This is a very well run hotel , in a great old building. The room was clean and had all necessary amenities. The staff were helpful and predicated our every requirement.

Wonderful old palazzo in convenient location near station. Great courtyard and staircase that sweep up to reception have a dilapidated grandeur, but despite old fashioned style the rooms are impeccably clean. Staff are helpful, offering to keep our luggage for us before we asked, and vouchers are provided for breakfast at a nearby cafe. Our room looked out on a lively street market.

We found this hotel in our guide book while travelling on the train from Trapani. It was a 5 minute walk from the station and just the sort of place that we like, with lots of character. You walk into a courtyard that is being used for parking and up two flights of stairs (very steep). Don't let the exterior put you off as the hotel itself is very clean and at only 50 euros for the night (with breakfast) extremely reasonable. We had a choice of rooms although all of the en-suite rooms were taken. Our room did have a sink and a balcony which was a bonus. The daughter of the hotel owner was also very friendly and helpful and spoke English which was very useful. She also arranged to store our bags the next day while we went sight seeing. Our room was very noisy at night with police sirens wailing and dogs barking, but this didn't put us off and if we ever go back to Palermo we would stay here again. There is also a fabulous lounge rumoured to have been used by Mussolini when he addressed a crowd from the balcony.
Breakfast small but adequate at a cafe a few doors down (you are given a breakfast voucher).

I stayed one night at the Orientale in late June. The hotel is really close to the train station / airport bus drop off. I had booked it over the phone - in 'phrasebook Italian' as the owner did not appear to speak any English - so wasn't sure that I would actually have a room when I got there! But they were expecting me so it obviously worked.

The entrance to the hotel is through a huge wooden door into an internal courtyard, and then you walk up this amazing wide staircase to the hotel entrance on the 1st floor. Except I walked past it and ended on the top floor thinking I had come to the wrong place!

I had booked a single room with bathroom, which was a bit pokey to be honest, but as I was only staying one night and leaving early the next morning it was OK. They showed me a nicer room, with street view, which was cheaper, but it didn't have its own bathroom so I stuck with the pokey one. (It did have aircon though). I spoke to a fellow guest who had paid more for a room which opened onto the courtyard - he was staying for a few days - so it's worth paying more if you are staying for longer.

Breakfast is at the cafe up the road - you can sit right on the pavement and watch all the locals going up and down Via Maqueda - it's very lively.

It was definitely worth staying here for the staircase - it's a 18th century palazzo I think - kind of faded grandeur. And it's very handy for the station.