Palermo : Private Custom Walking Tour with a Local Guide
Palermo, Italy
+1
- 2 to 8 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Group discounts
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
What's Included
- Private Walking Tour
- Customization of the tour
- Meet up at your accommodation (If located in the city) or cruise terminal
- Help from our team to book the tickets for the desired visits.
- Drink or Food ( If you want to have a break during the tour )
- Personal expenses
- Tips ( Optional )
- Tickets to any attractions
Meeting and Pickup
Pickup points
Select a pickup point
Pickup details
The local guide will pick you up at your hotel ( if located in Palermo ). Travelers can request the tour to start from any centrally located hotel. In case your hotel is outside the city center we will select a convenient meeting point in the city center.Tour may end at a different location from the departure point unless requested in advance of the tour.
Itinerary
Palermo (Pass By)
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Transportation is wheelchair accessible
- Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Most travelers can participate
- This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.6
based on 354 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
The tour guide was very knowledgable, however she spoke at too quick a pace and while her English was good, her Italian accent made it difficult to understand. The amount of information shared was overwhelming and too much for a visitor seeking an overview of the Sicilian history of Palermo. She also cannot walk and talk and expect all four guests to hear her clearly over the noice of the street and tourists. We did enjoy her as a guide but recommend she slow the pace down.
Excellent Tour done by Francesco. We enjoyed fully the city and the atmosphere and learned a lot about the history and culture
Pamela was a delIght, so engaging and ready to talk about anything, as well as showing us so much about Palermo
Knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. Made for a very good orientation about Palermo. Showed us all the top spots.
Felipe is an excellent guide. He went over all the Palermo history which we were very curious about. We asked him many questions and he was very knowledgeable!
Our guide Margarithe was very knowledgeable, educated and friendly and able to communicate well in English. The tour was a good orientation to the history of Palermo and the main attractions. Visitors may want to book ahead for actual inside visits to the important sites such as the Cathedral and Norman Palace.
Riccardo did a wonderful walking tour with us through the city. Lots of pictures. Would do it again.
guide was very knowledgeable and friendly and adapted the tour to our preferences - would have liked more time to sample some
of the street foods
Great overall experience and tour. I wouldn’t go to Palace again… once we got inside, we had to wait on line for an hour… but everything else was perfect!
They will learn about the history of Palermo and Sicily and explore some of the back streets. There is a lot of walking , as you would expect.
We booked a 3 hour tour and we ended up with barely a 2 hour tour. It was interesting, and we learned some things, but we did not get what we paid for which was disappointing.
The tour was great. Pamela was very knowledgeable about Palermo & Sicily and gave me just the right amount of detail. I got a good overview of the history, buildings and architecture. I would highly recommend .
Our guide, Manuela, was very knowledgeable. She gave us great information about the history of Sicily and, in particular, Palermo.
Pamela was our guide for this walking tour of Palermo. She really knew her stuff and was very pleasant. She was a native English speaker which made it easy to understand her. She has a love of the city which comes through during the tour. Highly recommend her.
Margarita was very informative and showed us several points of interest to explore after our tour ended. The 3 hour walking tour was a perfect amount of time.
We had an excellent experience and would recommend this tour to anyone who wants to see Palermo and get a good sense of its history, surroundings and culture. Alessandro, our guide, was very knowledgeable and full of insight. He met us outside of our hotel and went at our pace. He walked us through the history of Palermo and its main attractions. He also showed us specific places that only locals know about. He included some cultural experiences by taking us to a Granita shop and we had cannoli at a Monastery that has historical significance. The tour allowed us to get a good sense of Palermo’s geography, making it easy for us to navigate the city for the remainder of our stay. Alessandro’s English is perfect and his energy was relentless despite the heat. He was very personable and helpful. At the end of our tour he took us to a small grocery store where we picked up water, etc. He also provided recommendations for dinner. Many thanks Alessandro. 😊
Our guide was friendly and easy to get on with. It was a bit disconcerting that one of the first things he told us was that he did not have his badge so may go quiet if around other guides! However this only really happened once. We booked the tour for the evening as we only landed mid day. Sadly we missed a number of attractions by 15 minutes. A shame for the guide as he had to think of more places to take us, although we weren’t certain why we didn’t do some earlier when open as we had a 3 hour tour.
It was worth doing despite this as it helped us to recognise the places we needed to see in the city and find our bearings.
This was a very mixed experience for our group, so I want to provide a balanced review.
About half of our group really enjoyed the tour. They found Riccardo ("Francesco") to be personable, engaging, and an enjoyable conversationalist. He is clearly knowledgeable about Sicily and shared interesting insights from the perspective of someone who lives nearby. It's worth noting that this was their first private walking tour through Viator, so they had no point of comparison.
The other half of our group has taken several private Viator tours around Europe, and this experience did not meet the standard we have come to expect. The tour was simply different. Riccardo ("Francesco") explained that he was not a licensed Palermo guide, which meant avoiding many of the city's primary attractions and areas where licensed guides were present. He also mentioned that he intentionally dressed like an American tourist so he would not attract attention. As a result, it appeared that we viewed landmarks from less desirable vantage points and likely missed many of Palermo's iconic sights.
One of the group members eventually disengaged from the tour and began using AI to identify notable landmarks and the best photographic locations. The overall level of hospitality, which did not match the standard we've come to expect from other private Viator experiences. The tour also concluded earlier than the time we had paid for because the guide had other commitments.
Depending on your expectations, this tour may be a good fit. It certainly was for half of our group. For the other half, who have experienced several customized private tours through Viator, it did not meet the expectations established by those previous experiences.
I remain a loyal Viator customer because my previous private tours have consistently been exceptional. I looked for another way to share this feedback directly with Viator but was unable to find one, so I hope this review helps set appropriate expectations for future travelers. This experience simply did not reflect the quality or type of experience I have come to expect from a Viator private tour.
Highly recommend a private tour. Our guide, Margherita, was so informative and it was much easier to have a conversation and learn from her in our small group of 2. We learned about history, day to day life, art, architecture, food, culture from a personal perspective. It felt like talking one on one with a friend. Margherita was so professional and a great guide! Thank you!!
Francesco was incredible! Very knowledgeable especially about the Palermo architecture and history, led us to more “off the beaten path” places, and was wonderful with our 2 year old who joined us on the trip. Very much worth it if you want to get the sense of Palermo in just a few hours. Highly recommend!
Pamela was a marvellous guide, very knowledgeable and flexible. She adapted to us and was able to answer all of our questions. I would highly recommend her.
Pamela gave us an excellent walking tour of Palermo. We were very impressed by her extensive knowledge of Sicilian history, and she brought the city's rich past to life with engaging stories and insights. She showed us all of Palermo's major highlights, answered every question we had, and made the experience both informative and enjoyable. We highly recommend Pamela and this walking tour to anyone visiting Palermo.
Daniele was a kind, knowledgeable guide. Such great insight into the history of a layer city. Back alley destinations and food stops galore.
What a nice surprise Palermo was! Lots of churches but the highlight for us were the unbelievable markets in old town and the diversity of cultures on display. We can all live together after all!
Our tour guide, Paola, was wonderful!! She is very knowledgeable and made the entire tour a truly memorable experience!!
Giuseppe did a nice job of taking us around Palermo to the sights we requested and explaining what we saw.
Tatiana was an interesting enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide for our tour of Palermo
We got an excellent overview of the city and history and some insider tips too!
Our guide Joaquin was really fun and full of great history and stories. Wonderful tour. He loves Palermo and it’s contagious.
Joaquin was an excellent guide a companion for this two-hour walking tour. His English was quite good and he had a great itinerary planned for our orientation and introduction to Palermo. It was a great way to begin our trip before we met up with our larger tour party. Thank you!
The tour guide did not seem like she knew a lot about the history of Palermo. Lots of long pauses. We paid to go into a church and we walked around and the tour guide did not give us any history about the church other than it was Renaissance.
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up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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