Palermo is the best base in western Sicily and most people never use it as one.
They give the city two nights, see the chapel and a market, and move on. That is a reasonable trip. It is also leaving the best temple in Sicily, a Norman cathedral on a beach and a walled town in the clouds an hour or two down the road.
Here is what is actually reachable, in the order I would rank it. The wider planning is in my complete guide to Palermo.
Monreale, eight kilometres
The one that is not optional, and the one that is barely a day trip at all.
Bus 389 from Piazza Indipendenza, one euro forty, a little over half an hour. The largest surviving cycle of Byzantine mosaic in the world, and a cloister with two hundred and twenty-eight carved column pairs. Three hours door to door.
It has its own guide: Monreale from Palermo.
Cefalù, by train
The best full day trip from Palermo, and the easiest.
Getting there: train from Palermo Centrale, about fifty-eight minutes, services roughly every half hour, and a ticket in the region of eight to seventeen euros depending on the service. No booking needed for the regional trains. The station in Cefalù is a ten minute walk from the old town.
What it is: a medieval town wedged between an enormous bare rock and a long sandy beach, with a Norman cathedral in the middle of it. The cathedral has twin square bell towers and a Christ Pantocrator mosaic in the apse that predates the one at Monreale and is, to my eye, the better piece of work.
The shape of a day: cathedral in the morning, wander the old streets down to the medieval washhouse, lunch, then the beach for the afternoon. If you are fit and it is not August, the walk up La Rocca above the town takes about an hour each way and gives you the whole coast.
Take swimming things. This is the one day trip where the beach is genuinely part of the point.
Segesta and Erice
The most striking, and the one that needs the most planning.
Segesta is an unfinished Doric temple from the fifth century BC standing entirely alone on a green hillside, with no town, no other ruins in the frame, and a theatre cut into the hill above it. It was never completed, which is why it has no roof and its columns were never fluted, and the effect is of something abandoned mid-sentence twenty-five centuries ago.
It is the single most photogenic ancient site in Sicily and it is often nearly empty.
Erice is a walled medieval town at seven hundred and fifty metres, above Trapani, reached by a cable car that swings up out of the town below. It is frequently in cloud, which is the appeal. Cobbled streets, Norman castle, and pastry shops that are a serious destination in themselves.
Getting there: this pair is difficult without a car. Buses to Trapani take over two hours and cost around ten euros, and connecting on from there eats the day. An organised day trip combining both runs at roughly a hundred and fifteen euros a head. If you have a car, the two together make a full and excellent day.
The salt pans
Between Trapani and Marsala, shallow rectangular pans divided by low walls, worked since Phoenician times, with old stone windmills standing among them.
Go in the late afternoon. The water turns pink from the algae, the salt is heaped under terracotta tiles, and the light across the flats is the reason to be there. It pairs naturally with Erice on a driving day.
Ustica
The island, two hours or so by ferry from Palermo, less by hydrofoil in season.
Volcanic, black rock, and a marine reserve with some of the clearest water in Italy. It is a serious diving and snorkelling destination and a very quiet place to spend a day. It only works if the sea is calm and the schedules are seasonal, so check the day before rather than committing early.
Bagheria and the villas
Twenty minutes by train, and a curiosity rather than a headline.
Bagheria was where the Palermo aristocracy built their summer villas in the eighteenth century, and the Villa Palagonia is decorated with grotesque stone monsters commissioned by an eccentric prince. Goethe hated it and wrote about it at length, which has kept it famous ever since.
Half a day, and best combined with something else.
Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples
The one everybody asks about, and the one I would think hard before doing from here.
The Valley of the Temples is the best Greek site in Sicily and one of the best anywhere: a ridge of Doric temples above the sea, including the Temple of Concordia, which is among the most complete ancient temples standing. It is genuinely worth a day of anyone’s life.
The problem is the distance. It is roughly two hours each way by road from Palermo, more by public transport, which means four hours of travel around a site that deserves four hours on its own. As a day trip it is a long, hot, rushed day, and in July or August it is punishing.
What I would do instead: give Agrigento a night. Go down in the afternoon, see the temples at the end of the day when the stone goes orange and the coaches have gone, sleep there, see them again early, and carry on. It is a better experience and barely more effort.
If you must do it in a day, take an organised tour so somebody else is driving, and start early.
What I would actually choose
One free day: Cefalù. Train, cathedral, beach, back for dinner.
Two free days: Cefalù, and then Segesta with Erice if you have a car.
Travelling without a car and only one day: Cefalù, without hesitation. Everything else west involves more bus than sight.
In July or August: Cefalù or Ustica, because both end in water.
Practical notes
Trains east to Cefalù are frequent and cheap and do not need booking. Buses west to Trapani are slower than the map suggests. Car hire is worth it for two or more days out, and is a liability if you are only using it in the city.
Read also: a Palermo itinerary, Monreale from Palermo, and my complete guide to Palermo.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best day trip from Palermo?
Cefalù, for anyone without a car. The train takes under an hour, runs roughly every thirty minutes, and delivers a Norman cathedral, a medieval town and a good sandy beach in one place. Monreale is closer and unmissable, but it is a half day rather than a full one.
How do you get from Palermo to Cefalù?
By train from Palermo Centrale in about fifty-eight minutes, with departures roughly every half hour and fares in the region of eight to seventeen euros. Regional services do not need to be booked ahead, and the station is a ten minute walk from the old town.
Can you visit Segesta and Erice without a car?
With difficulty. Buses to Trapani take over two hours and connecting onward consumes most of the day. An organised day trip combining both costs around a hundred and fifteen euros a head, which for most visitors is the more sensible route.
Is Cefalù worth a day trip from Palermo?
Yes. The cathedral holds a Christ Pantocrator mosaic that predates Monreale’s, the old town is small and walkable, and the beach sits directly below it. Bring swimming things, because the afternoon by the water is half the reason to go.
What is worth seeing at Segesta?
An unfinished Doric temple from the fifth century BC standing alone on a hillside with no town around it, and a Greek theatre cut into the slope above. Its columns were never fluted and it never had a roof, which is why it looks the way it does.
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