Mondello, 11 km north of central Palermo, is the city's main bathing beach — a long curve of fine pale sand between two limestone headlands, with the open Tyrrhenian on one side and the Mondello peninsula sheltering it from rough water on the other. The water is shallow and clear; the high season fills the beach with Palermitan families.
The seafront village is mostly Liberty-era — early-20th-century villas and an Art Nouveau pavilion on stilts at the centre of the beach. The pavilion now houses a restaurant; lower-cost places along the promenade serve fish, pizza, and gelato. Bus 806 runs from the Politeama to the front in about 30 minutes.