First time to Sicily-with teen son. Wanted to rent, so we'd have more room, and are planning to stay at this Villa which looks lovely on the internet, but is apparently closer to beach than town central--how different and much more expensive etc is the beach area than the centre -- and will we be okay with the cable (villa supposedly close to cable). Thanks, tutti!!!

Sorry--this is my second post. My first, I misspelled Taormina and it wasn't showing up on any searched.

I've only taken the cable car down to that area once. It was kind of a nothing area, in my opinion. I think you'll be finding yourself spending most of your time going up to the main village. The main beach area is a mile or so south of there. As I recall there was a tiny (and I do mean tiny) little "beach" area at Mazzaro.

But I must admit the villa looks lovely, and you may never want to leave that terrace.

If you are near the cable car you'll be fine. It runs quite late. Yes, you may spend most of your time in town, but I think it's nice to have alternate days chilling out at the beach. Although Taormina is beautiful it's not that big so you won't need more than a day or two to do the sights. I think the beach area generally is a bit cheaper than in town. There are a couple of small bays with quite nice beaches, with a few bars/restaurants either on the beach or a little above it. I don't remember the name but I had a fantastic seafood meal at a restaurant above the beach leading to the Isola Bella. The beaches get much more crowded with locals at the weekend, so you may want to plan to spend those days sightseeing.

I agree the villa looks lovely : I think it would be brilliant.

Thanks, guys, for your informative responses.

Patrick, you said the beach is a mile BELOW the villa? Then does the cable take one down as well as up, and does it stop midway? Trying to picture this unsuccessfully.
Thanks again.

No, the beach is a mile below the town. It sounds like your villa is on the coast road, which is where the cable car stops. The top end of the cable car is in Taormina itself, near the Greek theatre end.

Thanks for clarifying that, Caroline.