Best Food Tours of Palermo

Palermo's architecture with its blend of Arab, Norman and Romanesque styles and cultural tradition are two of its main attractions, but the island's capital is also known for its Sicilian food, so taking a gastronomic tour is one of the best ways to discover the flavours and traditions of one of southern Italy's most important cities.

Some of the best things to see and do in Palermo to discover its gastronomy include taking a walk through the streets to discover the delicacies on offer, taking a Sicilian cooking class with tasting, browsing the city's street markets, touring the ice cream and pastry shops and taking part in a private tasting of local wine and cheese.

Palermo is considered one of the capitals of street food, so one of the best alternatives to discover its flavours is to take part in a gastronomic walking tour of the main Sicilian stalls. During these small group tours, which last approximately 3 to 4 hours, you can visit the most characteristic sites of the city and do up to 7 tastings.

On these tours you will taste panelle, which are delicious chickpea fritters, arancines, which are fried rice balls, and other local delicacies on a tour that will also take you past the Teatro Massimo, which is one of the largest in Europe, the picturesque Piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi and local drinking stalls.

On these walking tours you will also learn about the history of the main neighbourhoods of the Sicilian capital, get to know in depth the old town, which is one of the most beautiful in Italy with its crossroads of architectural styles, walk around the perimeter of Palermo Cathedral and finish the tour before sunset in a central point of the city.

Interesting details

• Price of these excursions... They have an initial cost of approximately 59 euros per person, including the assistance of the expert local guide and tastings.
• Duration of these tours... Approximately 3 to 4 hours.
• Advantages of these excursions... You will get to know the main sites of Palermo through its flavours.
• Disadvantages of these excursions... Does not include sweet food options.

Street markets are a tradition in the Sicilian capital and there are at least three main ones in the most representative neighbourhoods of the city, which are as important as the best museums in Pal ermo or the most visited buildings such as the Cathedral. On these gastronomic tours you can tour them and do a tasting.

These tours will take you through the Capo market, which has a history related to the Sicilian mafia and one of the most beautiful structures, because it is the typical Sicilian market, hidden in the narrow stone streets and with stalls full of fruits and vegetables. At the processed food stalls you can sample local delicacies.

You can also visit Vucciria, which stands out for being a flea market, where in addition to food you can buy artefacts of all kinds, antiques and participate in a barter market, which is one of the Sicilian traditions inherited from the times of crisis.

Finally, the tour will take you to the Ballaró market, which is a little further away from the epicentre of the city but is one of the main nightlife spots in the Sicilian capital. At every stop you will taste the tastings and be assisted by a local guide. At the end of the tour you can continue your itinerary or return to the old town by public transport or on the hop on-hop off buses of Palermo.

Interesting details

• Price of these excursions... They have an initial cost of approximately 45 euros per person, including the assistance of the local guide and the tastings.
• Duration of these excursions... Approximately 3 half days.
• Advantages of these excursions... You will be able to see the main districts of the city and visit places that the locals visit every day.
• Disadvantages of these excursions... Usually the tours include tastings but sometimes there is not enough time to taste them at your leisure.

Gastronomy, in Sicily, is not only a pleasure, it is also considered an art, so the best alternative to discover in depth the flavours of the Italian south is to take a cooking class experience with tasting, to learn first-hand the mysteries and secrets of Sicilian delicacies.

On these half-day excursions you can explore culinary traditions with a professional chef in a family-run cooking school. Over the course of an afternoon you can cook classic dishes and complete up to four courses, ending with a tasting of the produce and then a celebratory meal, making this one of the best and most comprehensive tours of Palermo.

The celebratory meal also includes a four-course dinner with wine, homemade liqueurs, a surprise dessert and coffee, so you will also discover the sweet flavours of Sicilian food, which is one of the most complete and flavoursome in the world.

Interesting details

• Price of these excursions... They have an initial cost of approximately 86 euros per person, including the courses with the professional chef and the tastings.
• Duration of these excursions... Approximately 5 to 6 hours.
• Advantages of these excursions... Not only will you be able to taste the flavours of Sicily but also learn how to cook the dishes.
• Disadvantages of these excursions... They do not include tours outside the school kitchen.

If you have a sweet tooth, then you can't miss a gastronomic excursion in Palermo that takes you through the best flavours of local ice cream and pastries. On these private excursions of approximately 3 hours you will be able to do tastings in various Palermo ice cream parlours, cafes, patisseries and markets.

The tour will take you around the Teatro Massimo, the baroque Church of St. Dominic, the Palazzo dei Normanni, the Teatro Politeama and the Vucciria market, one of the city's main markets, where Palermo's nightlife takes place, with music shows, parties and food and drink stalls.

Among the tastings you can try the sfincetta, which is a cake filled with ricotta, the setteveli cake, the best homemade ice creams and the ristretto coffee, typical of the Sicilian capital. You can also choose to taste the local wine. Throughout the tour you will be assisted by an expert local guide.

Interesting details

• Price of these excursions... They have an initial cost of approximately 61 euros per person, including the assistance of the local guide and the tastings.
• Duration of these excursions... Approximately 3 hours.
• Advantages of these excursions... It is the best alternative to taste the sweet flavours of the city.
• Disadvantages of these tours... It does not include an in-depth tour of the rest of the city's markets.

If you want to really get to know the Sicilian spirit you also need to get to know the party side of the city and for that you need to tour Palermo by night. On these small group tours of the capital's best street food stalls you can not only sample the main dishes but also enjoy the nightlife, especially at the Vucciria market.

These excursions usually include a walk through the historic centre of the city, four or five-step tastings of a variety of savoury and sweet dishes and also a visit to the Vucciria market, which at night lights up the city's party with its bars, restaurants and drink stalls that are frequented by young people, especially if you plan to visit Palermo in the summer.

Please note that these excursions include alcoholic drinks and may extend into the early hours of the morning, so may be incompatible if you plan to visit Palermo with children.

Interesting details

• Price of these excursions... They have an initial cost of approximately 59 euros per person, including the assistance of the local guide and tastings.
• Duration of these excursions... Approximately 4 hours.
• Advantages of these excursions... You will be able to get to know not only the local gastronomy but also the nightlife of the city.
• Disadvantages of these excursions... They are usually not suitable for minors.

Some of Sicily's top attractions can be discovered during the best excursions from Palermo, but you don't need to leave the capital to experience the island's regional flavours, because you can discover them on these private Sicilian wine and cheese tasting tours.

These tours offer a short walk through the historic centre and a tasting in the quiet room of a local winery, where you can sample five types of top-quality Sicilian cheese, breads and crackers from Palermo bakeries, and a run of about six important wines representative of the island's varieties, such as Nero d'Avola and Cataratto.

If you plan to visit Palermo in August or during the summer months you can enjoy the best time of the local wines, but excursions of this type are available all year round and will also give you an insight into the centuries-old tradition of Sicilian wine.

These excursions usually last about 2.5 hours, so they are compatible with a short visit to the city. If this is your case, here is a list of activities you can do to discover Palermo in 4 days.

Interesting details

• Price of these excursions... They have an initial cost of approximately 126 euros per person, including the assistance of a local sommelier, the tastings and the wine tasting.
• Duration of these excursions... Approximately 2 hours and a half.
• Advantages of these tours... One of the most sophisticated gastronomic tours in Palermo.
• Disadvantages of these tours... It can be expensive and lasts a short time.

If you are planning to travel in a group and want a private dining experience you can opt for these Italian pizza cooking tours, which consist of taking a class with a local pizza master, who will give you the secrets of real Sicilian pizza making and tell you some interesting facts, such as the reasons for the gangsters' fascination with pizza, a fact that is hard to learn even on the best mafia tours of Palermo.

The master pizza maker will also tell you and your group about the history of pizza, the choice of ingredients from the original tradition, the flour to use and the different types. You will then be able to cook muzzarella pizzas, the traditional Neapolitan Margherita and the sfincione, which is the Sicilian pizza.

The experience will end with a tasting of the pizzas prepared with drinks of your choice, which may include Sicilian wines. In addition, these excursions usually include a certificate for the course, which accredits participants as master pizza makers upon completion of the tour.

Details of interest

• Price of these excursions... They have an initial cost of approximately 55 euros per person, including the assistance of the master pizza maker, materials and tastings.
• Duration of these excursions... Approximately 3 hours.
• Advantages of these excursions... It is an interactive excursion ideal if you plan to travel in a group.
• Disadvantages of these tours... It does not include other dishes, it is a tour completely focused on pizza.

You can either book the tours in advance online or book the tours once you are in the city, although if you plan to visit the city in summer you might run out of spaces or the price might increase at the last minute, something that doesn't normally happen if you visit Palermo in winter

In any case, to secure your space on the tours and lock in the price of the activities, I advise you to book in advance and organise a tour to get the most out of your visit to each site.

On a gastronomic tour you will mainly discover the flavours of the local food, but you will also get to know in an interactive way some of the most representative attractions of the city. You will also get to know the rhythm of the Sicilian capital in the markets and the reasons why it is considered one of the cities that is characterized by street food.

On excursions that include cooking classes, you can also learn some of the secrets of the local cuisine and interact with master pizza makers, professional chefs and sommeliers.

If you decide in advance which excursion you would like to take, I advise you to book in advance of your visit. This way you will be able to secure your place, avoid last minute increases and also organise the dates of your trip to get the most out of your visit and make your tour more effective.

Also note that most of the tours last between 3 and 4 hours, so you can do them even if you have planned an express visit to the Sicilian capital. If that is your case, here are some plans that could help you to get to know Palermo in 2 days.

Gastronomy is one of the main attractions of Sicily, so if you visit Palermo you cannot miss a tour of this kind, as you will not only discover the flavours but also the secrets of the Sicilian cuisine and the stories behind every dish and every gastronomic space of the city.

In addition, most of the gastronomic tours in Palermo also include a tour of the main buildings of the city, so it is an ideal alternative to traditional guided tours to discover these sites and their stories in a fun and different way.