In Palermo, cathedrals, palaces and churches overlook the glittering Mediterreanean sea. Signs on every street corner advertise local food and the surrounding beaches glimmer year-round.
It’s the biggest city in Sicily, with millennia of history – but people still ask “is Palermo worth visiting”?. It might not have the same fame as other Italian cities, or be quite as charming as spots on the Amalfi Coast or Cinque Terre, but Palermo delivers something for all senses.
So yes, after a trip to Sicily’s largest city with my mum, I do think Palermo is worth visiting – let’s delve into some reasons why, along with some other considerations to make before planning a trip here.
Reasons to visit Palermo
History
Palermo’s history appears directly in the buildings and layout of the city. The earliest settlement grew around what is now the Kalsa district, chosen by the Phoenicians for its protected bay.
Roman Palermo added straighter roads and new public spaces, although only small fragments of that period remain today.
The Arab rule that began in the 9th century reshaped Palermo far more noticeably. Markets such as Ballarò, Capo and Vucciria follow trading patterns introduced in this era, when open-air stalls became central to daily life.
Elements of Arab garden design remain visible too, with enclosed courtyards and shaded spaces still found in older palazzi.
Several of Palermo’s most recognisable landmarks show how these influences blended. The most significant example is Palermo Cathedral.
During Arab rule, it served as the Great Mosque of Palermo, replacing the earlier Christian basilica. When the Normans took the city in 1072, it was converted back into a cathedral.
The exterior still displays this long timeline, with Arab-style arches, Norman additions, Gothic sections and later baroque changes all visible on one structure.
The Palatine Chapel inside the Palazzo dei Normanni has a similar mix. Its mosaics, Arabic inscriptions and carved wooden ceiling follow Byzantine, North African and Norman traditions. Spanish and Bourbon rule in later centuries introduced wide boulevards such as Via Maqueda, baroque churches and 19th-century theatres including the Teatro Massimo.
These layers sit close together, so walking between neighbourhoods takes you past Arab arches, Norman towers, baroque facades and modern-era public buildings within a short distance.
It makes Palermo a walking history book that’s ideal for any curious traveller!
Food
Sicilian food fuses traditional Italian dishes with Mediterranean flavours.
Pasta alla Norma is the signature pasta dish, made with aubergine, ricotta and basil. You’ll find this across the island, but most restuarants in Palermo will be able to whip you up a dish!
There’s also plenty of Palerman street food. I wasn’t able to eat all of this – much was deep-fried which doesn’t work well with some health problems I have – but we did a street food tour and sampled the following:
- Cezillo – potato croquettes
- Panela – dough battered
- Caponata – aubergine with olives, capers etc
- Sfincione – pizza with tomato sauce
- Brocollo with pastella – battered cauliflower
Sweets-wise, granita is an icy fruit-flavoured dessert, like a cross between a sorbet and a slushie! Get it in lemon for the most Sicilian flavour.
Then there’s cannoli. This famous dessert is everywhere in sicily – it’s a wrapped biscuit, with a hollow centre, and thick cream inside. It’s often coated with pistachio, dried orange or chocolate.
Click here to read more about the street food tour.
Unique culture
Palermo feels…. Different.
Its culture draws from centuries of contact with North Africa, southern Italy, Greece and the wider Mediterranean, and you see this clearly in everyday routines.
Markets such as Ballarò, Capo and Vucciria are central to local life.
These markets run along narrow lanes that date back to the Arab period, and many stalls follow layouts passed down through generations.
The most prominent festival is the Festa di Santa Rosalia every July, when the city marks the 1624 end of plague with a procession that moves through the centro storico. Districts like Kalsa and Albergheria also hold smaller celebrations tied to local churches, often with food stands and music that run late into the evening.
Traditional crafts remain active too, with workshops around Via Vittorio Emanuele and the Kalsa district produce ceramics, wooden puppets and embroidered textiles.
The Opera dei Pupi, recognised by UNESCO, still stages chivalric stories using carved wooden puppets in theatres around the old town!
Sicily has many dialects, and food names in particular often follow Sicilian spelling rather than standard Italian. Neighbourhoods show their own character as well. Areas such as Kalsa, La Loggia and Borgo Vecchio mix historic buildings with modern cafés, small bakeries and long-standing family businesses.
And, thanks to the warm weather, evenings typically revolve around outdoor dining, street food stands and small bars that spill onto pavements.
Sicilian culture is a mix of Italian, Greek and North African influences, and Palermo is right at its heart.
Mediterranean weather
An island slap bang in the middle of the Med, Sicily generally has hot weather in the summer and mild conditions in the winter.
That said, on our first day in Sicily in November, the heavens completely opened! But the next two days were lovely and sunny – I even went for a swim in nearby Cefalu.
So generally, Palermo has pretty good weather, whether you want a sunsure holiday or a winter sun trip!
Day trips
Palermo’s a city well worth your time – you could spend a day or two ambling around, doing this food tour, seeing the inside of the palace and visiting various churches – and another day just soaking in the vibe.
But there are a few excellent day trips from Palermo too!
I’d recommend taking the hour-long train from Palermo Centrale to Cefalu. This seaside town has bright Mediterranean waters with a long beach and an old town with a Norman Cathedral.
The other day trip we did was a day tour to Segusta, the Salt Pans and Erice. Segusta is a must-visit, a glorious Greek temple. In November, there were barely any other tourists there!
The Salt Pans are interesting; it’s an industry that’s defined the west part of the island for centuries. I bought some salt-based Christmas presents here too!
Erice has glorious views, but it was a strange place to visit out of season – we just walked up the hill and grabbed some lunch here.
This tour is a transfer-only tour, but it’s worth doing to have the transport.
You can read more about the tour by clicking here.
It’s affordable
Taxis aside (see below!), Palermo is a relatively affordable destination. You can grab a bowl of pasta for around 7 euro, and a spritz will cost about the same.
Accomodation can be very affordable. The hotel we stayed in, Liberty Palace, was located in an apartment building near the station. The entry was a little foreboding – lots of locks and an old-fashioned lift – but the rooms were modern and comfortable, with helpful staff (not available 24/7 but responsive on Whatsapp) and good WiFi.
You can take a look at them here
Considerations for visiting Palermo
It’s walkable, but otherwise not that easy to get around
We walked everywhere in Palermo (although do be mindful of the cobbled streets!).
The station is around a 20 minute walk from the centro historico – we stayed in Liberty Palace, which is five minutes from the station. We appreciated not having to walk with all our cases, but it did mean around a 20 minute walk each morning!
I couldn’t work out public transport – there are buses running around the outside of the old town, but these don’t typically run through the cobbled streets of the city, some of which are pedestrian-only.
Now, taxis. There are taxis, but they cost a lot of money. On the last night, I took a taxi from Liberty Palace to the port and it cost a whopping 25 euro for a seven minute drive! This was the price that everyone indicated it would be online, so I know it wasn’t just one scammer. Taxis are generally very expensive.
Uber is technically also available, but I’ve seen lots of reports from people who say the same thing – I’ve read reports that say quoted rates are always raised significantly.
The weather in winter is variable
As I mentioned, we had a lot of rain the first day we arrived in Palermo. And this rain saturated us. We were absolutely drenched! The rain seemed to be a lot “wetter” (if that’s possible) than British rain. The raindrops were huge, they plummeted out the sky and my shoes felt like they had puddles in for days!
But, that was just one day, and we had sunshine for the rest of the trip!
It’s the other side of the island to Mount Etna
While all sides of Sicily are worth visiting, if you fancy a trip to Etna, Palermo is the other side of the island. It’s a long day trip to one of Europe’s most active volcanoes – you’ll need to head to Cantania (where there is an airport and flights to the UK) or Syracuse instead.
Visiting Palermo: things to do and quick tips
Here’s everything we did in Palermo!
- this food tour, which will take you to many of the city’s famous buildings
- rooftop drinks at Le Terrazze del Sole bar, on top of the B&B hotel (Google Maps location here)
- visited the inside of the palace
- walked around the opera house, which is the largest in Italy and third largest in Europe
- visited the nunnery (on the walking tour) for enormous cannoli
- went inside the cathedral – you can climb up to the roof, but we got there too late!
- took a train to Cefalu for a few hours
- this day trip of Segusta, the Salt Pans and Erice
We stayed at Liberty Palace, which was a great price, with comfy rooms (my bed was amazing!) and helpful staff, and was just a five minute walk from the station. Click here to read more about it.
We walked everywhere – getting around was difficult otherwise.
Palermo felt as safe as anywhere, but we were very mindful of our possessions. I swear by this crossbody bag from Amazon to keep my valuables safe.
I took the train from Milan to Palermo (which took 20 hours) on a voyage from London to Sicily without flying (and back!). The train is the longest in Western Europe and to get to Sicily, it’s loaded onto a ferry! My mum flew from London Heathrow on a British Airways rewards flight with Avios points.
Will you visit Palermo?
I hope you enjoy Palermo as much as we did – we’re already planning a trip to the other side of Sicily next year, so there will be more Sicily posts to come!
