Cefalu

We spent a night there in 2018 and enjoyed it. The town itself isn’t huge and can be seen in less than a day unless you want to just hang out on the beach or do some hiking on the hill above the town. The cathedral is beautiful. We had a rental car and stayed at Hotel Alberi del Paradiso on Via Dei Mulini. It’s about a half mile from the town center. It was nice and had a free shuttle to take you into town and bring you back.

Between Palermo and Cefalù we did stop at the Norman castle at Caccamo. It is worth visiting.

i did a day trip at the end of june. the cathedral is a stunning example of arab-norman architecture. the mosaic gives monreale and the capella palatina a serious run for their money. in addition, you can climb the narrow winding stairs to the roof and inside one of the bell towers. beautiful cloister too. a feast for the eyes! i am not interested in beaches so i didn't head in that direction, though i understand cefalu is a popular resort town as well.

When I was there in 2005, Cefalu was the town where the elderly men dressed for their early evening passeggiata (stroll). This is also the place to eat cannolis, they don’t get any better than what you’ll eat there.

Mary Pat,
You brought back memories of a trip in 2007, of all the gentlemen in their black suits gathered on the town square in the afternoon sunlight!

OP GT, parts of the classic film 'Cinema Paradiso' were shot there, for example the 'nocturnal film projected onto a large sheet' scene.
If interested in an apartment rental overlooking the main square with a spectacular view of the aforementioned cathedral from its communal upper patio...plz don't hesitate to ask me. A trio of young businessmen rent out that apartment plus a couple other adjoined ones for reasonable rates. Happy to retrieve contact info from our trip journal.
They will also taxi you around the region if required. One such suggestion: we asked them to drop us off inland at the hilltown 'Petralia Soprano'. That hilltop town has a wonderful, backside zigzag path leading down to some poplars. Only in Italy!
Note that Cefalu gets both congested and LOUD during political season, with inescapable noisy speeches that can get real tired after awhile for travelers seeking peace.
The beach is very good and thus popular and thus crowded high season. The stroll above town is worthy for the view.
I am done. The end.

Is the political season from September to... ? I'd love to know the closing day!

Anyway it's Cefalù, Cefalu may be a Sardinian fish.

Will be there tomorrow, so can add to this post. But we chose it as a nice respite after 2 days in Rome and 3 in Palermo, easy train ride from Palermo, and on the way of our itinerary.

Cefalù is a beautiful town, and well worth a couple of nights on a Sicily trip. My wife and I spent four nights there, at the tail end of a RS Sicily tour in March, 2018. We rented a car in Catania and drove to Cefalù, so we were able to explore some of the towns of Sicily’s interior along the way. There’s enough to see within the town itself to occupy at least a full day- especially if you’re able to hike the steep path up the Rocca di Cefalù, for some outstanding views and the ruins of a Norman castle. We also did a private tour with a driver-guide from sicilianexperience.com into the Madonie mountains, which was quite interesting. Being March, the sea was rough and the beach empty, so I can’t speak to the beach scene, but I’d recommend a stop in Cefalù if your time permits.

Easy train trip from Palermo. Nice walkable city. We did one day but could relax there for a couple of days. Lots of beach front dining options.

We did a day trip by train from Palermo, and definitely recommend seeing Cefalu you're in that area of Sicily. Cefalu is a wonderful town to walk around and explore, very picturesque. The beach is expansive. We had plenty of time to wander around town and have lunch at one of the beachfront restaurants (seafood risotto for 10 Euros in 2018) before catching the afternoon train back to Palermo.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/W3lbtogesHmNIYM32

As noted above, we just spent two nights in Cefalu. We found a room on Booking.com in the old town, great location, worked well for us, but the three flights of steep narrow stairs may be an issue for some. The main bonus of this place was it included a washer, so a week into the trip, we did laundry, and hung it out to dry above the street like an Italian Grandma.

As others mentioned, it is a delightful town, beautiful cathedral, lots of shops and restaurants, or places to just hang out. It is a vacation spot, even for Italians, so no illusion of it being an "authentic" village, but like many tourist destinations, there is a reason people go there.

Restaurants range from cheap food, to better than average to excellent food, cost is more than similar in Palermo, but still reasonable compared to what I would spend in the US on a much lesser meal.

I think the typical traveler could spend a bit more on lodging than we did, and have a more comfortable room, but I do think you would want to be in the old town or on the edge of it. The better beach is away from old town, but given you will be there in October, that probably is not an attraction. Probably though, in late October, I imagine things will slow down a bit, some of the stores may shutter for the season, but still plenty to do and see.