Palerme & Cefalù: L'Évasion Sicilienne Incontournable de Taormine

Nous avons réservé ce voyage, mais quand nous étions en tournée à pied de Palerme avec une guide Nous sommes tous allés à la cathédrale, il nous a été conseillé de nous retrouver à 12 heures dans la cour. dix Nous sommes arrivés à 12h. 05 et a rencontré 3 autres invités attendent environ 10 minutes Entre-temps, 6 autres invités sont arrivés dans les délais impartis, mais sans signe de guide ni de solde du groupe. Après avoir attendu 30 minutes, nous avons heureusement retrouvé notre propre chemin en tant que groupe de retour au point de rendez-vous et avons dû nous dépêcher de manger sans avoir le temps de flâner et de dépenser de l'argent à Palerme. Cela a été porté à l'attention du guide principal alors qu'il nous conduisait à l'autobus alors que nous essayions de payer nos factures sans réagir.

Notre journée a commencé rapidement à 6 heures. 45 heures du terminal de bus de Taormina, facile à trouver. Notre chauffeur Roberto et notre guide touristique Santo formaient une excellente équipe: un bon chauffeur et un guide bien informé qui parlait couramment l’anglais, le français et l’allemand. La route à travers la Sicile est un contraste complet entre l'Etna et différentes villes, au départ, avec des champs vallonnés, des plaines, des oliveraies, des vergers d'oranges et de citrons et des champs d'artichauts avant d'arriver à Palerme. À tout moment, Santo nous tenait au courant de l’histoire de la Sicile et nous nous arrêtions pour prendre un café et nous reposer après une pause de 90 minutes. La tournée de Palerme a été bien organisée, même si nous nous sommes retrouvés au milieu d’une manifestation locale avec agitation des drapeaux, discours et banderoles, tous très sécuritaires et se sont bien comportés de personnes adorables. Santo nouveau tout ce qu'il devait savoir sur l'histoire de divers lieux d'intérêt et a passé son temps avec le groupe et répondre à différentes questions individuelles. La promenade sur la place du marché était un excellent moyen de voir de près la vie sicilienne et de goûter aux produits locaux. Le restaurant 59 en face du Teatro Massimo était parfait pour notre déjeuner avant le retour en prenant Cafalu avec sa belle église sur la place et une promenade autour de la ville et ses rues étroites menant à la plage. Aucune hésitation à recommander la très bonne société de visites SAT quel que soit le voyage que vous décidez de faire.

It was nice to see, but Palermo is not the most exciting part of Sicily. Good tour and easy way to get around. Highlight was the Godfather reference.

Important to know and I don’t think it’s listed anywhere, the tour’s primary language is German, English is secondary and I felt we missed out on a lot of commentary. There wasn’t any downtime given in Palermo. We were rushed through the market, only to stop at almost every vegetable vendor instead of being given a chance to wander and purchase items. The restaurant in Palermo was not great. We were served cold lasagna. We were given 90 mins in Cerafù. After coming from Palermo, this village was underwhelming. If you’re looking for a quality introduction tour to Palermo, I’d advise to look elsewhere.

I had a dream ponderous time in Palermo and Cefalu, however the free time was only 1.5hours… which really turns to be 45minutes or an hour depending on where it spent and the time it takes to get back. It’s just not enough time, especially in Cefalu when there complete freedom without a tour (which was great) but the walk to and from the drop off takes a decent amount of time from that anyway! I think it should be a longer amount of free time! The tour itself was great and the SAT guide as well as the Palermo guide did an excellent job and catered to many languages (at least 4) … but that did consume more time which was fine but worth nothing.

We thoroughly enjoyed this tour. From Taormina we drove through the beautiful landscapes of central Sicily past Enna. We had a toilet stop on the way, after just over 3 hrs we arrived in Palermo. Guide Renate was very informative and did a bustour first, then a walking tour visiting a couple of important sites and churches and a local market. After lunch in a nice outdoor restaurant we were brought to Cefalu, and saw the historic town and the beach.

OK if you don't mind a route march through the busy streets of Palermo at speed in 30°c. We passed through one of the local markets with lots of lovely fresh produce on display. The tour guide walked through it so quickly we were unable to stop to look at anything. Accused of being late for the pickup in Cefalu. Yes, we were last on the bus but with a few minutes to spare. Even the others on the bus agreed that we were not late. If you can get to Palermo yourself, either by car or public transport I would do that instead of going on an arranged tour. Very disappointed.

We were happy to get on this tour after booking the night before - the company we had originally booked with cancelled at short notice and we were scrambling to find another company. (And it seems the CbyS company had messed others around too) With SAT not a problem, they could pick us up near our hotel in Giardini Naxos and we could then pay on the bus. Hurrah! The guide was excellent and we felt that we were in good hands the entire day (our guide also spoke German which was a bonus). The tour itself is long bus stretches and the time in Palermo seemed relatively short but it was good to see another part of Sicily. We particularly enjoyed Cefalu.

It was a long day but very interesting and informative. The guide and the local guide in Palermo were excellent as was the driver.

This was our first excursion in Sicily and we knew it would be a very long day! We were surprised to see how dirty the city was but did not detract from the beautiful churches we saw.Afrer reading other Trip Advisor reviews we opted not to eat at Restaurante 59 but had a wonder meal in restaurant Basil opposite the opera house. It took a while to navigate the steps to get food but the locals were friendly and guided us through. You must pay first and then go to the window to order your pasta--it will be the pasta for the day. I had homemade raviolis and my husband the best spaghetti with clams sauce. The best we have had thus far! Cefalu was very pretty seaside town. I wish I had put my swim suite on and gone swimming instead of seeing another church. As it turned out I did go in for a dip up to my knees-just rolled up my shorts. This was a good taste of both areas- I do not have the desire to go back to Palermo but would think about spending a few days in Chefalu!