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Sicily · Palermo

Mondello

also known as Mondello Beach

choppybeginner-friendlyhigh crowds

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

On this page

Wind
- Month by month
Forecast
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
- Rescue
Hazards
Rules & access
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos
FAQ

Nearby Isola delle Femmine 7 km · straight-line distance

SeasonJan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Oct, Nov, Decthe months riders and schools name How windy12-16 ktmixed Launchmedium off-season; constrained in summeraccess rules on record, below Watershallow bay, chop to small/medium waves26-28°C in summer · 6 things riders flag LevelBeginner to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level section Schools2named at this spot From the airportin words under Getting therePalermo Falcone-Borsellino (PMO)

When it fills in

The summer Levante is thermal and builds through the day rather than blowing at first light. Winter Grecale comes in with fronts and can be up at any hour, including overnight. No local onset or shut-down time is published.

Mondello is Palermo's city beach, a shallow bay between Monte Pellegrino and Monte Gallo, and it kites on NE and E winds at 10-18 knots. The water is shallow for hundreds of metres, which would make it a fine teaching beach if the calendar allowed it. It does not.

From June through September the sand is bathers and beach cabins, and the 2026 Palermo Coast Guard ordinance requires launch and landing inside authorized corridors within the 300 m bathing zone. In practice that leaves October through March, with 7 m the kite people talk about on the strong winter days.

Wind in the bay is variable and gets gusty around the headlands. Algae turns up in places and temporary bathing bans have hit the Ferro di Cavallo area, so check before you drive down. For a Palermo rider it is convenient; for someone flying in to learn, it is a spot that needs confirming on the day.

The wind

locals call it Grecale/Levante style NE-E winds plus thermal and frontal wind

Direction

onshoreNE

Kite sizes

5678910111213141516

metres · typical quiver highlighted

Character

mixed

fills in: The summer Levante is thermal and builds through the day rather than blowing at first light. Winter Grecale comes in with fronts and can be up at any hour, including overnight. No local onset or shut-down time is published.

Typical strength

The strong days are winter Grecale fronts, the kind riders here rig 7 m for, so roughly 25 kt and up. The summer thermal Levante is the light end, around 12-16 kt on 10-14 m. Indicative, derived from the kite sizes riders rig here rather than from any local measurement.

Variable in the bay and gusty around the headlands.

January-March and October-December are the months to come. The shallow water would suit teaching in summer, but bathers and beach cabins rule it out then.

Also on record

10-18

The quiver, in words

7 m commonly mentioned for winter; 10-14 m for summer light wind

Direction to shore

cross to onshore depending on section of the bay

Dominant direction

NE, E

Forecast

Month by month

Jan, riders' month13
Feb, riders' month11
Mar, riders' month21
Apr, riders' month13
May, riders' month3
Jun0
Jul5
Aug5
Sep5
Oct, riders' month5
Nov, riders' month7
Dec, riders' month11

windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+)

Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Oct, Nov, Dec.

13%Jan16°
11%Feb15°
21%Mar16°
13%Apr17°
3%May20°
0%Jun24°
5%Jul28°
5%Aug28°
5%Sep26°
5%Oct24°
7%Nov21°
11%Dec18°

windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+) · water °C below · season highlighted

Month	Windy days	Force 4+	12 kn or more	Knots	From	Peaks at	Air	Water	Readings
Jan	13%	24%	19%	8.4 kt	W	14:00	12.1°C	16.2°C	62
Feb	11%	18%	11%	6.6 kt	ENE	15:00	12.2°C	15.3°C	57
Mar	21%	27%	26%	8.6 kt	WNW	14:00	13.5°C	15.8°C	62
Apr	13%	23%	22%	7.9 kt	WNW	14:00	15.7°C	16.8°C	60
May	3%	11%	6%	6.3 kt	NW	14:00	19.5°C	19.5°C	62
Jun	0%	3%	2%	5.5 kt	E	14:00	24.6°C	24.2°C	60
Jul	5%	10%	6%	6.1 kt	NE	14:00	28.5°C	27.7°C	62
Aug	5%	13%	6%	6.3 kt	NE	14:00	27.7°C	28.3°C	62
Sep	5%	15%	10%	6.9 kt	ENE	14:00	25°C	26.3°C	60
Oct	5%	10%	6%	5.8 kt	NE	14:00	22°C	24°C	62
Nov	7%	23%	13%	7.7 kt	W	14:00	17.5°C	21.3°C	60
Dec	11%	21%	13%	7.9 kt	WNW	14:00	14.4°C	18°C	62

modelled

A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.

Modelled from the operational forecast archive at 1.5–7 km (2023-2024), daylight hours only, not a ground station: it resolves thermal, lake and valley winds far better than coarse reanalysis but still tends to understate a strong local thermal. A windy day has at least three consecutive daylight hours at 12 knots or more. The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

High-resolution weather model (modelled) · Open-Meteo historical forecast archive — best-match operational model (ICON-D2 / AROME / ICON-EU / GFS by region), not a ground station · 2023-2024

The water

Type

shallow bay, chop to small/medium waves

Standing depth

Shallow for hundreds of metres.

Tides

negligible Mediterranean tide

Temperature

26-28°C summer · 14-16°C winter

Wetsuit

boardshorts or shorty in summer; full suit in winter

15–28°C water

Clear blue water in a bay held between two headlands, with chop and small to medium waves. Generally clean, with algae in some areas.

Your level

beginnerintermediateadvanced

Beginner through advanced can all ride it, but a beginner should stay away from the summer beach and go out with a school or local guidance.

The scene

What riders come here for

beginnerfreeridefreestylewinter sessionsSUP and windsurf crossover

Palermo's city beach, full of bathers and tourists. Kiteable mainly when beach use is low.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

2 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: medium off-season; constrained in summer

access rules on record

Somewhere else

Isola delle Femmine, 7 km

Isola delle Femmine

Every spot within 40 km is on the map at the top of this page, with its distance under it.

Rescue

VHF 16

Lifeguards work the beach through the bathing season and are on duty until 19:00, but they are there for bathers and there is no kite rescue service of any kind. The free sea emergency number is 1530, with 112 and VHF 16 as the alternatives.

Launch

Sandy city beach with free and paid sections. How much launch space you actually get depends on the season, the cabins, the concessions and the number of people on the sand.

Space

medium off-season; constrained in summer

Rules & access

2026: the Palermo Coast Guard bathing-safety ordinance (no. 46 of 29 May 2026) puts kitesurf under pleasure-navigation rules and allows it in daylight only. Riders must be at least 14, the age bar waived only for pupils in federation or Lega Navale school activity run under the school's responsibility and third-party insurance. A flotation device must be worn at all times, meaning a buoyancy vest, a floating harness or a floating suit, together with a release system that lets you dump the kite and a knife or equivalent for cutting lines; lines go on only just before launch and come off on landing, and a kite may never be left unattended without at least one side disconnected and the lines wound back on the bar. Riding is banned within 300 m of beaches and 100 m of cliffs and beyond one nautical mile offshore, within 1,000 m of any harbour entrance in the Palermo district, inside the Palermo roadstead, within 400 m of anchored vessels, within 200 m of fixed installations, set nets, fish farms, navigation marks and diver floats, off river mouths, and anywhere bathing is banned. Mondello's own harbour is on the list of ports where bathing and nautical activity are forbidden outright. Through the bathing season set by Sicilian regional decree, from 08:00 to sunset and whenever people are in the water, kitesurf may not navigate the reserved bathing water at all. Inside the 300 m band, launching and landing must happen in an authorized corridor: 30 m wide at the sand, widening to 80 m by 100 m offshore and holding that width to the 300 m line, marked by two rows of orange buoys no more than 20 m apart, the outermost 80 cm buoys carrying the holder's name and authorization number. Entry and exit are by body drag out to 100 m, one kite at a time in that first 100 m with priority to riders coming in; corridors are free to use, are for launch and landing only, and swimming inside them is banned. Launching without a corridor is allowed only on beaches and stretches of sea with no bathers on them. Landing on a beach concession is banned unless the area is separated and authorized.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Rider tips

Treat Mondello as an off-season or very quiet-day spot unless you can confirm a legal corridor and a clear landing zone.
Rig 7 m for strong winter NE and E systems; 10-14 m only helps in summer light wind, when the beach is unusable anyway.
Check Comune di Palermo bathing notices before riding the free-beach end near Ferro di Cavallo.
Land away from the beach concessions: landing on them is banned unless the area is separated and authorized.
Wear the flotation device the whole time you are on the water: a buoyancy vest, floating harness or floating suit is compulsory here, not advisory.
If you launch from an authorized corridor, body drag the first 100 m and let anyone coming in go first; only one kite is allowed in that stretch at a time.
Stay well off the harbour: nothing may be sailed within 1,000 m of a harbour entrance in this district, and Mondello's port is closed to nautical activity.
Riders under 14 are only covered outside a federation or Lega Navale school programme, so check the age rule before booking a young rider in.

Getting there

Airport

Palermo Falcone-Borsellino (PMO)

Route

Taxi or private transfer straight from the airport, or public transport through Palermo city.

Transfer

about 28-35 by taxi from PMO; 60-90 by public transport depending on connections

Cost level

medium to high in peak beach season

Staying

Mondello has beach apartments, B&Bs and a few hotels; Palermo city has the wider choice and the nightlife.

No-wind days

Palermo historic center · Monte Pellegrino · Capo Gallo · Mondello beach clubs · SUP, surf or windsurf lessons

Photos

High-res panorama titled 'Panorama of the beach in Mondello' — Andreas Mischok / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons

'Mondello: Mare e cielo' - sea and sky at the beach — Pietro Columba from Italia / CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

FAQ

When is the best time?

October through May, particularly January-March and October-December, since summer is not recommended because of bathers and beach cabins.

Is it suitable for beginners?

The shallow water suits beginners, but summer teaching is not advised because of bather traffic; beginners should use school or local guidance.

What is the wind like?

NE and E winds at roughly 10-18 knots, cross to onshore depending on the bay section, with 7 m kites common in winter and 10-14 m in light summer wind.

Are there rules or restricted zones?

Yes, a Palermo Coast Guard ordinance requires kitesurf launch and landing inside authorized corridors within the 300 m bathing zone during the bathing season, and landing on beach concessions is banned unless separated.

What are the hazards?

Algae in some areas, dense summer bather crowding, beach cabins and concessions that limit rigging, and temporary bathing-water bans near the Ferro di Cavallo/Locamare free beach.

Last updated: August 2026