Palermo, Sicily makes for a great weekend trip, and there are also great spots around the city that you can easily fit into your trip (like Cefalù) especially if you make your visit a long weekend.
I’m so glad that my friend Isabel and I planned for an extra day, which let us enjoy one of my favorite formats for 3-day weekend trips – a city day on each end with the middle day to spend outdoors or doing something active.
Visiting Cefalù involved an active morning followed by a relaxing afternoon swimming and lounging on the beach – and we were still able to be back to Palermo easily in time for dinner. And the hiking, the beach, and the sights in town and in the hills above Cefalù were all quite memorable.
Here’s what we loved doing on this day trip from Palermo:
Things to Do
Around Town
Cefalù Cathedral
The building itself is distinctive, and it looks like a cross between a fortress and a church, with some very unusual architecture. Once you go inside, the interior is like a traditional church, with some beautiful artwork.
A visit doesn’t take long, so it’s worth stopping in even if you only have a few minutes.
Beach
Reward after our hike – beach time!
After hiking up and down a mountain on a hot day, there’s nothing I like to do more than head to the beach and take a dip.
Cefalù’s beach is easily accessible from the center, and not far from where the hike lets you off in town. And since Sicily is further south than other parts of Italy, it was pleasant swimming weather and a refreshing water temperature already in mid-late June when I visited.
TRAVEL SAVVY TIP! There is a fair bit of beachfront, so walk a bit if needed to find a good spot. There are also many areas with lounge chairs that you can rent, so find one with spots available.
TRAVEL SAVVY TIP! If you’re lucky like we were, people will be walking up and down the beach offering massages at discount prices. Especially if you’ve been hiking, it’s a great way to relax tired muscles.
Shopping
Cefalù is enough of a tourist destination in summer that there are many shops lining its medieval cobblestone streets.
All sorts of Sicilian specialties are available, from the traditional blue and yellow tiles to culinary specialties like pistachio pesto and local wine. It’s a great spot to pick up some souvenirs.
Off the Beaten Path
Hike to La Rocca & Temple of Diana
Besides the beach, this hike above town was the main reason we visited. It is steep enough to have beautiful views at the top, but overall it was not too strenuous, taking around a half hour to reach the top.
Once you ascend, there are spread out ruins and sweeping views of the coast to appreciate as you linger as long as you like.
Where to Eat – Best Bites
Non Solo Pane
This is a great spot to pick up bites to go before (or after) your hike, as it has a lot of portable food and is located near the bottom of the stairs that take you to and from the first section of hiking.
I grabbed some of Sicily’s most portable food – arrancini – stuffed rice balls with different fillings, which are then coated in bread crumbs and fried. There is a reason this dish is a local one!
Ristorante Helios
There are savory food options as well, but I can only vouch for the pastries, which were a delicious snack. And let’s be real, the rest was breakfast the next morning.
TRAVEL SAVVY TIP! Get at least one item with pistachios, which are grown locally in Sicily. You can taste the freshness and flavor of the nut so well.
Obviously with the morning hike and food on-the-go I didn’t end up having any sit-down meals, but there are quite a lot of highly-rated restaurants around town, especially for seafood.
TRAVEL SAVVY TIP! If you’re looking for an Italian seal of approval, I find Google reviews to be more accurate for places in Italy since locals are more likely to review a restaurant there than on one of the other review websites.
(More) Practical Tips for Visiting
Come by train
Trains run very frequently from Palermo and along the coast in between, and it only takes a little less than an hour to arrive. Unless you’re already renting a car for a road trip around Sicily, the train is the most convenient way to get to Cefalù, and the ride from Palermo is quite scenic.
TRAVEL SAVVY TIP! Check the schedule ahead of time for your return trip to Palermo, so you have a sense of what your options are.
TRAVEL SAVVY TIP! It’s not unusual for trains to run late in Italy, so leave a bit of extra time if there’s a specific time you need to be back in Palermo.
Avoid August (if you can)
August is peak travel time across Europe, and you’ll have a far more crowded experience if you visit then.
I had a great visit to Palermo and Cefalù in late June – it was warm enough to swim and shops and restaurants were open, but it wasn’t super busy with tourists yet.
Are there any sights around Cefalù that I missed? What other trips from Palermo or around Sicily would you recommend?
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Books to Read on Vacation: Summer Reading List 2019
When I travel, I always like to read at least one book that is set in my destination. And since vacation is a time to relax, I also like reading some lighter reads – from romance to thrillers to laugh-out-loud memoirs. Maybe even take the distance from home and a clear mind to devour something interesting that is non-fiction.
This one sounds absolutely adorable. The son of the US president has a confrontation with the Prince of Wales, and then the fake friendship they portray (for damage control in the media) turns into love. If you like politics, or royals, or just enjoy reading about two people falling for each other despite difficult circumstances, this is the book to bring with you to the beach.
I had so much fun last summer reading the first book in this series, The Kiss Quotient, that I’m excited to have a follow-up novel to read so quickly. The main character in this book was a side character in the previous book, although the story line seems to be similar with unrequited love and family meddling woven together into a single story.
The plot is simple enough – a single mom escapes to the big city (without her kids) for the summer and finds a love interest that turns her world upside down and makes her reconsider her life choices. Even though it’s a pretty basic premise, good beach reads are always in order for summer – and this is one of my picks because of how hilarious the writing is supposed to be!
I am drawn to this book partly because its premise is interesting – what happens when an infertile woman accidentally meets (and intentionally befriends!) the woman who is her anonymous egg donor to have a baby. Also, I am admittedly drawn to read something with a title character named Lana – just like me! While the initial details of the book make it sound like a human interest story, the thriller aspect comes into play when the egg donor goes missing and Lana might have been the last person to see her before the mysterious disappearance.
A typical suburban couple with kids gets bored and then somehow decides the secret to keeping their marriage exciting is getting away with murder. Literally. I admittedly know very little about the book since I don’t want to ruin the suspense and surprise of reading it. But it sounds like a fun page-turner not unlike the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith that will definitely entertain.
Set in the great outdoors of northern Canada, the peace of the natural surroundings are disturbed when two college friends overhear an argument between a man and a woman and then later see . . . only the man, paddling alone on the river. Again, I’ve prevented myself from reading anything that might spoil the story for me, but it sounds like this one gets pretty real, since descriptions talk about desperate wilderness survival. Don’t read this one on a camping trip!
When comparisons are made to Agatha Christie, one of my favorite mystery authors, I know this book is for me. A high-powered, seemingly successful marriage ends when the main character shoots and kills her husband one night the moment she sees him. And then goes completely silent. The book details the criminal psychologist who works with this silent patient to try and unravel the mystery of why.
Although Syria is not featured prominently in the news most days, rebel activity and humanitarian issues continue. So picture the scene set by this Syrian author, imagining a man whose final wish is to be buried in the tumultuous Aleppo region in the family plot. Once the surviving children decide to honor their father’s last request, the story unfolds. I don’t know that I’ve read any books set in Syria, and am looking forward to learning a bit about it through this fictional story.
This book won’t even come out until August 2019, but after devouring the author’s previous novel The Tiger’s Wife, I couldn’t leave this pick off my summer reading list, as I hope to read it while it’s still summer. Obrecht’s novels are part-historical, part-magical in her gorgeous storytelling style, with details unfolding in a way that completely captivates me. I’m also eager to read a historical novel set in Arizona Territory in the late 1800s after my recent Scottsdale trip.
I am drawn to what sounds like a James Michener style fictional tale spanning three families and several generations in Zambia, and based on a historical autobiography of Percy M. Clark called The Autobiography of An Old Drifter. It’s quite an ambitious scope for a debut novel, and I can’t wait to be transported to another place and time following along.
Like Inland above, this novel is part historical fiction and part fantasy. Drinking a bottle of Beaujolais wine from 1954 transports a bunch of modern day apartment dwellers to Paris of the 1950s, where they soak up the culture of that period while trying to find a way back to 2017. While technically historical, this is exactly the kind of wine-fueled exploration and light reading that is ideal for summer getaways.
This sounds to me like the book version of a cross between the cult classic movie This is Spinal Tap and Almost Famous. Set in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the book is about a journalist seeing the inside workings of a hugely successful band of the era, and I love this idea for what a different type of novel this is. Reid is also the author of the popular The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, so if you liked that, this summer reading book may be for you!
This debut short story collection explores issues of Chinese youth, in China and America, touching on other serious and cultural themes as well. I always find summertime to be great for short stories, because you can breeze through an entire single narrative in one afternoon.
If British humor – or should I say humour – is your thing, this summer read might be up your alley. Centered around a Jamaican British woman who breaks up with her long-time white boyfriend, there are more complex issues of race at play as you follow her string of bad decisions in the wake of the breakup. It sounds like somewhere between total fluff and a serious read.
This one is vaguely historical fiction, but only because Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis features prominently, and is mostly a regular tale with a famous character inserted. Other than Mrs. Onassis serving as one of the two main characters, this book really sounds like it is about the relationship between her as “The Editor” at publishing house and a budding author who is struggling to finish a manuscript about his dysfunctional family. Of course boundaries are blurred, and the editor and writer relationship becomes the story. I want to read this both for the historical aspect and the focus on books – which I obviously love!
I’ve been back living in the United States almost as long as I lived in Milan, but I am still feeling like a former expat adjusting and continue to miss Italy. So of course I was drawn to this memoir by the mention of Sicily in the title alone, not to mention the story beginning when the author experiences love at first sight encountering a professional chef on a street in Florence. Of course, nothing is ever simple when an Italian family is involved, and I can’t wait to follow along for this story.
I am not one to do any of the genetic tests out there, but plenty of others are. Even just in my circle of friends, I have heard stories of surprise relatives or unexpected paternity. I know just enough to know that this is a not uncommon phenomenon and there are even support groups on the internet for people who are struggling with these unearthed family secrets. What I didn’t realize is that there is a also a book detailing one person’s surprise discovery about her father and how she reconciles it with the person she thought she was.
I am fascinated by the premise of this one, talking about the inherent design bias of fields as vastly different as medicine and the automotive industry. I’m interested in reading it because it doesn’t sound like just a litany of complaints by women, but instead is a reasoned, intellectual look at the assumptions we take for granted in the everyday world.
Although this account was published in 2011, I only just heard of this book of how women in Liberia of different religious backgrounds banded together to lead a war-torn nation to peace. I love a feel-good story as part of my summer reading, and it’s even better when it’s true.
As a blogger, I keep hearing how important it is to have a focused niche where you are *the expert.* Which is all well and good for many people out there, but I really feel equally enamored about so many aspects of travel – adventure, culture, food, wine, expat life – and so I write about them all! I am hoping this book gives me a bit of validation, and am curious to see the flip side of Malcolm Gladwell’s argument in Outliers that 10,000 of hours of focused practice will lead you to mastery and success.
Obviously when I started looking into books to read on vacation this summer, I found quite a lot of amazing options to dive into. I can’t wait for summer travel – and summer reading – and hope you’ve found some great reading inspiration for the coming months as well.
Happy travels! And happy reading!
Lana
Any books on this list that you’re already reading and loving? What other books to read on vacation would you recommend for my summer reading? Let me know your summer reading recommendations below!
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As a visitor intent on seeing a particular sight, this can be one of the most disconcerting messages you hear in your travels. But of course it is one that comes up every now and again, and is simply part of the whole travel experience, which does not always work out perfectly.
Visiting the Palermo Tile Museum was a complete fluke. My friend Isabel and I left it until the last day of our long weekend in this Sicilian city to even attempt to visit for the first time. We had a bunch of hours to enjoy Palermo before catching our return flight to Milan in the afternoon, and a few last things to see.
And even seeking out the Tile Museum at all was somewhat random, as it didn’t come up in most of my pre-trip research – although where I found any information, it received rave reviews.
So this Monday morning, we walk up to the street address for the museum entrance and are faced with what looks like your standard Italian apartment building, with a row of labeled buzzers.
At first, we think that surely we’re in the wrong place. There is no prominent sign labeling any type of museum, and certainly no open entrances to welcome us in.
Only after walking up and down the block a few times do we realize that the address is in fact correct, and that one of the buzzers, if you peer closely, lists the museum and displays a phone number.
I call the cell phone number indicated, and find out that a reservation is needed. At this point, I’m cautiously optimistic, and hoping that since Isabel and I speak both English and Italian, surely there will be a tour we can join in one of those languages.
Unfortunately there is no tour planned until after our flight back to Milan – that disappointing message of “I’m sorry, we’re not doing any tours today.” So I say a polite thank you, relay the disappointing news to Isabel, and we start strolling in the direction of Botanical Garden as a backup plan.
This is when we have what I’m starting to think of more and more as one of those magical Italian moments.
My phone rings, and the number looks vaguely familiar. It is the same gentleman calling back, offering us a tour in Italian for just the two of us. It sounds cliché, but my heart leapt with the news after the disappointment of hearing that a tour would not be possible. We were getting to see this mystery of a place!
As you can see in the photo below, entering this apartment really is just like any other residential building:
We find out at the start of the tour with our passionate, knowledgeable guide that this is because one of the most impressive tile collections in the world was part of someone’s private collection.
The apartment that houses the museum is called the Stanze al Genio, the rooms of the genius? Or genie? It is not large, but the tile collection is so enormous that it feels like every available space is dedicated to displaying these lovely items.
Tiles in the south of Italy are commonly seen in hues of blue, yellow, and green, but the variety of this collection goes well beyond that. Colorful hues, interesting designs, and even some tiles with images like those you’ll find at the ruins of Pompeii, outside Naples:
And there’s nothing better than a tour guide who is excited about the collection to share interesting tidbits and answer your questions with enthusiasm.
I felt incredibly fortunate to have made it inside the doors of this museum at all. And while not large, the museum contained one of the most unique and well-curated collections that I’ve been privileged to visit in my travels.
I think for both me and Isabel, it was one of the most memorable moments of our weekend trip. And a spot I recommend to anyone visiting Palermo!
Certainly, we were very lucky on the day we visited, but if you want to visit the Stanze al Genio, I wouldn’t count on winging it, here’s the right way to visit:
The website is currently under construction, but check the link above for the most updated information.
There’s also a Bed & Breakfast on the property!
I didn’t stay here, but if you are interested in having these spaces be your accommodations in Palermo (or just want to check out photos of more beautiful tiles!), check out their site here.
Happy travels!
Where was the last hidden gem you discovered? Any other spots you loved in Palermo? Let me know in the Comments!
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