I get it, you’re not ready to let go of summer just yet. Neither am I.
While I see pumpkin-spiced lattes popping up left, right, and center, and the fall girlies digging their Uggs out of storage, I’ve been scouring the map of Europe for destinations where it’s still hovering around 75 degrees out, the skies remain blue, and the sea is still warm enough for swimming.
It may be a little late for swimming in a Swiss lake, or chasing windmills around Holland in short sleeves, but one unlikely city, on a sun-drenched Italian island deep in the Mediterranean, still ticks all the boxes for an off-season beach escape:
It’s a balmy 75 degrees, the sea is turquoise-blue, and eating out won’t burn a hole through your wallet. Oh, did I mention Americans can fly there nonstop this fall?
United is currently linking Newark and Palermo 3 times weekly, with flights running all the way through December 17. Wait until you hear about those roundtrip fares.
Visit The Heart Of Sicily On A Nonstop Flight From Newark
Palermo is the capital and largest city in Sicily, which is, in turn, the largest island in Italy and the whole Mediterranean.
Sicily’s become a firm favorite with Americans in recent years, especially after it featured in major productions like the HBO hit series The White Lotus and, most recently, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, parts of which were filmed on the Sicilian island of Favignana.
Gorgeous little sunny retreat, by the way, but you can read all about that in this accompanying article.
Since May 21, 2025, when United first launched the route, Americans have had a seasonal nonstop link to Palermo Airport (PMO), the main gateway serving the city of Palermo and wider northwestern Sicily, from Newark (EWR), with 3 weekly flights in each direction.
Contrary to its original summer-only billing, however, this year’s service isn’t wrapping up with the season.
In fact, flights are now running until December 17, carrying the nonstop link right through late fall and almost to Christmas.
In other words, if you missed the summer window and you’re still dreaming of a Sicilian escape this season, you won’t need to connect in Rome, Milan, or another major Italian or European hub on your way to Palermo.
You can fly nonstop from United’s EWR hub.
Everything You Need To Know About The EWR–PMO Flights This Fall
- Airline: United Airlines
- Frequency: 3 nonstop flights per week in each direction
- Operating period: through December 17, 2026
- Aircraft: Boeing 767-400ER or 767-300ER, depending on the date
- Cabins: Economy, Premium Plus and Polaris Business
- Flight time to Palermo: Roughly 8 hours and 35 minutes to 9 hours
- Flight time to Newark: Roughly 10 hours and 20–30 minutes
- Distance: Around 4,477 miles
- Return fare: Budget around $1,200–$1,500 in Economy
Why Palermo Is My Own All-Time Favorite Italian City
Countless visits to Italy later, and something like 14 out of its 20 regions in, I’ve been to enough towns and cities in this country to know when I’ve stumbled upon a true pot of gold.
Palermo’s one of them.
Yes, you could reduce it to the capital of Sicily, and a bustling port city straddling the Tyrrhenian Sea, but it’s so much more than that.
At the risk of sounding pedantic, yet not one bit untruthful, Palermo’s an entire state of mind.
Let me preface this by saying it’s definitely not the Italy of polished piazzas, Vespa rides into fiery-red sunsets, and romantic strolls down picture-perfect promenades:
Similarly to Naples, yet another wonderfully-unhinged city I’ve written at length about here, it’s raw, it’s chaotic, it’s loud, and most importantly, it’s unforgiving towards tourists who expect it to bend itself to their whims and tastes.
Palermo is no theme park, let’s just put it that way.
A Historic Center Where A Glorious Past & Modern Decay Converge
Picture the loudest, most chaotic, deliciously-frayed maze of winding lanes lined with pastel-hued, crumbling-yet-beautiful-all-the-same edifices, Baroque churches opening onto piazze that have seen better days, yet somehow haven’t lost an ounce of their historic charm, and the craziest architectural medley you’ve seen anywhere in Italy, if not Europe as a whole.
Palermo was once at the crossroads of empires, and every major Mediterranean power wanted a bite of it.
Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, the French, and even Spaniards—everyone has left their fingerprints on Palermo’s face.
Look at the monumental, gloriously-mismatched Palermo Cathedral, for instance:
From the elaborate pinnacles crowning its towers to the vast neoclassical dome rising above castle-like battlements, and a Gothic bell tower across the street that looks like it could belong in France, linked back to the cathedral by pointed arches, it’s the greatest pan-Mediterranean love story ever told.
In building form.
Then there’s the Norman Palace, which, looking from the outside, seems like your average European noble residence, and if you’ve been traveling to Europe every other summer, you’ve seen your fair share of those… right?
Gross mistake.
Step inside, and you’ll find the most stunning, golden-drenched medieval chapel, one I’d say might even rival the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel:
Cappella Palatina is a jewel box covered in shimmering Byzantine mosaics, glowing beneath a painted, Arab-inspired wooden ceiling, and it’s not something that’ll slip from your memory like your average street-corner European church anytime soon.
How Safe Is Sicily These Days?
Sicily has developed a reputation for being one of Italy’s roughest regions, and for good reason.
Back in the ’80s and ’90s, it was a notorious hotbed for organized crime and mafia violence, and as my local Palermitani friends pointed out, some businesses still struggle to this day with fending off the so-called pizzo collectors, particularly in suburban areas.
Luckily, downtown Palermo is in a much better state nowadays than it was 3 or even 2 decades ago: the years of gang-led massacres and brazen, citywide violence that once defined Sicily internationally are largely behind it, and the Historic Center has been converted into a major tourist destination.
That doesn’t mean the bad guys packed their bags and left.
Extortion, intimidation, arson attacks, and even gun violence linked to organized crime still occur in parts of Palermo.
The key distinction for visitors is that these incidents are usually tied to local businesses, gang rackets, and criminal networks, rather than random tourists sightseeing around Quattro Canti.
The biggest issues affecting tourists visiting central Palermo are far more likely to be pickpocketing, bag snatching, scams, and other forms of petty theft than getting caught up in mafia violence or serious violent crime.
And while we don’t cover Sicily individually on the Travel Off Path Traveler Safety Index, Italy as a whole remains a largely stable destination, with a score of 93 out of 100, based on reports from recent visitors:
Turquoise Waters Half An Hour From The City Center
Palermo’s frayed streets and beautiful buildings aside, it’s only a roughly 35-minute bus ride away from Mondello, one of the prettiest beaches in Sicily:
I’m talking white sand unfolding for about a mile along a typically-Mediterranean, crystal-clear sea, and plenty of lidi and beach bars to make the ride worth your while.
One of my favorite restaurants in Palermo is actually within a short walk of the main sand strip, and it’s called L’Angolo di Mondello—Trattoria da Franco, a family-run seafood restaurant serving boiled octopus dressed simply with olive oil and lemon.
I guess that’s my cue to touch on what Palermo does best: food.
Best Destination For Food In Italy, Full Stop
Rome’s main attraction is the nearly 2,000-year-old Colosseum. Palermo’s pride and joy is its riotous street markets.
It once placed fifth in VirtualTourist’s global ranking of the world’s best cities for street food, and a walk through Ballarò Market will instantly let you know why:
From generously-filled, larger-than-your-head arancine bursting with ragù, to pane con panelle stuffed into sesame buns, sfincione, and skewers of smoky stigghiole, plus that chaotic, high-volume feel you thought you’d never see outside of Latin American markets, this place is the heart and soul of Palermo.
Come early before the stallholders run out of the good stuff, pull up a seat at any kerbside stall, try and survive that surprisingly-stubborn autumnal heat—daytime highs average around 75 degrees here in October—and order yourself a paper plate of freshly-grilled stigghiole.
Oh, and wash it down with an ice-cold Messina. Thank me later.
Everyone’s raving about Rome and Naples, but Palermo truly is Italy’s eating capital.
Street food aside, the restaurant scene here is insane, from the no-frills osterie ringing Vucciria’s main square to the more elevated rooftop dining rooms lining Via Roma: this is one of those rare places where you could never go seriously hungry, no matter how low your budget is.
Even at a polished, elevated eatery like Seven Restaurant, which has the most gorgeous views of the Palermitan skyline, expect to pay around $65 for a generous dinner with an appetizer and two cheeky glasses of Sicilian Grillo.
How Affordable Is Palermo?
You can easily put together a casual dinner for under $30, find private rooms within walking distance of all the main sights for around $60–90 when booking ahead, and as for getting around, most landmarks lie within a short walk of each other.
If you’re expecting Milan or Rome prices, you’re in for a—rather pleasant—surprise here:
Average Prices In Palermo
- Two loungers and one umbrella at Mondello: around $35–40 when the seasonal lidi are operating
- Takeaway snack, such as an arancina, pane e panelle, or a slice of sfincione: $2.50–6
- Pizza in a casual pizzeria: $8–16
- Main pasta dish in a local restaurant: $10–20
- 3-course meal with one glass of wine in a mid-range restaurant: $35–60
- Fine dining (e.g. Michelin-starred Gagini): around $98 per person
- Budget B&B or private guesthouse room: $60–90 per night for two
- 3-star hotel: $120–180 per night
- 4-star hotel: $160–320 per night
- Public transport ticket: around $1.60
- Typical museum or monument admission: $6–22
- Metered taxi: roughly $2–3 per mile, plus the initial charge and time-based fees
Before You Fly To Europe This Fall, Check The Travel Rules That Apply To You
As of September 7, 2026, the final grace period allowing countries to pause biometric checks under Europe’s new Entry/Exit System technically expired, meaning Americans are now subject to mandatory fingerprinting and registration upon landing in 30+ European countries.
In practice, however, several of them—including Italy—have since postponed full enforcement at certain border points to prevent bottlenecks at airports.
This doesn’t change the fact the system itself remains in force across select entry hubs.
Use the Entry Requirement Checker to find out exactly which rules apply at your destination.
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