Palermo City Hop-on Hop-off Tour

Palermo, Italy

With a Hop-on Hop-off tour of Palermo, you will enjoy an exciting visit to the city. Starting from the terminal outside the Politeama Theatre, overlooking the square of the same name, you will drive in front of the Massimo Theatre one of the most capacious and famous opera house in Italy, was built at the end of the 19th century by the architecs Gian Battista and Ernesto Basile. It is a building of neo-classical inspiration, continuing towards Piazza Quattro Canti and the nearby Vucciria Market.

The tour continues towards the botanical gardens, passing near Palazzo Steri. After a quick glance of the central station, you will find yourselves in the vicinity of the Royal Palace was built by the Arab emirs around the IXth century, but they abandoned it soon. It was then restored and transformed by the Normans into a sumptuous palace.Frederick II of Hohenstaufen created here the 1st Poetic School, but after his death the palace began to decline and this went on for about three centuries.

Things changed when the Spanish chose it as their residence, but they modified it according to their taste. Since 1947 the Palace is the seat of the Regional Sicilian Assembly., the Flea Market and the Cathedral, before stopping at the port and then returning to the terminal.

USD $25.54

Traveler Reviews

Review by: Coda B	December 2011
Overall, this was great tour. I love the fact you can see the entire city, get your bearings, then investigate on your own. Try it, you will love it!

Review by: Margaret L	October 2011
Nice locations but bus did not stop long enough at the sites to take a picture from the bus. Driver and guide were helpful and pleasant.

Review by: violet louise f	October 2011
We have good time and thanks to hop on hop off me and all the family saw a lot of Palermo.

Review by: Mavis B	October 2011
Yes we enjoyed this tour. Convenient stop just outside the cruise port. Very often on all tours headsets are not working. Expensive for a couple of hours and we feel cheated when we need to keep moving seats.

Review by: MPT	June 2011
Professional and polite crew.

Review by: Elizabeth B	May 2011
We saw more of Palermo in a short period of time (only used the pass 5/8) than we did on our tour.

Review by: Carolina	September 2010
Not worth it.

Review by: Sherry E, United States of America	June 2010
We were in Palermo for one day as a cruise port of call and found this to be a great way to see a lot of sights, in a short time. We loved the fact that the buses did circulate every thirty minutes so we could exit the bus and plan how long we would stay at the stop. a really informative tour, and pleasant staff too.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	June 2010
It was a great way to see all the sites of the city in just a few hours! Sometimes the bus was full and you had to wait for the next one but overall we really enjoyed it. A great way to check out the city especially during siesta time when all the shops are closed for the afternoon.

Review by: Dana K, United States of America	June 2010
There are many beautiful locales to see in Palermo, but in our opinion there were only a couple of spots that we felt the need to "hop off" for. For that reason, this tour was perfect because we could stay on the bus and take it all in. This tour seemed to cover the main points of interest and so it was worth the money. Best of all, the pick-up spot was within a comfortable walking distance from the port where our ship was docked. The buses were a bit too crowded at times this city is a crowded place anyway, but other than that we were satisfied.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	May 2010
It was a great experience! So easy to sight see.

Review by: Susan F, United States of America	October 2009
Unfortunately Palermo is not a very attractive nor particularly interesting city. We traveled on the first tour route in the morning and there wasn't any stop that enticed us to hop off and explore further. We decided to get off at the cathedral and walk the rest of the route. In the afternoon we decided to take the second tour route because we had too much time before we had to board our cruise ship. There were many people at the bus depot waiting for the afternoon tour, too many for one bus. The process for boarding was very disorganized. Being Italy, there was no line, just a crowd of people waiting for a bus to arrive. What we were completely unaware of was that a bus company employee was handing out numbered tickets that would indicate when it was your turn to board. People were standing there for 10 to 15 minutes without getting tickets because there were so many people and the employee was not visible. We finally realized what was going on when they started calling numbers and quickly got our numbers. We made it on the second bus, but there was even less to see on this tour route. Palermo was a huge disappointment!

Review by: Sandy K, United States of America	August 2008
Photographic opportunities are limited since bus is almost constantly moving.

Review by: C. B, United States of America	December 2007
City tour of Palermo is good. Riding around once was good, so you know where to stop and get off. There are 2 routes, but 2nd route is only in p.m. Not worth the wait on that one.

Review by: Corinna T	December 2007
City tour of Palermo is good. Riding around once was good, so you know where to stop and get off. There are 2 routes, but 2nd route is only in p.m. Not worth the wait on that one.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	November 2007
Excellent, highly recommend.

Review by: George D, United States of America	October 2007
Very enjoyable.

Review by: Barbara P, United States of America	October 2007
The bus tour was interesting and a great way to choose sites that you wanted to spend more time exploring in Palermo. Would have been a "nightmare city" to drive in.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	August 2007
This tour gave us great insight to the town. It allowed us to learn while giving us much needed transportation. The ticket's being usable on both routes made it twice the value and learning experience. Thanks!

Review by: Joyce Z, United States of America	July 2007
We are two senior citizens and took the bus rather than a cruise tour. It was absolutely great and gave us the best overview of Palermo. I use the hop on hop off on bus everywhere I travel when it is available.