Palermo Holidays 2024/2025

Escape to southern Italy and explore Sicily’s enchanting capital city of Palermo. There is so much that attracts tourists to this beautiful corner of the world, from fascinating history and magnificent royal palaces to mouth-watering food and entertainment that will take your breath away. The pretty streets and promenades overlooking the sparkling Tyrrhenian Sea are the perfect setting for a city break steeped in history and filled with fun.

Your days in Palermo will be filled with tasty food in a glorious sun-drenched setting, and your evenings could see you sipping drinks in a swanky cocktail bar or visiting the spectacular neoclassical Massimo Theatre (or Teatro Massimo) for a world-class opera performance. However you like to enjoy your city breaks, you’ll find something about Palermo to fall in love with.

Wandering the streets of Palermo, you’ll pass by endless eye-opening beauties. The city is scattered with local shops down crooked side streets, stunning chapels, regal palaces and baroque churches. It’s a cultural melting pot, with architecture you could marvel at for hours and warm, welcoming locals. Whilst Palermo is not the most visited of Italy’s cities, it’s more than worthy of a spot high up on your city break bucket list.

Discover Fascinating History

Palermo’s history is quite astonishing, and one of the key things that draws in so many visitors each year. The city itself is over 2,700 years old and is known to be the ‘most conquered city in history’ owing to its many different dominions from over the centuries. You can learn so much on your visit, especially when you go to famous spots like the Norman Palace and Catacombe dei Cappuccini.

Those who like to tick UNESCO World Heritage Sites off their list on their travels will be delighted to hear that Palermo is one of the cities with the most of these in the world, with eight fascinating sites to discover. The most popular of these are the Palermo Cathedral, the Chiesa della Martorana (or Martorana Church), the Norman Palace and the Palatine Chapel.

Incredible Italian Food & Markets

On any given day, you can expect to be completely immersed in a colourful, lively street market in Palermo. It may be that you’re feeling peckish and want to try some authentic Italian street food, or you could be browsing overflowing market stalls for souvenirs to take home with you – whatever kind of shopping you like to do between tourist spots, you’ll love browsing all Palermo has to offer.

The most famous markets to visit on your trip to Palermo are the Ballaro Market in the south of the city, and the Vucciria Market in the ancient quarter of Castellammare. Both locals and tourists gather at these markets, creating a vibrant atmosphere among the rows of diverse food stalls. The Vucciria Market is even known to come alive at night, providing visitors with great value aperitifs that often keep them dancing until the early hours!

Evening Entertainment That Never Ends

As you’ll have gathered, the evenings are often the best time of day in Palermo! You could be looking for nice restaurants, busy pubs, live music or elegant bars and you’re more than likely to find just what you want here. Many love the nightlife in Palermo as you just never know where you’ll end up – it could be that you stumble across people dancing the night away in a cobbled side street, or you might find yourself at an ice cream parlour for some late night gelato!

If you want to have a special and sophisticated evening on your holiday to Palermo, we’d head for the iconic Massimo Theatre and have a night at the opera. This incredible building is the largest of its kind in Italy, and one of the biggest you’ll find in Europe. It has faultless acoustics and plays host to opera, concert and ballet events from all over the world. Spending a night here is the perfect way to enjoy a romantic night in Sicily.