We are touring Sicily starting in Catania to Taormina, Agrigento, Cefalu for about a week and ending in Palermo. We will be flying out of Palermo early afternoon to Florence. We are thinking about staying either in Monreale or Palermo. We will have 2 nights. Not sure which will be best.... I know that some of you have recent experience in Sicily. Please advise.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16240 posts
You can stay in either, but I think that for touring purposes it's easier if you stay in Palermo. You can visit everything there is to see in Monreale in just a few hours and you can reach Monreale with a bus from Piazza Indipendenza very quickly.
Palermo proper has a lot of places to see.
The best area to stay in Palermo is roughly around the Teatro Massimo (aka Politeama).
The area closer to the station is not the best.
If you are touring Sicily by car, you may want to consider returning your rental car upon arrival in Palermo. You don't need a car while in Palermo, where traffic and parking are always a problem. You can go to the airport with the airport bus (at the Teatro Massimo) or by taxi when you depart.
Posted by
Carmel, CA, USA
2456 posts
Claire, I was just there in May. Sicily is wonderful! Monreale is a small city maybe 20 to 30 minutes from Palermo, almost a suburb, with one very special site, the Cathedral, with its wonderful mosaics. Palermo is a large bustling city, with a number of varied sites: churches, museums, markets, palaces, theaters, etc. Also many restaurants and a direct, frequent and quite cheap bus to the airport. So, if you want to do things during those days, I would say stay in Palermo and include a visit to the Cathedral in Monreale. If you mostly just want to relax, maybe someone can recommend a nice place to stay in Monreale, but then getting to the airport would likely be more complicated or expensive.
Posted by
OP
Sacramento, CA - Calif, United States
339 posts
Thanks to both of you. I am very excited about going to Sicily. We are spending 10 days there and there is so much to see. Thanks.
Posted by
Reston, VA, USA
810 posts
Claire, my daughter and I spent a week in Sicily last May and loved it. We split our time between Agrigento and Siracusa - and I notice you don't have Siracusa on your list. I hope you are planning to spend some time there; we were in the old city, Ortigia, and it was wonderful. Lots to see and do both in Ortigia and on the mainland in Siracusa. Whatever you decide, have a great trip!
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
Definitely stay in Palermo instead of Monreale. As stated above, Monreale is a very small place with one must-see sight, while Palermo is a big city with lots to see and do.
Here's a link to my trip report (I'm not finished it, but it has my hotel and restaurant recommendations, including those for Palermo): https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/sicily-palermo-caltanisetta-siracusa-taormina
I didn't get to Cefalu, but your other places are fine. In a short trip like yours, you can't see everything, or even a small fraction of everything, so don't worry about missing places like Siracusa; you'll just have to go back.
Posted by
OP
Sacramento, CA - Calif, United States
339 posts
Thank you Kathleen and Harold.
@Harold. I have been following your trip reports about Sicily and they are excellent. Keep them coming. We started with 10 days and soon realized that that is nowhere near enough time to explore all of Sicily and hope to return at a later date. This is in addition to more weeks in Italy for a total of a month of travel. So next time....