Monreale and Cefalu Half-Day Trip from Palermo

Monreale Cathedral and Its Golden Mosaics

Monreale Cathedral was begun in 1174 by the Norman king William II and is the great masterpiece of the Arab-Norman style, listed by UNESCO along with other monuments of Norman Palermo. The plain exterior hides an interior covered by more than six thousand square metres of gold mosaics that tell the stories of the Old and New Testaments, and in the apse the enormous Christ Pantocrator looks down over the nave.

Most people book a Monreale Cathedral tour because photographs cannot prepare you for the scale and the shine of the walls, which change with the light through the windows. This trip allows about an hour and a half here. Monreale Cathedral opening hours change by season and it can close for services, so the host will confirm the timing on the day. Entrance fees and the optional audio guide are paid on site.

The Monreale Cloister and the View over Palermo

Next to the cathedral is the Benedictine cloister, a square garden surrounded by 228 slender paired columns, each with carved capitals and many decorated with mosaic patterns. It is a calm, shaded spot and one of the finest cloisters in Italy, and it usually requires its own ticket bought at the site.

The town itself sits on the slopes of Monte Caputo, and from the terraces you look down over the Conca d'Oro, the golden valley around Palermo, and out to the sea. If you are asking whether Monreale is worth visiting on a short stay, this is the reason: it takes only about thirty minutes to reach from the city and adds a whole different era to your trip. The best time to visit Monreale is in the morning, before the crowds and the heat build up.

Cefalu: Cathedral, Old Town and Harbour

After about an hour on the coast road you reach Cefalu, a fishing town squeezed between a great rock and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Its cathedral was founded in 1131 by King Roger II and also carries a golden Christ Pantocrator in the apse; together with Monreale it is part of the same UNESCO listing. The cathedral stands on a lively square at the end of Corso Ruggero, the main street of the old town.

The trip gives you around two and a half hours, enough for a real Cefalu day trip from Palermo: walk down to the old harbour, look at the fishing boats, pass the stone gateway of Porta Pescara and find the Osterio Magno, a medieval palace whose name means the great inn. Anyone planning a Cefalu cathedral visit should remember the dress code: shoulders and knees should be covered.

The Mandralisca Museum, the Wash House and the Beach

The Mandralisca Museum, near the cathedral, holds Greek vases, Arab and Norman ceramics, coins and the famous Portrait of an Unknown Man by Antonello da Messina, one of the treasures of Sicilian painting. Just below the old town, a flight of curving stone steps leads to the medieval Lavatoio, a picturesque set of sixteenth-century wash basins fed by a spring, and a favourite photo stop.

If you want to know what to do in Cefalu with limited time, choose a museum or the wash house, then leave time to sit by the sea. The town beach begins right at the end of the old streets, so on a warm day you can put your feet in the water before the return journey. The rock that rises above the town, La Rocca, has a long walking path, but it usually takes more time than this trip allows.