Beautiful views, turquoise blue sea, a touch of history and above all great food, that’s what Sardinia was like for me. The island definitely deserves to be driven cross-country and then ferried across to Corsica to continue there.
Tip: Book tickets in advance for sightseeing tours and boat trips in Sardinia.
Where to stay in Sardinia
That’s a very difficult question in Sardinia, if you travel by car it almost doesn’t matter, there’s a lot to see both north and south. If you don’t have a car, Cagliari is fine for city life and great gastronomy, Alghero more like a historic town. On the Costa Smeralda, where there are plenty of tourist resorts. The northern area is strategic if you want to visit Bonifacio in neighbouring Corsica or the islands of the La Maddalena archipelago.
What to see in Sardinia
Sardinia is the perfect place for a roadtrip, beautiful places are literally around every corner and it’s worth travelling all the way around. However, it’s quite a big island, over 300 kilometres from north to south, so for a shorter, week-long holiday it’s better to choose the northern or southern half.
Cagliari
Cagliari is the capital of Sardinia and a gastronomic paradise where you can taste traditional Sardinian cuisine. The historic part of Il Castelo is beautiful. From the walls and the Bastione di Saint Remy observation deck you can enjoy a beautiful view of the whole city. Flamingos can be seen in the park at Cagliari. There are many beautiful beaches in the area, such as Chia Beach.
Bosa
Bosa is a beautiful town on the west coast of Sardinia, through which flows the only navigable river in Sardinia that runs through the town, the Tema. The scenery on the banks of the river is made up of colourful houses. There is the medieval castle of Castello Malaspina overlooking the town and the surrounding area. Bosa is famous for traditional lace making and also for the local Sardinian wine, Malvasia. The town is a jumble of small stone streets, which are wonderful to get a little lost in.
There are a lot of good-looking businesses here. I visited the Anna Maria Marongiu bakery and a pretty fine dining restaurant that was definitely worth it, Locanda di Corte. For wine cheese and ham there’s a nice bar called Zio Elio – Osteria Antica di Vino.
Almost the entire drive from Alghero to Bosa, about 45 km, is along a high coastal road that offers beautiful views.
Alghero
The coastal city of Alghero with Catalan influences and a historic centre and fortifications. It is dominated by the Cathedral of Santa Maria and the Church of San Francesco, as well as the small boat harbour, which is right under the walls. Nearby is the Porto Conte National Park and the Capo Caccia-Isola Piana Marine Protected Area.
There are also nice beaches nearby, such as Lido di Alghero or the secluded coves of Le Bombarde and Lazzaretto.
Alghero is a good starting point for trips to the north coast of the island, to nearby Sassari or Bosa. The most popular excursion from here is a visit to the Cave of Neptune.
Grotta di Nettuno
Neptuno’s Cave – Grotta di Neptuno is a cave on the cliff of Capo Caccia, 24 kilometres from Alghero. It can be reached in two ways:
- by boat from the port of Alghero – the boat will drop you off right at the entrance to the cave,
- by car or bus up the cliff – from here you will descend down to the cave via the Escala del Cabirol staircase and then a more difficult climb back up, but the views are beautiful.
I chose a combined approach and visited the cave by boat and then went by car for the views. It’s pretty bad to park there though, there’s no bigger parking lot and the cars are parked along the road on the way down. I had to walk a few hundred yards anyway, and this was back in June before the full season.
The alternative bus, which drops you off directly at the roundabout at Capo Caccia stop, takes about 50 minutes. It’s bus line ARST 9321, it runs every day but not quite every minute, so it’s better to plan ahead. The ticket costs 2,50 euros.
The boat trip may be unavailable on some days due to high winds or storms. I managed to hit a day when the boats weren’t running, so I recommend not planning for the last day. The cave capacity is limited, so there may be lines.
The tour lasts less than an hour and it’s really beautiful inside (which is stupid to take pictures of and must be seen). Inside there are majestic stalactites and stalagmites, pools of crystal water and large halls. In the “hall of music” the natural formations resemble a church organ. The light that penetrates the cave creates a magical atmosphere. Entrance costs 14 euros.
Castelsardo
This little town in the north of Sardinia, on the Gulf of Asinara, offers some of the most beautiful views of the Sardinian coast and, when it’s clear, even of the mountains of Corsica.
The city was founded in 1270 and has been under Spanish rule for 300 years, and it shows. The dominant feature of the town is the Castello dei Doria (Castelsardo was founded by the Doria family of Genoa). In addition, there is the church of Nostra Signora di Tergu and megalithic walls from pre-Nuragic times.
A short distance inland is Roccia dell’Elefante, the elephant rock, inside which is a tomb. It’s just off the road.
About 21 kilometres from Castelsardo is the Terme di Casteldoria, a natural spa where water emerges from underground at a temperature of over 100 °C.
Isola Rossa
Not so much a tourist place, but all the more beautiful nature. Around Torre Spagnola there is a beautiful rocky coastline, a bit wild, it’s quite windy up here in the north.
Santa Teresa di Gallura
The northern tip of the Strait of Bonifacio, separating Sardinia from Corsica, offers mainly beautiful scenery. In the town there is the Spanish tower of Longosardo and the Capo Testa lighthouse. Nearby is the 14th century archaeological site of Lu Brandali.
The town ends by the sea at Reina Bianca beach, which has been awarded the Blue Flag for its clean water. To the right of the beach is a pedestrian coastal path, where the rock formations are worth noticing.
I had a great meal here at PeMa Ristorante. In general, this little town looks like it has a lot of great places to eat and given its strategic location to Corsica and La Maddalena islands and interesting surroundings, I’d probably stay here next time.
La Maddalena
The archipelago of La Maddalena, off the north-eastern coast of Sardinia, has 60 islands with beautiful beaches and coves with clear waters. The largest island has the same name, La Maddalena. It is reached by ferry from the port of Palau, a journey of about 20 minutes and it runs all the time.
From the port of La Maddalena you can visit other islands in the area, such as Spargi or Caprera (where you don’t even have to take a boat, as it is connected to La Maddalena by a bridge), where there is the house and museum of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the great Italian military leader.
Trip from Sardinia to Corsica
The two nearest ports are Santa Teresa in Sardinia and Bonifacio in Corsica, a journey of just 50 minutes, operated by Moby Lines. But you can also travel from Porto Torres to Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica, which takes over 4 hours, with Corsica Ferries.
Bonifacio is a beautiful historic town with a large fortification and Citadel, built on limestone cliffs in the very south of Corsica. If you have time, it’s definitely worth a day trip.
What to taste in Sardinia
Sardinia is a gastronomic paradise. Practically anywhere you can find perfectly seasoned Italian food made with local ingredients. Simple and colourful. A speciality straight from Sardinia are the stuffed culurgiones, which are as if tangled and stuffed with potatoes. A popular speciality is the roasted porceddu pig. Typical Sardinian pasta is malloredus, but more commonly known as gnocchetti sardi. A popular dessert here is seadas, which is thin dough filled with pecorino, fried and covered with honey. The traditional Sardinian bread is pane carasau, which is not so much bread as a very thin, crispy flatbread that you get everywhere to eat.
Where is Sardinia
Sardinia is an Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea between Italy, Corsica and northern Africa. It is separated from Corsica by the short Strait of Bonifacio to the north, facing the Italian mainland across the Tyrrhenian Sea to the east, and open to Spain to the west. It is the second largest island in the Mediterranean, about 200 km from Italy and only about 12 km south of Corsica.
How to get to Sardinia
Sardinia is a large Italian island west of mainland Italy and south of French Corsica. So close you can see it from here. South of Sardinia is already Africa (Tunisia), in fact it is closer from Sardinia to Africa than to the Italian mainland.
By air to Sardinia
A direct flight from Prague to the south of Sardinia takes about 2 and a quarter hours, to the north of Sardinia or from Vienna it is a little less. Sardinia has 3 airports:
- Cagliari (CAG) – south of Sardinia,
- Olbia (OLB) – northeast of Sardinia, near the Costa Smeralda,
- Alghero (AHO) – northwest Sardinia.
The furthest airports, Olbia and Cagliari, are about 3.5 hours by car or 4.5 hours by train, so it’s not entirely necessary to be tied to a specific airport in the area you want to be in (especially if you want to travel a larger area in Sardinia).
Ferries in Sardinia
The ferry ride is particularly useful if you want to drive around Sardinia in your own car. You can reach Sardinia by ferry from Italy, France and Spain. The shortest way is from next door in Corsica, specifically from Bonifacio to Santa Teresa with Moby Lines. It takes about 50 minutes.
From Italy, the closest port is Civitavecchia near Rome, but ferries also run from Livorno or Genoa. From Barcelona, Spain, the Grimaldi Lines ferry to Porto Torres takes about 14 hours (including overnight).