Destination Search

Currency Exchange

Euro

EUR 5:

Sorry, no current exchange rates!

More Currencies,
Foreign Exchange Calculator

Search for PMO Palermo Airport Rental Car Deals

Cars.IHateTaxis.com

More Things to do in Palermo, including Tours, Layover, and Overnight Ideas

Home > Destinations >

Italy > Sicily > Palermo

Things To Do in Palermo & Palermo Airport Layover Ideas

Things to do in Palermo if you have a Palermo Airport Layover or Extended Palermo Airport Stopover

If you have an extended layover at the Palermo Airport or staying in town, why not consider getting out with some fun activities? We list a few here and there are many more on Palermo.LayoverIdeas.com.

Sicily’s rugged beauty is truly unique, so if you find yourself with a layover on one of the island’s airports, take a little time to explore Italy’s southernmost gem. Here are some suggestions near PMO Palermo Airport:

Museo Archeologico

Palermo’s Museo Archeologico is excellent, boasting abundant Greek, Roman and Phoenician artifacts. Of note are a particularly wonderful bronze sculpture and a relief of the slaying of Medusa. The best of the collection is rumoured to be in rooms 9-14.

Stand at the Crossroads

Seek out the Quattro Canti – the symbolic crossroads at the old centre of the city. While you are there, check out the nearby small, but pretty La Martorana church with byzantine mosaics inside.

Cappella Palatina

This Chapel is one of the artistic gems of Palermo, magnificent mosaics and Arabian-style decorations, among the most beautiful in the world.

Visit the Royal Apartments

Palazzo dei Normanni is an imposing fortress-like building in central Palermo. Still in use today by the Sicilian regional government, the Royal Apartments are beautifully decorated. You’ll find stunning golden mosaics like the Cappella Palatina in the Stanza di Ruggero – but with a secular theme, including the famous leopards and stags. If you like frescos, you’ll find plenty in the rest of the Royal Apartments.

Gesu Church

The Gesu Church is one of the most architecturally important highly decorated in Palermo. Constructed between 1564–1633, its late date of completion resulted in an abundant use of polychrome marbles on both floors and walls. This form of decoration, which gradually evolved in Sicily from the beginning of the 17th century, was to mark the beginning of the Sicilian Baroque period, which was to give Sicily almost an architectural national identity.

Catacombe dei Cappuccini

The catacombs of the Capuchin convent – located on the Piazza Cappuccini, just west of the city centre – contain over 8000 mummified ex-residents of Palermo and its surrounding villages, some merely clothed skeletons, other remarkably well-preserved and lifelike. Well worth a visit, interesting, if slightly morbid. Children may either find it exciting or terrifying, so think carefully before taking them. Open daily 09:00-12:00 and 15:00-17:00, entrance is EUR 3.

Tip: Although Palermo is a fair-sized city – it is the Capital of Sicily – most of the interesting sites around the centre can easily be reached on foot.

Tip: Godfather jokes aren’t funny here:. Palermo’s residents live with the presence of the very powerful criminal organization known worldwide as "Mafia" or "Cosa Nostra".

As always, make sure you leave plenty of time to get back to PMO Palermo Airport and clear security in time for your connecting flight. Enjoy your transit city rather than whiling away the time leaning up against your luggage in the departures lounge.

More Palermo Airport Transfer & Airport Connection Options

Last Updated: 25 Mar 2025

By Roberta Westwood

While we strive to keep our information current, prices do go up and schedules and operators change.
If you have an update, then please email us to help make this page even better for all travellers.
Are you a PMO Palermo Airport ground transportation or tour operator?