It is hard to imagine anyone finding serious fault with this hotel. It is without question one of the best in Sicily in terms of comfort, ambience, surroundings, service and overall excellence. Contrary to an earlier review, it is not at all far from either Palermo (about 15 minutes) or Monreale (about 10 minutes). In fact, it is perhaps the most convenient hotel to Monreale, which makes it all the more appealing -- the Monreale cathedral being one of the top sights in Sicily (and much more interesting than anything in Palermo itself). At the Conca D'Oro, the rooms are big and comfortable, the air conditioning works well, the public areas are warm and friendly, the open courtyard is lovely, the food and service in the dining room are very good and the surrounding hills are gorgeous. What more could you want? Well, a swimming pool, maybe ... but everything else about this place makes it a real find, especially booked and paid for in advance at a rate of about $110 Euros a night!

We stayed at this hotel because the Rough Guide said to avoid driving in Palermo at all costs. We had an early morning flight from Palermo airport so had to stay somewhere in the vicinity and this place looked nice from the pictures on the internet and had plenty of parking. The hotel itself was very nice (probably the nicest we stayed at in Sicily in terms of the room and hotel itself), however it was miles away from Monreale and Palermo. The hotel website advised that there is a bus service into Palermo but be warned that the free shuttle runs 9am (return 4pm) daily only and you have to give 1 day's notice for any other schedule (which you have to pay extra for at €10 per trip pp). We ended up catching the public bus into town which, whilst only €1 each way, was not very reliable. We ended up waiting for over an hour outside the hotel gates and when we finally got into Palermo, it was to the Piazza Independenza which was not close to many restaurants etc. This would have been fine if we had left in the morning but as it was nearly dusk by this stage we decided just to go back to the hotel and have dinner. Luckily the restaurant was reasonable and the food quite nice. In hindsight, I would drop the car back off in Palermo (use Avis as their office is on the porto road along the coast hence you don't have to drive through the backstreets of Palermo), stay there (Mecure is good and within walking distance of Avis office) and then catch the airport bus. Also note, do NOT underestimate the time to get to the airport! We left our hotel at 730am for a 1030am flight and just made it to the airport after 9am. In addition, note that there are no petrol stations on the freeway to the airport so make sure you fill up somewhere close to Palermo/Monreale to avoid paying the €70 refueling charge that we got hit with!