Palermo and surrounding towns

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
6
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
7
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
6
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
3
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
6
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
5
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
55 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
341st/454
Top 80%
continent
Europe
country
Italy
Length of time
1-2 days
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$170 (typically $80 - $260)
Time of year visited
June
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"

Summary

Palermo and its surrounding towns are often shown as the highlight of Sicily . . . unfortunately, I disagree.  Don’t get me wrong, its nice – the giant grid section of the city centre is impressive with its architecture and buzzing nightlife, and nearby Monreale’s Cathedral is worth the visit – but the highlights of Sicily are in the east – in particular in Wandering the Old Towns of Eastern Sicily and the The Aeolian Islands–  so prioritise accordingly and fly into Catania rather than Palermo if you have the choice.

 

Palermo and surrounding towns - Via Maqueda

#1 Tip

I’ve listed below some tips for a trip to Palermo, but my #1 tip is to venture an hour or so to the west for the magical villages and gorgeous coastline by the picture-perfect Scopello.  The way to do it is make your way to Castellammare del Golfo, renting a yacht (we got €400 for the day for 4 people in June 2025) sailing along the coast to Scopello, and then further driving to the pretty town of Trapani.  This was my highlight.

 

West of Palermo - Taking a yacht (reasonably priced!) along the coast to Scopello

Taking a yacht (reasonably priced!) along the coast to Scopello

Palermo Highlights

IMG_2074-compressed-aspect-ratio-900-675

1. Making the drive west to Castellammare del Golfo, renting a yacht and sailing along the coast to the picture-perfect Scopello

IMG_2014-compressed-aspect-ratio-900-675

2. Walking the Palermo Old Town from Teatro Politeama Garibaldi along Via Maqueda to the Four Corners and Palazzo Pretoria - super grand and well worth it

IMG_2036-compressed-aspect-ratio-675-900

3. Cocktails at Mak Mixology - its often hard to get these things right, especially in a tourist hotspot but this place nails it

IMG_8927-compressed-aspect-ratio-675-900

4. The golden mosaics at Monreale's insanely impressive Cathedral

IMG_2022-compressed-aspect-ratio-675-900

5. Experiencing how Italy does beaches at Mondello . . . not very well! Although . . . the Palazzina Liberty is worth seeing

IMG_2127-compressed-aspect-ratio-675-900

6. Taking a walk past Modello to the Capo Gallo Reserve.  The crowds drop off and its a beautiful walk under the dramatic cliffs

Top Tips for Palermo

  • Palermo Centre – the walk from Teatro Politeama Garibaldi along Via Maqueda to the Four Corners and Palazzo Pretoria is super grand and well worth it.  Rest of Palermo though is a standard large southern Italian city – charm largely overshadowed by the grime and noise.

 

The Teatro Massimo in central Palermo

The Teatro Massimo in central Palermo

 

  • Be sure to have a cocktail at Mak Mixology – really cool sort of semi completed roof of an old arcade, with cracking cocktails. Its on the route above so hard to miss.

 

  • Modello (Palermo’s summer playground) . . . don’t bother.  It’s ok for an evening stroll and has some dramatic cliff surroundings nearby, but be prepared for beach life Italian style. This means the sand already taken by either the army of sun lounge sellers or the families who protect every inch that they claimed at 7am and don’t intend to leave until 9pm (Italian beaches tend to be a bit gash by world-standards).

 

  • Instead . . . take a walk round the back to the Capo Gallo Reserve.  The crowds drop off and its a beautiful walk under the dramatic cliffs.  Start anywhere near the the north end of the Modello Beach.  About a 1.5hr walk there and back.

 

  • Monreale is worth the visit – pretty town, nice views, insanely impressive church interior.

Monreale is worth the visit to Palermo alone - magical side streets surrounding the majestic cathedral

Monreale is worth the visit to Palermo alone – magical side streets surrounding the majestic cathedral

Experiences Nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *