Hotel is adequate for 3/4 night stay when exploring eastern Sicily. Rooms are of good size but furnishings are rather tired, but clean. Food is without imagination but quite edible and service in restaurant satisfactory. Good size pool with area kept clean and tidy. and small beach. Hotel is convenient for buses and taxis always available. Alternative dining choice nearby but not high standard, pizza and pasta mainly but inexpensive.

This hotel is changing its name to Russott Hotel (from Ramada Hotel)

When we decided to go to Giardini Naxos, we left it a bit late and not many hotels had vacancies - we were not sure of this hotel but with little choice we took a chance.
We were very pleased - we had large very clean pleasant room with double bed and side balcony with view of the sea and mountains. Breakfast very substantial with loads to choose from. Hotel staff very pleasant and helpful. The pool is a good size and is very suitable for swimming in (but probably not for young children). There are nice tropical gardens that you can sun bathe in. Also a short walk to hotels own small private beach - although pebbly you can jump in and have a good swim. Opposite the hotel there is a good selection of restaurants and a water melon bar open very late. Hotel is few minutes walk from bus terminus so very easy to get to other places including Taormina. We got hotel to arrange pickup from Catania airport and this cost us around 75 euros but on way back we were confident enough to get the bus ourselves. Useful local web site is ----.
Boats pass by hotel and take you for local trip - we recommend Pepes boat - he is so much fun. You can see him in photograph! Main centre is pleasant stroll 1km to sandy beach - promenade with lots of restaurants etc Keep walking to end part of promenade find Ristorante IL Maniero our favourite - Pepe who we made friends with took us there one night and we did not look at the menu once - the sea food is great and we tasted pasta that had flavours we did not think possible. So, if you are looking for nice comfortable hotel with good facilities we would recommend this one!
Enjoy

I have just returned from a one week holiday in Holiday Club Naxos,Giardini Naxos,Sicily. I stayed here with my husband and two children aged 9yrs. and 11 yrs. We booked this paticular accomodation because our travel agent recommended it as most suitable for families in this area. The transfer time from Catania Airport is only 50 mins.
We got off to a bad start here as we had to wait outside in the afternoon sun for two hours for a room to be cleaned upon arrival.When we did eventually get to our apartmrnt we were not disappointed. The apartments are spread out over quite a large area. The complex is very well maintained and very very clean. There are tennis courts, football courts, an open air theatre, a restaurant ,a mini- market and a lovely pool area. Our apartment was located at the end of the complex which turned out to be a blessing as the music from the pool area seemed to be a bit of a problem for the residents located closer to the pool.The apartment was located in a terrace of six and was two stories.It was quite basic with old fashioned decor, but very clean and well maintained .On the ground level there was a double bed, a table and four chairs, a kitchen cupboard fairly well stocked with cutlery, saucepans etc., a fridge ,a sink and a two ring gas hob. Also contained on the ground floor was a wc. with a wash hand basin. There was a very effective airconditioning unit mounted on the wall.
Upstairs was a largish room with two single beds, a dressing table ,two wardrobes and night stand .Another efficent airconditioning unit up here. A small balcony was off the bedroom, not quite big enough to lie on.The bathroom was located up here consisting,of quite a powerfull shower, bath, w.c., bidet and wash hand basin. We later discovered that the walls between the apartments are paper thin. We could hear every word from the people either side of us and sometimes we actually thought that somebody was in our room. We ended up moving our bed as we were kept awake by our neighbour's snoring.
The staff in this complex were very helpfull and quite friendly. Most spoke basic english .The annimations team here are top class. They are very friendly and run quite a good programme of events. From 10am at the pool for gymnastics, dancing, games etc. right through till 2am including a live performance every evening in the theatre at 10pm.During the day they run a kids club with various events .Our kids went one day but as 99% of the other holiday makers are either Italians or Sicilians they found the language to be too much of a barrier.
The resort of Giardini Naxos itself is a fairly quiet resort, very crowded at this time of year. The Holiday Club is at the end of the resort in an area called Recanti, a twenty minute walk will take you right into the centre of Giardini Naxos.The local bus stop is only a five minute walk and there is quite a good service to the local towns and villages. There are lots of interesting places to visit nearby.The coarse sandy beach is only a two minute walk away .It is a private beach an you must pay 10 euros per day to rent the sunloungers and umberella. Our biggest problem here was with the food. all the local restaurants seemed to have identical menus. all pasta and pizza. We soon got fed up eating the same thing day after day. (hope you like pasta).A three cousre meal is approx. 12 - 15 euro per head.
Overall we found that the resort is not really ready for the European Holiday Market as there are very few family attractions and nothing specifically catering to children. If you are looking for a very quiet relaxing holiday the maybe this is the one for you .However if you like to visit water parks , crazy golf courses etc. then you will be disappointed ,we simply couldn't find anything like this.There didn't seem to be much night life about but maybe if we didn't have kids with us we could have found some.
The Holiday Club while being fairly basic was very clean, safe and friendly.Hope you find this helpfull and if you do decide to go enjoy your visit.

Giardini Naxos is a nice place if you want to be by the sea and near Taormina. But the Ramada would be a poor choice. The food in their main dining room is without taste (nowhere else in Italy did we experience that). The decor is outdated and not charming (except for the 2 traditional Sicilian painted carts). Assistant manager was not on duty [for many hours] when needed. If you must stay there, do ask for a room with view of (active) Mt Etna. DEFINITELY eat nearby at the most charming and tasty little restaurant SPELUNKA - a wonderful place with most tasty food and personal service.