Taormina Garden Hotel

Taormina Garden Hotel suits divers who want the sea within easy reach without giving up access to Sicily's more civilised pleasures. The garden gives you tables, chairs and sun loungers, while the nearby beaches put salt water, sand and the occasional decision about whether to get wet again within easy reach.

This is a small two-star hotel with a straightforward rhythm: air-conditioned rooms, a buffet breakfast, a bar for drinks and snacks, and a terrace where the day can wind down. You can keep things simple here, which is often exactly what a diver wants once the wetsuit is hung up and the appetite has returned.

English and Italian are the languages of the hotel's website, so English-speaking and Italian-speaking guests are clearly catered for in the hotel's visitor information. The property also offers a concierge service, a tour desk and luggage storage when the travel day does not line up neatly with check-in or departure.

You are in Taormina, on Sicily's east coast, at Via Nazionale in the Mazzarò area. The sandy beaches are about 0.03 miles away, and Mazzarò Beach is listed at roughly 0.06 miles from the hotel. Isola Bella Beach and Spisone Beach are both within about 0.4 miles, giving you more than one stretch of coast to investigate when the sea is calling but the dive schedule is not.

The Mazzarò cable-car station is about 0.1 miles away. From there, Taormina's upper town is accessible by cable car, while the town centre itself is around 3.1 miles away. A bus stop about 200 metres from the hotel connects with the centre, so you do not need to treat every evening outing as a logistics exercise.

You have restaurants close by, including Ristorante Nui at about 0.04 miles, Il Barcaiolo at about 0.06 miles and Restaurant Armònia at about 0.07 miles. For a change of scenery, the Alcantara River Park is about 7 miles away, and the Taormina cliffs and Monte Veneretta are around 1.6 miles from the hotel.

The rooms are designed for the basics that matter once you return sun-warmed, tired and slightly damp around the edges. Air conditioning deals with Sicily's hotter days, while a private bathroom comes with a shower, toiletries, towels and a hairdryer. There is also a wardrobe or closet, a safe for valuables and a flat-screen television with cable and satellite channels.

For a couple, the standard double or twin option gives you more breathing room than the smaller room, while the family room works for three with a super-king-size bed and a sofa bed. The smaller double or twin room is the one to choose only when compact is acceptable; it keeps the sleeping arrangements simple but leaves less room for spreading out bags, clothes and the day's accumulated debris.

A refrigerator is useful for keeping water cold, and a drying rack gives swimwear somewhere sensible to go. A desk, a socket beside the bed and free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel cover the practical details, although the room descriptions place the free Wi-Fi among the general hotel facilities rather than limiting it to bedrooms. Non-smoking rooms and allergy-free rooms are available, and room service gives you another option when the legs have had enough for one evening.

Breakfast comes as a buffet with continental, Italian and American choices, including both sweet and savoury items. That gives you room for the classic Italian start, something more substantial before a boat trip, or simply coffee and enough food to avoid becoming the person who gets hungry halfway through the morning.

The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner on the terrace. Its cooking is Sicilian, built around local products and vegetables from the hotel's own production. Almonds, pistachios, capers, olive oil, aubergines, swordfish, sardines, wild fennel and cherry tomatoes all have a place in the kitchen, so the regional identity is in the ingredients rather than in a decorative label.

A bar, coffee house and snack bar cover the less formal moments, with drinks and snacks available on site. Wine and champagne can also be ordered, while vegetarian, gluten-free and lactose-free variations are available. Special diet menus can be arranged, and breakfast can be brought to your room when an early start makes sitting down in the restaurant feel like an unnecessary luxury.

The hotel's garden is the natural place to do very little, with outdoor furniture, a terrace, a sun terrace and sun loungers. There is a beach close by with umbrellas and sunbeds, so you can trade the dive boat for a horizontal afternoon without having to organise a major expedition.

When you want to move rather than simply recover, bicycle hire, cycling and bike tours give you a way to explore the coast and the surrounding area. Walking tours, local-culture tours and an Etna tour add some land-based variety, while a cooking class turns the region's food into something more active than dinner. Paragliding is also available as an excursion.

Massage and wellness treatments cover the more conventional recovery plan: full-body, back, neck, head, hand and foot massages, along with body scrubs, wraps and other body treatments. Manicures, pedicures, hair treatments and beauty services are also available. Some activities take place away from the hotel, so the tour desk and concierge are useful when you want help turning an idea into an actual outing.

Catania Fontanarossa Airport is about 34 miles away, with a driving time of roughly 41 minutes. The hotel offers an airport shuttle, and private shuttle service is also available through the property. A car-hire service is available, while private parking is provided on site and requires reservation. If you are driving, the A18 motorway route uses the Taormina exit, followed by the approach towards Catania and the hotel entrance.

Check-in runs from 14:00 to 23:30, and you need to tell the hotel your expected arrival time. Check-out is from 07:00 to 10:00, which is useful for an early airport departure but leaves little room for a leisurely final breakfast. Express and private check-in and check-out are available, alongside luggage storage for the awkward hours between room and transport.

The hotel provides free Wi-Fi, air conditioning, room service, packed lunches, grocery deliveries and a shared lounge with television. Children of any age are welcome; children aged four and over are charged as adults, cots are available for children up to three on request, and extra beds are not available. Pets are not allowed.