Palermo Airport Motorhome Rental, Italy

RV rentals and campervan hire in Sicily

Palermo is the capital city of Sicily, that triangular island at the foot of Italy. It is located in Sicily’s northwest coast facing the Tyrrhenian Sea, a strategic location that shaped much of its history as it transferred hands from the original Greek settlers to the Phoenicians to Romans to Arabs and Normans, and currently, the Mafia. While the delightful jumble of its architectural legacy is not scrubbed up for tourists and the urban atmosphere is more like a strong shot of espresso than a foamy cappuccino, Palermo is well-suited for travel by Palermo airport motorhome rental, campervan hire or RV rentals due to the abundance of camp grounds, excellent scenery and UNESCO World Heritage Sites at its doorsteps.

What to see in Palermo, Sicily

Palermo’s Falcone-Borsellino Airport is the major hub of Sicily and one of the busiest in Italy. The airport connects not just domestic travelers but international visitors coming from major European cities as well. This means that you can fly directly to Sicily and pick up your Palermo airport motorhome hire so you can go straight to city sightseeing and retire in a campground about six miles out of the city center and less than a mile from the sea.

The cityscape offers a mix of Arab-Norman palaces, Sicilian Baroque churches, 13th century Catalan-inspired cathedrals, chapels with Byzantine mosaics inside, vertical neighborhoods filled with laundry and warm people hanging out, and underground, Capuchin catacombs complete with mummified former residents. You may want to park your campervan rental in Palermo airport in the campgrounds for safety, as some of Palermo’s neighborhoods are not well-patrolled which would make parking outdoors and walking alone at night a serious risk.

Explore Sicily by motorhome rental

Mount Etna

Palermo retains a ‘fortissimo’ way of life oblivious to the tourist trade despite its airport receiving more than 4 million passengers a year. Enjoy a hearty Palermitan meal peppered with influences of various foreign rule before heading out with your Palermo airport motorhome rental to the countryside.

You can go in either direction around the island depending on what experiences you want to spend more time on. If you are into physically demanding outdoors, driving your campervan hire in Palermo airport to the east, less than four hours out, will bring you to Europe’s tallest active volcano, Mount Etna. The volcano is not just a geological showpiece – which you can explore up close and on foot but only with a guide – it also shaped most of the villages at its feet and rendered the valleys fertile for wine-growing.

UNESCO Sites in Sicily

From the UNESCO-protected volcano, it’s a short ride to the Baroque city center of Catania at the southern foot of Etna, and about three hours ride north to either Messina or Milazzo, the jump-off point to Sicily’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites offshore, the volcanic and raw Aeolian Islands. Both coastal cities have well-equipped campgrounds receiving Palermo airport RV rentals so you can venture farther out to the largest Aeolian island, Lipari, for more than a day to really experience local life – and dig into heaps of fresh seafood – shaped by the volcanic landscape.

Driving your Palermo airport motorhome rental or campervan hire clockwise or counter-clockwise will bring you to Sicily’s four other UNESCO sites: the archaeological ruins of Agrigento; the 3rd century BC mosaic walls of Villa Romana del Casale near Piazza Armerina in Sicily; the towns of Val di Noto reconstructed in the Baroque style after the 1693 earthquake; and Syracuse’s catacombs carved into rocks dating as far back as 7th century BC.