If you’re not sure which one of these to choose for your holiday trip, and what attractions await you in both cases, we’ll try our best to showcase you some of the pros and cons of both options. Which city has the prettier monuments? Which beach to choose on Sicily? Where to take your kid? All of that below.
The article will be split into two rounds, since not every tourist is the same – points can be gathered in categories like: Which beach to choose? Where are the most interesting monuments? Which city has better attractions? Where to go with a kid? Which city’s good for clubbing? Which city’s best for trekking? and the additional category, our subjective opinion. Let’s play!
Which beach to choose? Catania or Palermo?
In our opinion, the clear winner here is Palermo – here you’ll find an abundance of charming sandy beaches, very near the main city. When it comes to Catania, it’s not all disappointing, but for the most part, it offers significantly more rocky beaches than their sandy counterparts – they even have volcanic rocks!
Palermo gets 1 point.
Where are the most interesting monuments? Catania or Palermo?
In this case, we can safely say that both cities are phenomenal – but we’ll still choose Palermo as the winner. In both areas, you can find many magnificent churches (like the Monreale Cathedral in Palermo), squares and museums. More on the monuments of Palermo here.
Once again, Palermo gets 1 point (P:2 C:0)
Which city has better attractions? Catania or Palermo?
We think that Catania’s the winner here – the Mount Etna tours, fish markets, botanical gardens or any of the nearby towns. All of those options are sure to satisfy every type of tourist, although Palermo is not that far behind. More on the attractions of Catania here.
Catania gets a point (P:2 C:1)
Where to go with a kid? Catania or Palermo?
Unfortunately we can’t recommend either one of these cities – both are crowdy, loud and generally unwelcoming for children. If you want to take your offspring for a trip, we suggest picking a smaller town, like Trapani. Don’t go for bigger towns like Taormina, where getting to the town center is so hampered. We recommend middle size cities, like the aforementioned Trapani, Marsala or small villages scattered across the whole island.
No points
Which city’s better for clubbing? Catania or Palermo?
Catania takes the win again. Catania’s got many more clubs gathered near the town center. Palermo on the other hand, has them scattered across the entire city, forcing you to use taxis to get from place to place.
Point for Catania (P:2 C:2)
Which city’s better for trekking?
There’s no clear winner here. From one side, we have Catania’s Mount Etna and it’s wondrous coast, but Palermo’s not far behind when it comes to the mountain ranges it offers, as well as its incredible beaches. We can’t, in good conscience, determine the winner.
No points
Which one did we find to be, generally, better?
Once again, both cities have their own little charms. We loved the town center of Catania, and were it up to that, Catania would take the spot. But all the areas around the city of Palermo were incredible, giving us a tie, once again.
Summary
Well, it’s a tie! Which means that whichever city you’ll choose, you won’t be disappointed. Be prepared for a slight shock when landing in either one of them though. A better question to ask than “Catania or Palermo?”, would be which one to pick first! In that case, we’d say that Catania should take the spot for your first destination.
