Grand Hotel Des Etrangers

Lovely hotel in a beautiful building. Fantastic service where the staff go out of their way to help you with everything. It has a nice - not that big - pool with an amazing view.

We LOVED our stay here! It is a stunning hotel, with beautiful rooms and a great location by a main plaza. The front desk staff was extremely helpful, with great recommendations for food in the area as well as day trips (we went out to Ragusa and Noto). We also had particularly great interactions with Eva, a staff member at breakfast, and Valentina, the spa manager. The staff at Clou was also very accommodating, providing us with a late night snack of bread and cheese that we requested while enjoying drinks there. Another one of the little highlights was the hotel’s attention to detail - they noticed that my husband was using a napkin as a bookmark and provided one when they came in to clean our room. Highly highly recommend staying here!

This is definitely a nice hotel, in a beautiful location with excellent service. However, I feel it could focus a bit more on practicality rather than just luxury. For example, the rooms are very spacious, but instead of so much marble and tapestry, it would be more useful to have a larger desk with a comfortable chair for working. In my room, the desk was extremely small—so small that I couldn’t charge my laptop while using it because there wasn’t enough space near the plugs. Another thing I found a bit off was the display of “on-sale” items in the room (wine, pistachio paste, etc). When you’re staying in a high-end hotel, it cheapens the experience to feel like you’re in a mini boutique. Either include those items as complimentary (given the high room rate), or avoid turning the room into a store. That said, the service is great, the staff are incredibly friendly and helpful, and the breakfast is very good. The rooms are clean, there’s no carpet, and the bathroom was well maintained. But the best part is definitely the location. Being right in the heart of Ortigia means you can walk to everything—the Duomo, the castle, the beaches—all within minutes. Overall, it’s still a great hotel. I’d just love to see a bit more attention given to functionality.