Palermo and Neighborhood Highlights – 6 days

Welcome to the warm, beautiful and pleasant island of Sicily!

Upon arrival at Palermo Airport, please proceed through Passport Control and collect your luggage inside the customs area.

Our italian-speaking driver will be waiting for you at the arrival department.

Then transfer to your hotel.

Today you are greeted at Palermo hotel and driven by taxi to Monreale to see with your expert Guide where the Arab-Norman art and architecture reached the pinnacle of its glory with the Dome (Admission fee: not included). Launched in 1174 by William II, it represents the scenes from the Old and New Testaments all in golden mosaics.

Later the taxi will drive you back to Palermo to continue your walking tour of the city center. Explore a large open air street market (Capo or Ballarò) that captures the flavor of Palermo’s Saracen Arab past. Enjoy a local street food tasting inside the market. Then continue by seeing “four corners” that converge Palermo at a quartet of baroque palaces left over from the heyday of Spanish rule dating from 1560, Piazza Pretoria and Via Maqueda.

The tour ends at Piazza Verdi (Massimo Opera Theatre square). Independent transfer to your hotel. This afternoon is at leisure.

Optional Tour Add-On
#1 - Cooking Class and dine with locals, half day PM

Multilingual tour: Italian, English and Spanish (guaranteed). French and German on request (not guaranteed).

The tour will start from one of the meeting points located in Palermo. Then departure to tour western Sicily where we reach Erice uptown. The Elymians settled the medieval town of Erice, which was an important religious site associated with the goddess Venus. Wander through its ancient streets and visit indipendently some of the famous homemade pastry shops—world-famous for marzipan candies and other delicacies like almond and pistachio pastries.

Later we travel through the Saltpans to see the historic salt flats works, where the ancient tradition of harvesting salt from the sea is still practiced.
Then we continue onto Segesta, one of the major cities of the ancient indigenous Elymian people, to visit the unfinished Doric temple (Admission Fee: not included), late 5th century BC, built on a hilltop just outside of the ancient city and has a commanding view of the surrounding area. Then we return to Palermo.

Regular Tour to Mount Etna and Taormina from Palermo, with weekly departures on Wednesday and Friday
This is a very long day tour –around 12 hours– which involves the team to drive for around 3 hours each way.
Transfer service (and return transfer) with multilanguage Tour Leades from Palermo to Mt. Etna up to 1900 meters with a short stop on the way climbing up the Volcano and free time to explore the area or ascent above 1900 meters on your own.

Then transfer to Taormina and free time to relax, stroll around or visit the Greek Theatre on your own.

Multilingual tour: Italian, English and Spanish (guaranteed). French and German on request (not guaranteed).

The tour will start from one of the meeting points located in Palermo.

The driver will pick you up and will start driving in direction of Piazza Armerina (approximately 2 hours and half from Palermo).
Upon arrival, you will have the opportunity to enjoy the visit of the amazing Roman Villa of Casale, that belongs to the Unesco Heritage. Built on the 4th century AD, the Villa was later forgotten and only in the 20th century excavations revealed the whole building.

It is the supreme example of a luxury Roman villa (about 3500 square meters of floor mosaics) and was probably the residence of a member of the upper class of the Roman Empire. The mosaics discovered here are celebrated among scholars of antiquity.

The visit inside the Roman Villa will be done independently: approximately 1 hour or 1 hour and half, depending the number of visitors inside the Villa. Every room has information boards. Admission fee not included: at the moment the price is Eur 10 per person for Adult.

Then we will drive approximately 2 hours before reaching the Valley of the Temples of Agrigento. The walking tour of the Valley of the Temples will be done with a licensed Guide.

Admission fee not included: at the moment the price is Eur 10 per person for Adult. This archaeological site belongs to the Unesco World Heritage since 1997.

The visit of the Valley of the Temples covers the Temple of Hera, Concordia, Hercules and the Temple of Zeus. Agrigento, according to legend, was founded by Daedalus and his son Icarus after they had fled from Crete “by air”.

Historically, however, its origins date back to 582 B.C. when it was founded by Rhodian-cretan colonist from the neighbouring Gela who named their city Akragas after the nearby river of that name.

It rapidly increased in size, importance and military strength under Phalarides, the first tyrant, and later under Theron, who extended his sway over northern Sicily as far as Himera.

Agrigento was a city of artists and illustrious personages, amongst whom the philosopher Empedocles. Pindar defines it as “the most beautiful of mortal cities” and, in fact, in the Vth century B.C., those famous temples, whose beauty we still admire today, were built.

Later we will drive back to Palermo.

Time to say goodbye to Sicily.

Our italian-speaking driver will bring you from your hotel in Palermo to Palermo airport.