Multi-Day Tours in Palermo

A stay of several nights in Palermo treats the city and its surroundings as two separate jobs. Two days cover the centre: the Norman Palace with the Palatine Chapel, the cathedral with its royal tombs, Ballarò for lunch. Then the radius opens. Monreale's cathedral is a short hop up the hill, about an hour there and back, and fits into a morning. Cefalù is a day on the coast, a Norman cathedral and a rock to climb behind it. Trapani is 115 km and a 90-minute drive west, with Erice above it and the Marsala wine country and salt pans just south. Those distances decide how a trip is cut.

Routes of several days all begin in Palermo, and each spends a different number of nights in it. The four-day city break gives three, small group with a shared guide. The palace tour begins at 13:00 on arrival day, a cooking class starts at the Capo market, and a full day goes to Erice and Marsala with a wine tasting. The self-drive trips toward Catania and through the west give two nights, with the car collected at Palermo airport on day one. The eleven-day loop uses Palermo only for the first and last night. The private week gives two, with a guide on the second.

Practical. The palace tour on arrival day starts at 13:00, so land in the morning. Transfers from the airport to the hotel are optional on the city break, and private on the guided week. July and August afternoons pass 30C, so sightseeing belongs in the morning, and winter days sit near 15C. Full price is charged for a cancellation within nine days of departure on these routes. City tax is paid at the hotel.