Where to stay in Palermo: the best areas for a first visit, for the sea, for a month

If it’s your first time, stay in the old town, between the Quattro Canti, the Teatro Massimo and the markets: almost everything you want to see in Palermo is there, and you can walk to it. If you prefer wide avenues, shops and quieter evenings, choose the area around the Politeama and Via Libertà, which is also the easiest for a stay of a month. If you’re coming for the sea, stay at Mondello, about ten kilometres to the north. We manage homes in all three: below you’ll find what to expect from each, how to get there and, at the end, Marzamemi, on the other side of the island.

For a first visit: the old town

Palermo’s old town is divided into four by two straight streets, Via Maqueda and the Cassaro — Via Vittorio Emanuele — which cross at the Quattro Canti. Inside are the Cathedral, the palaces, the churches and the street markets: Ballarò, the Capo, the Vucciria. Towards the sea is the Kalsa, with its squares and palaces.

This is the part of the city you live on foot, and in the evening you eat a few steps from home. Our home in the old town is on Via Maqueda, four minutes’ walk from the Quattro Canti and six from the Teatro Massimo; the Stazione Centrale, the main railway station, is at the end of the same street, a quarter of an hour on foot.

The downside: around the markets and the Vucciria, nights run late, and the narrow streets hold the noise. If you’re a light sleeper, ask whether the home faces the street or the courtyard. And the old town has a limited traffic zone: if you’re arriving by car, read the rules first (they’re linked below).

For avenues and quiet: Politeama and Via Libertà

Beyond the Teatro Massimo the old town ends and the nineteenth-century city begins: the Teatro Politeama, its square, and Via Libertà, the wide tree-lined avenue that leads towards the Giardino Inglese. This is the Palermo of shops and cafés, with quieter evenings than the old town.

From the Politeama the old town starts a few minutes’ walk away, and the port is close. It’s the right area for families, for people travelling for work and for anyone staying more than a few days. Our home is on Via Orsini, near Via Libertà, a quarter of an hour’s walk from the Politeama.

For the sea: Mondello

Mondello is Palermo’s beach: a sandy bay between Monte Pellegrino and Monte Gallo, with the old fishing village and the promenade along the seafront. It’s within the city limits, about eleven kilometres from the centre.

It’s the choice for the summer, if you want to get up and walk to the beach: our home is about ten minutes on foot from the sea. The downside is the distance from the city: for the old town you need the bus or a car. If your trip is half sea, half city, split it: a few nights in the centre, a few at Mondello.

We also have a home on Corso Calatafimi, on the road to Monreale: it’s outside the centre, and it suits you if you’re travelling by car.

For a month

For a month or a semester — a university course, a hospital placement, a spell of work in the city — you don’t go through the booking portal. We have homes let from one to twelve months, on the contracts Italian law provides for temporary stays and for students: furnished, with the bills and the building’s service charges already sorted, and one person to write to.

For a long stay the most convenient area is Politeama and Via Libertà: well served, with shops on your doorstep and the old town on foot. How it works is on our page for guests, under “If you’re staying more than a few nights”. To find out what’s free, write to us with the dates and how many of you there are.

How to get to Palermo

• By air: Falcone Borsellino airport is at Punta Raisi, about 30 kilometres from the centre. The train leaves from the station on the lower floor of the terminal, every day (Palermo airport, by train); the Prestia e Comandè coach reaches the Stazione Centrale in about 50 minutes, with tickets online, at the desk in the arrivals hall or on board (the buses from the airport).
• By train: the Stazione Centrale is at the end of Via Maqueda and Via Roma, where the old town begins.
• By sea: the port is in the city, next to the centre and the Politeama.
• By car: the centre has a limited traffic zone, the ZTL, with gates at its entrances. The rules and the day pass, which can also be activated with a foreign mobile number, are on the City of Palermo’s mobility portal (in Italian). Before you book, ask us whether the home is inside or outside the zone, and where to leave the car.

Marzamemi, on the other side of the island

On the south-east coast, in the province of Syracuse, we also look after a home near Marzamemi. It’s a small fishing hamlet belonging to the town of Pachino, on the Ionian Sea, which grew up around a tonnara, a tuna fishery: Piazza Regina Margherita, with the fishermen’s cottages and the palace of the Prince of Villadorata, built in 1752, is the heart of the village (City of Pachino, Marzamemi, in Italian). To the north is the Vendicari nature reserve, and Noto is about twenty kilometres away.

From Palermo it’s about three hundred kilometres: not a day trip, but another holiday. Catania airport is about a hundred kilometres away. Our home is in the countryside, towards Portopalo di Capo Passero: dates and prices are on the booking portal, under Marzamemi.

How to book a home we manage

Palermo’s available homes, with dates and prices, are on the booking portal, under Palermo. The same homes are also on Airbnb and Booking.com, on the same terms. If the dates you want don’t appear, call us on +39 011 1962 0297 or message us on WhatsApp at +39 351 361 3447: we can’t promise you a free home, but we’ll tell you straight away what there is.

Before you arrive you get the instructions: the address, where to leave the car, and the markets and trattorias we recommend. On arrival your identity has to be checked against your document, as Italian law requires — it can also be done remotely, through a video link at the entrance — and we look after your arrival ourselves. Why it works this way is in our guide to why hosts in Italy ask for your passport.

How a stay works is also on our Palermo page.