Sicily before the tour

Do you mean on your arrival day, or another full day after arrival? Either way, Palermo. It’s a great city that deserves as much time as you can give it, not just one afternoon. I did a comprehensive tour of Sicily earlier this year, which didn’t go to Cefalu so I can’t comment on that town, but I can’t say I felt I missed anything great by not going there. But with four nights in Palermo I would have liked even more.

Be sure to fit this in during your free time in Palermo. Advance ticketing suggested. You will walk by it on the walking tour, but it is worth going into it.

https://www.federicosecondo.org/en/home-english/

I went on a tour of Teatro Massimo, the opera house in Palermo that was very interesting. I also found it very interesting to walk around the city on my own the day before the tour starts (I suppose you could do both of those the morning and early afternoon of the day the tour starts if necessary). Enjoy the tour and the food of Sicily!!

When I did the tour we did stay in Cefalu and I went to the beach. I loved this tour, but Palermo was my very least favorite place we went. It was a few years ago, but it was very dirty, gritty, lots of graffiti and a dead cat lay in the street at the start of my walk from hotel to explore the city. I'm sure that last thing was what influenced my opinion the most. This was when tour started in Taormina and everything up to that point had been fabulous.

Admittedly I saw no dead cat, but I have to say that I had heard about how gritty, dirty and so on Palermo was, but I honestly didn’t see that. It seemed just as orderly and clean as pretty much any other Italian city.

Hi Marie,

I just looked up the itinerary for your tour time in Palermo. It is very short, plus a portion of the one full day is out at Monreale. I stayed in Palermo for five nights independently in 2024, and I enjoyed Palermo very much! During my time there I went into several stunning churches, did the Palazzo Federico tour you will be doing with the RS tour, attended an opera at the opera house, went through the Norman palace, attended a puppet show (loved it), did a cooking class and enjoyed wandering the tourist areas. My last day I did take the train out to Cefalu. It’s a nice town. But as soon as I saw the sea of day-tourists coming down the hill, I exited up a side street and returned to Palermo.

Yes, don’t expect Palermo to be pristine. It had a lot of interesting character that’s great for photography. I was there as an older solo woman and always felt safe. I did take a taxi from the airport, and I know that gave me a great first impression of the city.

FYI - of the 50 Italian cities where I have stayed, Palermo is in my Top 5.

You have all convinced me to explore Palermo and not rush through it. I was leaning that way but know I’m sure. Thank you for the advice and the suggestions.

Top FOUR!

From my spring 2025 trip report:

Palermo 5 nights. We really loved Palermo, even more than we thought we would, and we now think another 3 or 4 nights would have been a good idea. We could have eaten even more of the best pistachio and the best espresso gelato we have ever had (rather than subtle and creamy it was intense and with crunchy bits in it, like Palermo itself). Dolce Capo was the great pistachio gelateria.

Our apartment’s neighborhood was perfect for us, easy walking distance to everything we wanted to see — a 5 minute walk to the southwest got us to the Cathedral (whose eclectic exterior was incredible, but we didn’t go inside or up onto the roof).

We both enjoyed the Palazzo Abatellis art gallery (Triumph of Death, Gossaert’s Malvagna Triptych, Antonello de Messina’s Annunciate Virgin) even though my husband is, after many years of keeping me company in art galleries and churches, inclined to skip the art stuff now. One experience we loved there was when some young Italian students on a school field trip practiced their art appreciation lecture on us about the Gossaert. In English. https://www.wondersofsicily.com/palermo-abatellis-museum.htm

The Ballaro and Vucciria markets were OK but there were way too many people taking photos and restaurants trying to entice you inside, few people actually doing their grocery shopping like we were.

We ate great local food, especially street food, but our favorite very casual place was Trattoria Trapani near the train station.

Husband went to the opera. The timings of the operas in Palermo and Catania, plus the town we wanted to visit on Easter Monday, is why we had to crisscross the island the way we did.

We had visited the Monreale cathedral in 2001 but wanted to go again and spend as much time as we wanted. If you go, see if you can find the four rabbits hiding in the otherwise geometric designs in the mosaic floors in the church. Really happy that we made this return visit — we especially loved the cloisters (new to us) with all the strange, amusing, and often not obviously religious carvings on the column tops.

https://www.wondersofsicily.com/palermo-monreale-cloister.htm
We liked eating at Osteria Peper’s in Monreale.

The Baroque fountain in the Piazza della Vergogna (nicknamed “Shame” because of the nude statues) had a high fence around it, so it was hard to see all its cool details. We’re always glad that Italy is restoring its art treasures but always bummed when we can’t see stuff because of it.

We went to the Palazzo dei Normanni and its tiny Palatine Chapel right when it opened at 8:30am — the royal chambers are only open on Fridays and the weekends (when the parliament is not in session). And the cruise ship and other tourists crowd the chapel starting about 10am.

If we went back to Palermo, we’d see: Palazzo Chiaramonte Steri and its food market painting by Renato Guttuso, the Martorana (Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio) mosaics, the Museo delle Maioliche Stanze al Genio, and the Church of Santa Caterina d’Alessandria. Also the archeology museum (we should have gone, but I was excessively put off that only the first floor was open).

We enjoyed seeing the theatre and archeological museum. They have turtles in their courtyard fountain. We also did the palace with its amazing mosaics in the chapel. Make sure to see the 3 churches that are all together. We missed out on one for a wedding, but the groom was military so we enjoyed the show from a respectful distance. Oh, this is where we also listened to a nun berate a seller for setting up his stand on a Sunday. With her tone, we didn't need to understand what she was saying, you just knew.

If you have just flown in and feel jet lagged, perhaps go to the Botanical Garden and have a walk around there.
It’s not lush and green but more arid.
Still interesting and has some old glasshouses and fountains.
Then walk west along the waterfront.