sunset’ spot - best on the island i think. Breakfasts were quite simply fantastic. And im gluten free celiac so frequently have to put up with inferior options, but not here. The buffet choice was extensive, suitable for carnivores and veggies and celiacs. The artwork and interior styling added to its sense of ‘old glamour - tastefully re-envisioned’ and the ambience throughout was relaxed, peaceful and totally welcoming. Francescas skilled assistance and care when we had flight issues was amazing. She went above and beyond to help sort out the issues, allowing us to continue enjoying our final day there. Sadly three nights wasnt enough, so i shall just have to return 🤗🙏❤️