sicily where to stay?

[meysey]

Hi

Can anyone recommend a good place to stay with kids in Sicily? We will be flying in to Catania and have a hire car. Ideally somewhere not too expensive and near a beach - we are happy with self-catering/agriturismo/b&b. We are going in July.

its probably not what you are looking for but we stayed at Club Med and it was fantastic and surprisingly reasonably priced. it is on the beach and is totally set up for kids and parents. if you are at all interested in more details contact me and i'll answer any questions you have.
Also be ready for totally crazy driving!!

we went to Taormina - absolutely gorgeous, stunning views but even though we didn't have kids at the time could tell it wasn't at all child-friendly. There's loads of cobbles, steep streets, steps and hardest of all you have to cram into a cable car to reach the beach! However there's some other resorts nearby that are more accessible with kids so you could use those as a base and have the odd trip to places like Taormina. Giardini Naxos is a lot cheaper but doesn't have much character, but it does have a nice sandy beach. Expect it to be very hot!! We went in early July and had a day trip to Syracuse. I can honestly say I have never been so hot ever, and I have been to some pretty tropical places! So inland and somewhere maybe a bit hilly might not be a bad idea in July - perhaps if you could find a farmhouse with a pool or that type of thing?

we had a great holiday in siracusa in february. we stayed in a lovely b&b \link{http://www.ilcortiletto.com/index_en.html\here}. it was in a town though, so maybe not great for the beach (i think there was one a few km out of town);

thanks for all these ideas, and it was good to have a note of caution on taormina!

we may spend some time in a coastal place and some inland such as an agriturismo, so any more ideas welcome. we would love to do a bit of sightseeing, etna etc