Palermo City Add-On

For people staying at the Hotel Plaza Opera, there is an excellent restaurant about 3 minutes walk from the hotel, literally on the next street. It's called Enosteria Sicula and its address is Via Torrearsa, 3. We had a tasting menu with a wine selection and it was great, and the staff were very welcoming and helpful. Not cheap, but very good value for money.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers enjoyed our Palermo City add-on at the Hotel Plaza Opéra after their Mountains of Sicily walking holiday.

It was an enjoyable holiday, just a few uncomfortable moments on day 5. Hotels on the walking holiday were very varied but enjoyable in different ways. Everyone was friendly on the walking holiday, and the scenery and wild flowers were beautiful. Cefalu felt like a completely different aspect of the holiday but was equally lovely. Also really enjoyed walking Palermo.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers enjoyed our Palermo and Catania City add-ons after their Mountains of Sicily self-guided walking holiday.

The walk lived up to expectations, a magic world of ancient and rare trees. The giant holly trees were worth the climb. The penultimate day is a very long downhill but luckily we had good weather unlike the following days when the storms hit. Eastern Sicily fascinating. Villa del Casale so crowded you can barely see the mosaics. It is surrounded by tat and you are blasted with pop music which destroys the ambiance. Ragusa and Notto well worth a visit. The museum at Syracuse is wonderful especially the strongroom in the basement with jewellery and coins. The outdoor archaeological museum a little under-whelming, no directions, surly staff and nothing to aid the imagination. A visit we particularly enjoyed was to Scicli where they film Inspector Montalbano. A beautiful small town full of churches and palaces and without masses of tourists. When we went they had an open day when schoolchildren showed us around. Best visited from Relais Cavalonga. 

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers had a 3-night stay at the Hotel Pricipe di Villafranca, in Palermo, before undertaking our Mountains of Sicily walking holiday and before going on to do our Treasures of Eastern Sicily Slowmotion journey.

I walked miles and miles each of the 5 days we were there, and loved every aspect of the city.  Got the hang of it after a few days.  I would highly recommend these 2 restaurants:  Libreria Dante on Via Maqueda at the Quattro Conti, and the Antica Focacceria San Francesco, Piazza San Francesco, on Via Alessandro Paternostro.  Libreria Dante is smaller, charmingly chaotic, you share tables, and there are none outside so it can get pretty warm in there, and cheaper, but the food is fantastic and really good value.  The Antica Focacceria is an institution, with lots of tables outside in the square, it seemed to be frequented by native Palermitans as well as tourists - I was given a small spleen burger to taste, absolutely delicious despite its name in English.

We thoroughly enjoyed our two full days in Palermo and managed to visit most of the recommended sights - we took a taxi out to Monreale to see the cathedral which was stunning. Scopello was a real contrast - a tiny village by the sea and close to the Nature Reserve. A good place to relax for a couple of days. We walked in the Nature Reserve and visited San Vito lo Capo and enjoyed lunch on the vast beach.

En route to Florio, we stopped off at Segesta which was well worthwhile although the parking, ticketing and bus arrangements could be better! We thought the area around Florio was a bit "down at heel" but we were happy with our stay at Baglio Donna Franca. From there we visited Erice which was busy but interesting. We took the funicular up to Erice and parked the car at the bottom. (We had a problem with the Parking Attendant on our return and he managed to take 25 Euros from us - it was partly our own fault but it left a bad taste!) Slightly disappointingly, we only spent a short time in Trapani as we were pestered on two or three occasions by men demanding money as we attempted to park the car and ended up parking around by the port. We had a quick look at Nubia and the saltpans and windmills.

En route to Menfi, we stopped to see Selinunte which, again, was something not to be missed. We had a good lunch by the beach at Marinella. Il Vigneto (once we found it!) was an extremely comfortable final base and we enjoyed our time there. We made a day trip to Agrigento to view The Valley of the Temples, another must-see place. We walked the beach at Porto Palo and had dinner twice at "Da Vittorio"

British Airways performed well and our flights in and out of Palermo were on time. The weather was kind to us - a thunderstorm on the evening we arrived and one wet afternoon.....otherwise it was blue skies and sunshine....and it was very warm!

Overall, we were very happy with our trip. Thank you for organising it for us.

This is a holiday we totally enjoyed and the variety of locations and hotels enriched our experience and understanding of western Sicily. We will always remember Palermo for the street food, and mosaics in the Cappella Palantina Chapel. Monreale Cathedral a short journey away was also sensational. The island of San Pantaleo with its beautiful Phoenician artefacts and the unique atmosphere of the nearby salt pans and windmills at Stagnone. Greek temples at Segesta and Selinunte had a profound impact that was quite unexpected. The stay on Marettimo in the Egadi Islands gave a wonderful calm to finish our holiday. The trip around the island on a little boat is a must. Sicilian wine and fish are amazing.

Adding on Palermo was a great contrast and hugely enjoyable. We went on a cycling tour with Social Bike which was really good. 

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers enjoyed 3 nights in Palermo at the Hotel Plaza Opéra following our Mountains of Sicily walking holiday.

Demanding, varied and delightful, this may well be the best Inntravel holiday that we have taken yet. In early May the mountains of the Madonie park are ablaze with wild flowers and there are spectacular views round every corner (including snow-capped Etna). You can walk for much of the day without seeing anyone and then return to a glorious and generous meal. The hotels range from the basic to the sumptuous but all are welcoming.
It's well worth including the Palermo add-on. There is so much to see in this extraordinary city. Don't miss the Palatinate chapel and the Palazzo Abatellis (museum of medieval art). We booked a private guided tour of Palermo with Anita Bestler of Tours-of-Sicily.com, which gave us a hugely informative introduction to the city.

The walk is graded 2 but it is hard work at times. The long descents on gravel paths are tiring. Take a walking pole (even if you hate them). You may also need a strong insect repellant too - one of our party reacted badly to unseen but voracious biting bugs. But don't let that put you off, this is a truly enjoyable holiday.

The Royal Ceres restaurant near the hotel in Catania, recommended by Inntravel, was friendly; the food was good and good value. It was very busy on Saturday night (29 April) and we were pleased to have booked in advance. It was much better than the Osteria de Bell' Antonio, also near the hotel (but not recommended by Inntravel), where the quality of the food did not match up to the pretensions (including live-fish delivery) or the price. We thought the new museum of the Roman and Greek amphitheatres on Via Vittorio Emanuelle II in Catania was well worth a visit and worth mentioning.

We were glad to have reserved a table for lunch at the recommended Trattoria de Salvatore in Petralia Soprana, as it was completely full - the food was of Michelin quality.

Highlights for us in Palermo were (in order): the Martorama, Monreale Cathedral & Capella Palatina. Palermo is a buzzing city - there were still things to see and do after three full days there.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined our city add-on stays in Catania and Palermo with The Mountains of Sicily

The BA food which they now sell is no more than adequate - better to take your own packed lunch or buy something at the airport before you fly.

The interiors of the Cathedral Church in Petralia Soprana and the nearby Chiesa SS Salvatore are both very impressive, though different from each other. Not sure if they are always accessible - but do go in if you can.

An extra day at Agrituristica Bergi enabled us to walk into Castelbuono and back at leisure on the intervening day, and enjoy lunch there, with the following day's walk to Santa Anastasia then a relatively short one.

The extension to Palermo was worthwhile. Plenty to see and a safe feeling city.