Planning a trip to Italy and want to include Taormina for a few days, any suggestions on hotels by the water and will it be an easy transfer from Taormina and then up to Positano?
Probably the easiest way to get from Taormina to Positano is to fly from Catania (the nearest airport to Taormina) to Naples and then make your way to Positano from Naples. The flight is about an hour. You can get to Positano from Naples by bus or boat.
Here are about 150 discussion threads on Taormina previously posted on this site
click here
If you browse them, I think you'll find answers to your first question re hotels.
I was in Taormina last Sept and it is lovely. You do need to understand though it is up on the hillside and not on the water. I stayed at Hotel Continental and loved sitting on their terrace looking down at the sea and over my right shoulder to Mt. Etna.
There is a funicular that will take you down to the seashore and there are even hotels down there, and access to beaches. I stayed once at a hotel right at the base of the funicular. Regretfully, I can't remember the name but a bit of googling might help you.