Hotel Plaza Opera

Nice hotel, informative staff, perfect location. A good rooftop breakfast room with all-round city views doubles as a pleasant cocktail bar in the evenings . The location could hardly be better - not right in the crowded and noisy centre but easily walkable from it,. Several bus lines stop nearby, as well as the airport bus shuttle. A great deal of Palermo's centre has been pedestrianised since we were last here 20 years ago and it has made a huge difference to walkability and air quality. There are numerous restaurants and bars a few minutes away as well as some high-end clothing and fashion shops. It's an easy walk down to the port and the yacht club (bar/restaurant open to non members) on the 'trapezoidal mole'. The breakfast/cocktail room is an ultra modern glass box on the former roof, now the hotel's 8th floor. The ground floor reception area/lounge is also in a chic modern furnished and decorated style. Our room was more functional, but who needs more? Everything in the room did in fact function well, and as it should, The reception staff gave us good advice on things to see , where to go and how to get there. The breakfast was fresh and good. We didn't try the (bookable) wellness facility. Apart from the obvious and famous castles. churches, palaces and cloisters our favourite place in Palermo was the wonderful Botanic Gardens. We took a picnic lunch in , bought from an excellent café near the gate, and spent a lovely few hours wandering round, impressed more than anything by the wide selection of trees.