Hotel San Domenico
About
Hotel San Domenico is an excellent choice for travellers visiting Erice, offering a family-friendly environment alongside many helpful amenities designed to enhance your stay.
Guest rooms offer a flat screen TV, a minibar, and air conditioning, and Hotel San Domenico makes getting online easy as free wifi is available.
You can also take advantage of some of the amenities offered by the hotel, including 24 hour front desk, a concierge, and baggage storage. In addition, guests can enjoy free breakfast during their visit. As an added convenience, there is street parking available to guests.
For those interested in checking out popular landmarks while visiting Erice, Hotel San Domenico is located a short distance from Chiesa DI San Giuliano (0.3 km) and Mura Ciclopiche (0.3 km).
If you’re looking for a pub, consider a visit to L'Acquolina in Bocca, Virus la Birreria, or Wanted Dead or Alive, which are all conveniently located a short distance from Hotel San Domenico.
If you’re looking for things to do, you can check out Castello di Venere (0.5 km), Giardini del Balio (0.4 km), or IL Duomo (0.5 km), which are popular attractions amongst tourists, and they are all within walking distance.
Enjoy your stay in Erice!
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Hotel San Domenico is a very well run, clean and comfortable hotel right in the heart of this medieval village. The foundations for this hotel probably date back nearly 1,000 years.
It seems that Erice is a very seasonal destination and we were there in late May – just before the season had begun.
I actually think we may have visited Erice at just the right time. The evening was foggy, though so we got to enjoy the unique charm of this ancient village.
The village was virtually deserted and we thoroughly enjoyed wandering up and down the narrow cobbled lanes. With such a rich history, there is a lot to see and do and some seriously good gourmet treats to be had. We enjoyed a very good meal at Ristorante La Prima Dae – recommended by the hotel.
Hotel San Domenico is difficult to find (I suspect that they all are up here). Follow the map and directions provided by the hotel. We got close by car and then walked to the hotel. Patrick guided us in our cars to the front door where he helped us unload and then guided us to some free on street parking nearby.
The breakfast was fine (in the Italian way) and the hosts helpful. It was cool at night but the heating all works well. The wifi was a bit iffy but may have been due to the fog.
Erice is a fascinating place. The sense of history is palpable. From Arabic to Norman architecture, everything is made from the local stone. The street cobbles, the palazzos and the castle that was originally built as a Temple to the Goddess of Love: Venus (Roman) that was probably built on top of the Temple to Aphrodite (Greek).
Recommended.
Be warned: they discourage you from loading bags from your car. They want you to drag your bags up and down steep cobbled streets from the public parking hundreds of feet away. Also, they insist on keeping your passport, which is in an open rack for anyone to steal. It took a big argument to get it back. The heating is not sufficient, nor the blanket. A tip: use the wall AC as well, as it has a heating mode. When we left it was clear we were unhappy, so the belligerent owner insisted on knowing what was wrong. When we told her she wanted a huge drama and argument. "Sorry" might have sufficed.
Sleep in your car rather than staying in this terrible place. The worst hotel in Italy we have ever stayed in.
We were received by a rude man that even shouted at us! Could only speak an incomprehensible italian (altough we had been having success with our efforts to speak the language). Place was the more expensive we stayed in the whole trip (and we stayed in 5 and 4 star hotels which actually deserved their stars). Breakfast was horrible. I had booked a triple bedroom for my children to be together . They put them in two separate rooms claiming there was a problem even if the hotel was empty and i had to go outside on a balcony to get to there room ( and Erice can be freezing in winter. Oh we did forget a bathroom "necessaries" there with an expensive bottle of perfume in it. We wrote to ask if they had found it. Got no answer...
Once at Hotel San Domenico is was not hard to see why its rating on Trip Advisor is already so high! The lobby and main room as one enters is brim-full of ambience and has a very restful appearance. The owners are wonderful. Rosella is the woman who runs the property during the days but her father (Guiseppe)Pippo and his sister Anna "man the fort" in the evenings it seems. They were darling and as much as I would have appreciated if Giuseppe had come rescue me as I tried to find their place, I understood later why he could not. They offered me an upgrade to room 301 which had it's own closed-in terrace and a 180 degree view of not only the Mediterranean to the right but the Punta del Saraceno to the left. To enjoy the sunrises there was the ultimate treat! And sometimes everything was shrouded in a misty fog, almost surreal! The breakfast could be eaten in the dining room or my preference was in a little cobblestone walled-in garden! They offered very typical Sicilian fare; you could have items such as eggplant caponata, olives cherry tomatoes and even sardines. But there were also cornetti filled with marmelade and other breakfast delicacies. And then there was Patrick! He is from Ghana and you cannot find a nicer person! He was absolutely so kind and really takes care of the guests! Once he knew that I like a cappucino to begin my morning, he immediately began to make it when I showed up. The family gave me good suggestions for where to dine and were helpful in many ways during my stay! I would surely stay there again if ever I am to return to Erice! And before I departed, Rosella told me about the "other road" into/out of Erice which was far from a goat trail in size, it was big enough for 2 cars to pass simultaneously....so I can come back one day!
The list of shortcomings.
1. The breakfast. A joke. There is a complete lack of anything fresh. If you want stale bread, bad coffee, no fruit, no meats, no cheeses - perhaps a biscuit. That is the breakfast. Given you are paying 120+ Euros - ridiculous.
2. The rooms. Basic is a kind description. In mine the toilet did not work. Lighting is dim. There are no English channels on the miniscule television.
3. Disinterested owners. They are not helpful and only seem to care about making money.
4. No English. The owner and wife do not speak English not that it matters since they are not interested in anything other than your Euros. There is Patrick - when he is around.
5. Parking. Not easy. The wife-owner told us it was OK to park in Plaza Carmine in the orange areas. When we return... no, no, no... you must move your car.
6. Noisy. Owner and children shouting all of the time.
7, The price. Very overpriced given items 1-6.
Erice is nice for a few hours. As others have suggested make it a two hour visit and stay elsewhere.
Definitely the worst property we encountered during our two week of travel in Sicily.
Thank you Signora and Patrick!
"We stayed in the top floor with a terrace, and a lovely view. In warmer weather it would be a place to lounge."Read full review
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