VOI Arenella Resort
VOI Arenella Resort is a big Italian holiday village in around 60 hectares of coastal parkland on the south-east tip of Sicily, beside the city of Syracuse and the Plemmirio marine reserve. Its 410 rooms are split between a main building and two-storey villas, run on half board or all inclusive, and families come for the golden-sand beach, the large gardens and one of the few resorts in the area with a nursery for babies under two.
On this page
Is it worth it?
Who Arenella suits, the one thing UK families most need to weigh, and the facts to skim first.
VOI Arenella is a large Italian-style holiday village on the south-east coast of Sicily, and it’s built for families: big gardens, a sandy beach, a spread of pools and sports, plus one of the few resorts in the region with a nursery for babies under two. The thing UK families most need to weigh is language. The entertainment and kids’ clubs run in Italian, so a child who can’t follow along can be left out of the games and shows. It’s an Italian-market resort by design rather than a service that’s gone wrong, though for an English-only family that’s a real factor. The beach is a walk through a nature reserve, or a ride on the free little train, and how new your room is and which beach row you get both track with the tier you book. For good weather with the full clubs running, June and September are the strongest months. With a baby in tow, the spa and its indoor pool are for ages 12 and over, so they aren’t somewhere you can go as a couple with a toddler.
Best for
You want a big-garden family village with a sandy beach, a nursery for a baby under two, plus a spread of clubs and sports once the summer season is running.
Maybe not for
You need everything in English, since the entertainment and clubs run in Italian and a child who can’t follow along may be left out. Also less ideal if you want to step straight from your room onto the sand.
Best ages
Babies upwards in the right months. A nursery for the under-twos, age-banded clubs from about 3 to 12 and a teen club, all running mainly mid to late May until late September.
What stands out
A rare weaning nursery for babies, large parkland grounds and a free little train down to the beach that younger children enjoy.
What to check
Which room tier you’re booking, since the beach rows and the newer rooms track with it, and whether the clubs are running for your dates.
Where is it?
On the south-east coast of Sicily, about 10 km from Syracuse and next to the Plemmirio marine reserve.
Quick facts for families
The resort and its setting
Where Arenella sits, how it’s spread out over the grounds, and what that means for getting around with a buggy.
VOI Arenella sits in around 60 hectares of coastal parkland on the south-east tip of Sicily, immediately next to the Plemmirio marine reserve and about 10 km from Syracuse. It’s a villaggio, the Italian holiday-village format, and one of the larger resorts of its kind in Sicily: a central main building with two-storey villas spread through the gardens, and the ground sitting just above the sea. The 410 rooms are split between two named areas, Anapo and Ciane. For the wider region, its beaches and when to go, see our Sicily guide.
Getting around takes some legs. There’s no guest shuttle or golf buggy around the grounds themselves, only porters who move luggage on electric carts between reception and the rooms, so with a resort this size the walk from an outer villa to the main restaurants or the beach can be a real distance with a buggy and beach kit. A Bike Centre rents mountain, sports and electric bikes, and some families use one to cover the site. There’s a lift, and Family Comfort rooms have their own outside entrance, which helps with a pushchair, and pushchairs can be hired on site, though no wheelchair-accessible room category is listed.
The resort is open from April to October, with the age-banded kids’ clubs running a shorter window inside that, roughly mid to late May until late September. Check-in is from 16:00 and check-out is by 10:00, reception is staffed around the clock, and no minimum stay is set.
Every restaurant and bar
The two board formulas, both main restaurants, the pizzeria and specialities bar, and how the booking works.
Arenella runs on two board formulas. Half board with drinks covers breakfast and a buffet dinner, with drinks on tap included at dinner only. All inclusive adds lunch and unlimited soft and standard alcoholic drinks from 10:00 to midnight, plus two snack sessions a day. On either formula, branded or international spirits, ice cream and any bottled or canned drink are paid extras, and the all inclusive doesn’t apply at the beach restaurant or at VOI Gusto, the Sicilian specialities bar. There’s a gluten-free breakfast selection and a gluten-free corner at both main restaurants, and the resort is part of the Italian Coeliac Association’s Eating Out scheme.
The two main restaurants
Ristorante Alfeo is the main restaurant, open all season, with buffet service, grill stations and show cooking. Breakfast is a wide sweet and savoury spread, and the menu is Mediterranean built on local and organic produce with a vegan selection, plus weekly themed dinners running from Sicilian cuisine and street food to a gala night. It has a dedicated corner for children aged 2 to 3 with age-specific baby-food products at meals. This is the restaurant for Comfort and Family Comfort guests, with general seating rather than assigned tables.
Ristorante Aretusa is the premium-tier restaurant, open 31 May to 26 September, reserved for guests in Premium, Superior and Superior Junior Suite rooms, who get an assigned table. Breakfast and lunch are buffet, and dinner adds a chef’s plated menu alongside the buffet. Outside that window those same guests keep a reserved table, just in a dedicated area of Ristorante Alfeo instead, so the perk doesn’t vanish off-season. Both restaurants keep the same daily windows every day: breakfast 07:30 to 09:30, lunch 12:30 to 14:15 and dinner 19:30 to 21:15, worth knowing when you’re planning around naps.
The pizzeria, the bars and the beach
Pizzeria I Mori is poolside and seasonal, roughly early June to late September, open every day except Wednesday, with a wide range of pizzas and craft beers and drinks on tap included. It needs a reservation. VOI Gusto is the Sicilian specialities bar, open 09:00 to midnight in season, serving granita, brioche, gelato, cannoli filled to order, arancini and regional DOC wines. It’s a paid extra on either board formula.
Bar Piscina is the pool bar, with table service, open 10:00 to 19:00 and again 20:00 to midnight. Bar Terrazza is in the main building, open 18:00 to midnight and seasonal, roughly June to late September. Lido Arenella is the beach bar-restaurant, a paid rotisserie and self-service spot with indoor space and sea-view verandas, open through the beach day to about 19:00.
How booking works
Only the pizzeria needs a reservation. The Aretusa table isn’t booked separately, it comes automatically with a Premium, Superior or Superior Junior Suite room, so if you want that restaurant you choose it through the room tier rather than a booking. Alfeo and all the bars are general seating with no reservation.
Rooms and suites
Every room tier with its official size, the three pools, and the beach below the nature reserve.
There are five current room categories, listed below with their official sizes and how many they sleep. All of them share free Wi-Fi, individually controlled air conditioning, a phone, satellite TV, a safe, a minibar, a terrace or patio and daily maid service. No category has more than one bathroom, worth knowing if you’re managing night feeds or changes alongside older children in the same room.
| Room | Size | Sleeps | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comfort | 23–34 m² | Up to 4 | Ground or first floor. A living room with two single beds, a double bedroom and one bathroom, plus room for a cot. The everyday tier, dining at Ristorante Alfeo. |
| Family Comfort | 34 m² | 3–4 | Two rooms separated by a door, its own independent entrance and one bathroom (some with a bathtub), plus room for a cot. |
| Premium (Double) | 23 m² | Up to 2 | Central, near the main facilities. Free first minibar refill, VIP toiletries, free daily Wellness Centre pool access and a reserved Aretusa table in season. No reserved beach row. |
| Superior | 28–34 m² | 3 | Two separate rooms and one bathroom. A reserved beach umbrella and two loungers in rows 1–2, or a reserved spot on the solarium terrace instead, a coffee and tea kit, evening turndown, Wellness pool passes and an Aretusa table. |
| Superior Junior Suite | 40 m² | 2 | A private small garden with driveway access and two satellite TVs. A reserved first-row beach spot and daily Wellness Centre access for occupants over 12. |
For a family, the two-room categories are the ones that give you a door to close on a sleeping baby. Comfort, at 23 to 34 m², has a living room with two single beds, a separate double bedroom and one bathroom, and sleeps up to four. Family Comfort, at 34 m², is a similar two-room layout for three to four with its own independent entrance, which makes coming and going with a pushchair easier. Premium, at 23 m², is the lower-occupancy tier, sleeping two and carrying the tier extras below though not the reserved beach rows. Superior, at 28 to 34 m², is two separate rooms for three and adds a reserved beach umbrella and two loungers in the first two rows, or you can choose a reserved spot on the solarium terrace instead if you’d rather be by the pool. The Superior Junior Suite, at 40 m², is a garden room for two with direct access from the driveway.
One thing to plan around: a couple travelling with just one baby can’t book a Superior, since it starts at three guests. Premium is the equivalent lower-occupancy room, but it doesn’t come with the reserved beach rows that only Superior and the Superior Junior Suite carry, so a couple who wants a guaranteed front row would need to book Superior at its three-guest minimum or take the unreserved beach space further back.
Room stock isn’t uniform. Alongside the renovated Comfort tier there’s an older category called Classic, still sold through some booking channels, which a first-hand family found in the resort’s unrenovated section and rated below the newer rooms. If a modern room matters to you, families recommend booking Superior, or at least confirming you’re getting Comfort rather than Classic.
The three premium tiers, Premium, Superior and Superior Junior Suite, share a set of extras: a free first minibar refill, a reserved table at Ristorante Aretusa in season and access to the Wellness Centre pool. That pool access is free daily for Premium, comes as a pass or two for Superior depending on the length of stay and is daily for the over-12s in a Superior Junior Suite. Superior adds a coffee and tea kit and an evening turndown. Only Superior and the Superior Junior Suite get reserved beach rows.
On cots: one is provided for an infant up to age three, but only if it physically fits the room you’ve booked. From age three, or where a cot won’t fit, you book an extra bed instead, and no infant or child can share the parents’ bed.
The pools
The resort has three pools. Two are outdoor: one kept quiet with no entertainment, the other where the daytime animation programme runs, and each has a shallower zone for children built into it rather than a separate freestanding kids’ pool. The third is indoors, inside the Carissa Wellness Centre, and is for guests aged 12 and over only, so it isn’t a family pool. There’s no splash pad and there are no water slides, so this is a pool-and-garden resort rather than an aqua park. The pools and the solarium terrace around them have recently been renovated. Sunbeds and umbrellas at the pools are free while they last.
The beach
Arenella beach is the resort’s own stretch of fine golden sand, part of about 4 km of coast, with a gently sloping seabed, and there’s a second, smaller sand-and-pebble cove nearby that holds the watersports base. The walk from the resort to the sand is roughly 600 to 800 metres through the nature reserve. You can walk it, or take the free little train, which runs 9am to 7pm daily from 1 May. A first-hand family notes the train can get dusty and that queues build at lunchtime and closing.
Beach service runs from 1 May to 30 September, 9am to 7pm, with one umbrella and two loungers per room. Superior rooms get a reserved umbrella and two loungers in the first two rows, the Superior Junior Suite gets the first row and everyone else takes unreserved space from the third row back. Three wooden platforms give direct sea access by steps where the seabed turns rocky, from mid-May to mid-September, and one of them has its own sundeck, snack bar and shower. Beach towels are on a €10 refundable deposit, with a €2 fee to exchange one for a fresh one (last checked 2026).
Two things to know. The public, shared part of the beach can get busy, and one guest account mentions non-guests using the reserved rows, which is why the reserved-row system exists in the first place. The beach also holds no Blue Flag, though that’s a province-wide gap in Sicily’s 2026 Blue Flag list rather than anything specific to the water here: no beach in the whole Syracuse province held one that year.
Babies and toddlers
The nursery for under-twos, the clubs and mascot, the language point to weigh, and everything that fills a family day.
The family programme is called VOI4Family, with the individual clubs under the VOILà name. VOI’s own site no longer sets out this programme in detail, showing only general activity copy, so the specifics below come from its booking partners rather than a live official page. The broad shape is reliable, but treat the exact hours, ages, activities and any deposits as indicative and confirm them when you book.
For the youngest, VOILà Baby is a nursery for children up to two, and it’s the resort’s most unusual feature for a family. It’s a fully equipped weaning room, a biberoneria, with sterilisers, bottle warmers, hobs, a blender, a fridge and a microwave, and during staffed hours it provides baby food: vegetable purées, fruit, meat or fish purées, fresh milk, yoghurt, biscuits and nappies. There’s a separate staffed nap room with cots and linen, open roughly 11:30am to 7:30pm. Staffed hours for the nursery itself fall across late morning and evening, so check the exact split on arrival. This is a facility for parents to use with their child, not drop-off childcare: you stay with your baby. A bookable Welcome Baby Kit, on a refundable deposit and in limited supply, provides a pushchair, baby bath, toilet-seat reducer and bottle warmer.
The older clubs, VOILà Mini, Kids and Junior, span roughly age 3 to 12 in three age bands. They run with multilingual staff and an equipped play area, group football and tennis from age 7 and dance from age 3, a circus and juggling school, sessions with marine biologists, baby fitness and a baby disco, plus meals in a dedicated children’s area. Children get a welcome backpack and cap, and there’s a games room with a TV, video games, board games and Wi-Fi for downtime or a wet afternoon. Once a week the children have breakfast and a treasure hunt with the resort’s mascot, VOIlà the explorer giraffe, which a first-hand family singled out as a hit with younger children. Older children have a Young Club for ages 13 to 17, running roughly 10am to midnight with a games and Wi-Fi lounge, dedicated staff dinners and evening parties with a disco after the animation show. The clubs run for the core season, roughly mid to late May until late September; outside it there’s only a reduced, non-age-banded programme.
The point to weigh is language. The entertainment and the clubs run in Italian, and both a first-hand family blog and several independent reviews report that a child who can’t follow spoken Italian can be left out of the games, treasure hunts and shows. There are some English-speaking staff, and the resort is overwhelmingly Italian in market and clientele by design, so this is a real characteristic for a UK family to weigh rather than a one-off failing.
A few practical notes. There’s a playground for younger children, separate from the clubs. Babysitting is available on request at extra cost, with no published rate. Pushchairs can be hired on site, and it helps to ask for a passeggino, the Italian word, since one blogger found asking in English didn’t land. Reduced children’s rates apply through the booking engine. The Wellness Centre, including its indoor pool, is for ages 12 and over, so it isn’t somewhere to go with a baby or toddler.
On resortThings to do
Sport at Arenella covers a floodlit tennis court, two paddle courts, two sand bocce courts, a synthetic five-a-side football pitch, a beach volleyball court, table tennis and an open-air fitness area. The Bike Centre hires bikes for getting around or a guided ride, and a PADI diving centre operates in high season with access to the Plemmirio marine reserve and its caves and marine life offshore; the watersports base sits at the nearby cove.
By day the recreation team runs games, tournaments, quad biking and stand-up paddleboarding, and every evening there’s cabaret, musicals and variety shows in the amphitheatre, live music, parties and DJ sets. Outside the core season the programme drops back to gymnastics, card tournaments, a general mini-club and evening live music. The concierge desk arranges cultural, nature and food excursions and car or motorbike hire with pickup at the hotel or airport. The resort also runs a conference and events side, which won’t touch a family stay.
Adults only, 12 and overThe spa and wellness
The Carissa Wellness Centre, inside the resort, has an indoor pool, a relaxation area, a sauna, a hammam, a jacuzzi, indoor and outdoor fitness, treatments and massages and a herbal-tea corner. Access is for guests aged 12 and over, paid on site, with a session lasting around an hour. Premium, Superior and Superior Junior Suite guests get free or extended pool access as part of their room, as set out in the rooms table above.
The area and days out
The towns within reach, what families rate and flag, how it compares nearby, the journey in and the weather by month.
Fontane Bianche, the nearest town at 7 km, is a family beach spot in its own right, with shops, bars, restaurants, pharmacies and a shallow, gently shelving sea. Syracuse is about 10 km away: Ortigia, its historic island old town, has baroque streets, the Temple of Apollo, the Fonte Aretusa spring and the Duomo, and suits an afternoon rather than a full day with very young children given the heat and cobbles, while the Neapolis Archaeological Park on the mainland holds the Greek theatre and the Ear of Dionysius.
Further out, Noto, 30 km away, is a UNESCO baroque town rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake, with the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, its cathedral, Palazzo Ducezio and the balconies of Palazzo Nicolaci. Modica and Ragusa, both 55 km, are more UNESCO baroque towns, though Ragusa can be very quiet around lunchtime with restaurants closed. A hire car is the practical way to reach any of these, while a paid resort shuttle covers Syracuse itself twice a day except Sundays, €5 return for anyone aged 12 or over and €3 return for children up to 11, though those figures come from VOI’s booking partners rather than its own pages, so confirm them when you book. The Plemmirio marine reserve adjoins the resort and is where the diving and snorkelling happen.
What guests sayLoves and gripes
Across the review sites the picture is solidly positive. TripAdvisor has it at 4 out of 5 from around 4,530 reviews, ranking it 17th of 97 hotels in Syracuse and 223rd of 1,251 across the whole Sicily region. Booking.com scores it 8.4 out of 10 from 278 reviews, with staff (8.7) and comfort (8.8) the best-rated categories and value for money (7.9) the lowest (as of mid-2026). One family-specific site scores it higher still, but on only a couple of reviews, too few to lean on.
What families love
- The big, well-kept gardens and grounds.
- The rare nursery for under-twos, unusual among Sicilian resorts.
- The mascot-led kids’ activities, VOIlà the giraffe.
- The novelty little train down to the beach.
- Friendly staff, a consistent high point in reviews.
- The range of facilities for the price at the top tiers.
Common gripes
- Entertainment and clubs run in Italian, so an English-only child can be left out.
- Restaurants can feel crowded and rushed at peak meal times.
- The beach train gets dusty, and queues build at lunchtime and end of day.
- Room stock is uneven, so families steer towards Superior over base Comfort.
- The public part of the beach can be busy.
- No Blue Flag for this coast in 2026, and value for money the lowest-rated category.
How it compares
Within Sicily’s family resorts, Arenella’s edge is the very young. Its nursery for under-twos goes deeper than most: the Grand Palladium Sicilia’s baby club starts at one to three with less weaning kit, though the Palladium is directly beachfront where Arenella needs a walk or the train. Mangia’s Brucoli, a five-star Autograph Collection resort by Marriott, is likely to run more consistently in English, an international brand less likely to share Arenella’s language gap, while Arenella gives more facilities for the price. UNAHOTELS Naxos Beach, near Taormina, sits about half the transfer time from Catania and also runs age-banded clubs, but Arenella is the stronger option for a child under two. Within VOI’s own group, Arenella is the flagship Sicily family resort and the larger one; a first-hand family who couldn’t get into its smaller sister, VOI Baia di Tindari, booked Arenella instead and rated it a success. For a baby, Arenella is the most infrastructure-rich Italian-village option in Sicily, though a family who wants everything in English should weigh the language gap as a real factor.
From the airportGetting there and when to go
Catania Fontanarossa is the airport, about 70 km away on the Catania to Syracuse motorway, leaving at the Cassibile exit, roughly 80 minutes by coach. Palermo airport shows up as a flight option too, but the transfer is far longer and not a realistic first choice. A private transfer runs, by one first-hand account, at roughly €50 to €70 one way depending on group size, and car hire is available through the resort’s concierge with pickup at the hotel or airport, with one family paying about a day’s car-hire rate for an electric car to drive to Noto and Ragusa. There’s no public bus to the resort beyond the paid twice-daily Syracuse shuttle, so a hire car is how you reach Noto, Modica and Ragusa independently, and some families use a hired bike to get around the grounds. The resort is open April to October, check-in from 16:00 and check-out by 10:00, and for good weather with the full clubs running, aim for June or September.
When to goWeather, month by month
Syracuse has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate: hot, dry summers and cooler, wetter shoulders, with the sirocco wind a local feature. July and August are hottest, around 31°C with a sea of 26 to 27°C and barely any rain. June and September are the pick for a family who wants warmth and the full kids’ clubs running: June reaches 27°C with a 22°C sea and little rain, and September stays at 28°C with the sea still at 25°C, a touch quieter than August. May is a shoulder month, 23°C days but a sea still at 18°C, so it’s pool weather more than sea swimming.
| Month | Daytime high | Overnight low | Rain | Wet days | Sea temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April | 19° | 13° | 65 mm | 9 | 16° |
| May | 21.5° | 16° | 36 mm | 4 | 19° |
| June | 26° | 20° | 18 mm | 2 | 23° |
| July | 29° | 23° | 7 mm | 1 | 27° |
| August | 29.5° | 23.5° | 32 mm | 2 | 28° |
| September | 27° | 21.5° | 65 mm | 5 | 26° |
| October | 24° | 18° | 106 mm | 8 | 23° |
Typical monthly averages from weather-station records. Sea temperature is the open-water figure, so a sheltered bay can feel a degree or two warmer. The resort is open April to October.
Questions
The things families ask most, the official pages worth a bookmark and when this guide was last refreshed.
What passport do we need for Italy?
Italy is in the Schengen area, so your passport needs to have been issued less than 10 years before you arrive and to stay valid for at least three months after you leave, and UK visits are capped at 90 days in any 180. The EU’s new Entry/Exit System means you may have to give a photo and fingerprints on arrival. There’s no specific FCDO safety warning for the Syracuse area.
Are there extra fees on top of the room?
Expect a compulsory Club Card charge and the local tourist tax on top of the room. The operator sets both and can change them, so check the current amounts when you book rather than relying on an older quote.
When is the baby nursery actually staffed?
It’s staffed across late morning and again in the evening, though the exact split varies by season, so confirm it when you arrive. Outside staffed hours you can still use the room, just without the provided baby food.
Will our English-speaking child manage in the clubs?
They can join in, but the sessions run in Italian, so a younger child who can’t follow along may get less from the games and shows than an Italian-speaking child would. If in-language kids’ entertainment is central to your holiday, weigh that carefully or look at an international-brand resort.
How do we make sure we get a modern room?
Book Superior for the newest rooms. On the base Comfort tier, check your booking says Comfort and not the older Classic room, which some channels still sell.
Can we get a room right by the beach?
No room is on the sand. The beach is a walk of roughly 600 to 800 metres, or a ride on the free little train, from anywhere on the resort. If a short walk to the sea matters most to you, this isn’t the resort for it.
Is there a way into Syracuse without a hire car?
Yes, a paid resort shuttle is listed as running to Syracuse twice a day except Sundays, though that detail isn’t on VOI’s own site, so check it when you book. For Noto, Modica or Ragusa you’ll want a hire car, which the concierge can arrange with pickup at the hotel or airport.
See more VOI Arenella photos
Open the VOI Arenella photo gallery →Useful links
- VOI Arenella Resort: the resort’s own site for rooms and board formulas.
- GOV.UK Italy travel advice: entry rules and safety updates before you travel.
- Sicily with little ones: our guide to the wider region, its beaches and when to go.
Last updated 17 July 2026.
