Grand Hotel Piazza Borsa (Palermo, Italy)

Previous reviews have mentioned how stunning and how grand the building is which used to be the Palermo Stock Exchange, hence the name ‘Borsa’ and before this it was a monastery dating back to the late sixteenth century. There is a marble staircase leading to historic rooms and it is lavishly decorated to give a true flavour of traditional Palermo. The hotel is so big that you might get lost and the rooms are also very big.

Breakfast is an ample buffet which provides plenty of choice to set you up for the day ahead in Palermo. Cakes and pastries are included as are fresh meats, cheeses and other continental offerings. Staff keep everything topped up and constantly supply you with cappuccino.

The hotel is in a fantastic location and within easy walking distance of most things that Palermo has to offer such as the Opera House, the harbour, the railway station and the lively markets.

You may struggle to find the hotel even with a sat-nav and the old winding, narrow streets of Palermo are also a challenge to manoeuvre. Once you have parked the car parking charges can be quite expensive.

The staff are not impolite or rude, but sometimes they don’t go out of their way to ensure that you have everything you need which is something that you would expect in a four star establishment.

Rooms are often dusty and floors could sometimes do with a good mopping. The shower, especially the shower curtain, is also quite dirty which feels unhygienic.