A travel guide to Sardinia, Italy

Our 11 day road trip around Italy’s island secret was in September, just out of high season which gets very busy as that’s when mainland Italians taking their holidays. In late summer it’s cooler but temperatures are still in the high 20s. Beaches (spiaggi) are still busy but you can find the smaller ones either side of the main ones for more space. The spiaggi are great for snorkeling – warm, shallow, turquoise/clear waters – and you don’t have to venture far to see a variety of fish and swim through shoals. Note that some beaches are non-smoking, and don’t be tempted take sand or shells – you will face a hefty fine!

Sardinia’s topography and flora are forever changing as you travel around the island. Its variety of rock formations is enough to blow the shoulder patches off a geography teacher’s jumper. Huge weather-rounded boulders and pink-orange spiky mountain tops provide stunning photography opportunities, as do the island’s numerous ancient nuraghi monuments. It truly is an island steeped in tradition and history.

With an above average number of centenarians, Sardinia is also known for longevity. Sardinia’s secret to a long life? Healthy lifestyle, hard work, good diet and climate. Just ask the sheepherders, who account for 30% of those reaching 100 years.

First impressions? Charming character, traditional ways of life, ever changing scenery, beaches and turquoise waters more fitting to the Caribbean than the Mediterranean, quite expensive (though decent coffees are cheap)!

Places to visit in Sardinia

San Teodoro

A 20 minute drive south from Olbia airport, San Teodoro is a handy stopover if you’re heading south. There’s good exploration to be had from this small town base – head into the hills to get to know the local topography and to start seeing birds. Market night, held every night through the summer, is bustling with locals, tourists and colourful stalls. And of course there’s a gelateria or pizzeria on every corner.

The most popular beach here is La Cinta but if you prefer something more peaceful try Cala Girgolu, a quiet cove just along the coast. Not all beaches have drink/food facilities so take plenty of bottled water as it can get hot, even late in the season.

Cala Girgolu beach, San Teodoro, Sardinia | Snappy Travels

Cala Girgolu sandy beach, San Teodoro

Drive inland on small roads up into hills for a fairly rapid but pleasant change of scenery but beware the local drivers. Many tend not to pay much attention to the white lines. Add to that the area’s numerous bridges and tunnels (galleria) and you’ll pretty quickly get acclimatised to driving in Sardinia! More on that later.

Nuoro

Having driven into Nuoro we chose not to stop because car parking was too much hassle – impatient drivers, lack of spaces, difficult navigation. Note the blue marked spaces need mobile app for payment. And this is the place that D H Lawrence described as being “at the end of the world”. Not in a good way. So instead we went to…

Oniferi

A typical small hillside town, old Sard women in traditional black shawls. The shops shut at lunchtime but you should be able to find an open bar (trattoria). They’re non-English speaking but ordering an espresso in broken Sardinian/Italian is worth it – the coffee is cheap and moreish. The view from the hillside is amazing, including a cork production plant on outskirts where you can see piles upon piles of oak bark laid out to dry in the sun.

Cork farm, Sardinia | Snappy Travels

Cork farm

The drive continues through more cork oak and pine forests into ever-changing mountainous scenery, nuraghi (neolithic stone towers) never far away, through storm clouds and down into verdant areas with roadside bamboo-like forests, olive groves and vineyards.

Nuraghi | Snappy Travels

Nuraghi

Lanusei

Nestled in the mountains, Lanusei is made up of pastel coloured houses seemingly tumbling down the hillside. Find a safe layby to stop and see more incredible views over the steep valley – great photo opportunities. Entering and leaving Lanusei there are some serious hairpin bends, which are not always always signposted!

Lanusei, Sardinia | Snappy Travels

Lanusei hillside town

Villasimius

Hilly! If driving through, there’s a pretty extensive one way system that can get you in tangles. The popular evening market means tricky parking as the centre is mostly closed off for pedestrian access. Park out of town and walk up (Via Roma is nearby and usually has spaces). As with other towns the white painted spaces are free, in the blue ones you have to pay. Don’t leave your car parked in the town centre during the day as you won’t get out again until the night market finishes at around midnight.

On Via Roma there’s a row of three or four restaurants and cafes, good for filling up on reasonably priced but good quality pizza and coffee before you hit the town in the evening.

There are lots of clean, white sand beaches around Villasimius, most with their own car parks. Parking is generally around €5 for the day but tickets are transferable, so you can visit another beach and reuse the ticket in their car park. Two good beaches for snorkelling are Santo Stefano (just past the marina and Fortezza Vecchia Spanish castle) and Porto Sa Ruxi (off the coastal road to Cagliari, but likely to have bigger waves if windy). They’re small with rocky ends, the water is crystal clear and boats are disallowed. Expect to see a good variety of fish from just a few metres of the shoreline, many swimming right in front of your face.

Villasimius, Sardinia | Snappy Travels

Tourist boat departing Villasimius

During autumn and winter the lagoon at Simius, Stagno di Notteri, is good for spotting great flamingos in their natural habitat. Wintering colonies have established themselves here and you can see young (grey) and mature (pink) flamingos going about their business. In summer greater numbers can seen as they migrate from Africa to France.

Pink flamingos, Simius, Stagno di Notteri | Snappy Travels

Pink flamingos, at Stagno di Notteri lagoon, Simius

Capo Carbonara

Capo Carbonara is a marine protected area at the most south-easterly point of Sardinia that’s worth a look. Drive up to the headland for a stunning view of the Isola dei Cavoli and its lighthouse. The name of this rocky headland incidentally is taken from the past production of charcoal from the area’s forests, historically used as a gunpowder drying ingredient and purportedly favoured by Nelson.

Waterspout off Cape Carbonara, Sardinia | Snappy Travels

Waterspout off Cape Carbonara

Stagni di Molentargius

Visit the saltwater lagoons of Stagni di Molentargius at Cagliari for greater numbers of flamingos plus egrets, moorhens, purple swamp hens (gallinules), ferruginous ducks, black-winged stilts, bitterns and, oddly, near the car park, ring-necked parakeets. Entry, parking and use of the couple of hides is free.

Bittern, Stagni di Molentargius | Snappy Travels

Bittern, Stagni di Molentargius

The drive there from Villasimius is a mountainous coastal road so expect lots of ups and downs and sharp bends, along with the usual dodgy Italian driving – vehicles coming round bends in the middle of the road, tailgating and so on. There are some amazing views from those high vantage points though, if you can bear to take your eyes off the road for a second.

Road bend, Sardinia | Snappy Travels

If driving, get used to road bends like this!

A quick note on filling up your hire car with petrol. Many stations are unmanned and the self service machines can be confusing even when you’ve selected the English language option. For example, at one filling station we put in a €50 note and selected the pump number as per the instructions, only to be presented with a screen asking us to enter card or cash. Gah! With some help from a friendly but equally puzzled German couple, we managed to print out a ‘coupon’ for the €50 we never thought we’d see again, and eventually got the fuel pump working via the German help screen. For info, this was a Tamoil garage. Turmoil, more like!

Cala Sinzias

Just north of Villasimius and backed by pine forests, Cala Sinzias is a long white sandy beach worth visiting, though it can get a bit choppy so not so good for snorkelling. It’s also quite an expensive day out; parking is €6 for the day, hire of chairs and parasol another €15-€25. I suspect these rates could rise in July and August when the beach gets busier. Quite a few bars and restaurants line the beach, unsurprisingly not too cheap either, but they do have toilet and shower facilities. The guide books say loggerhead turtles can be seen at Cala Sinzias.

Another place you may see sea turtles is at the long arc of a beach at Spiaggia di Giunco. This is a great beach for snorkelling and swimming with lots of clear shallows and rocks at either end, so family friendly too. Snorkelers should see a good variety of fish and other marine life around the rocks. Car parking is €3 for the day but get there early as it gets busy, even in September. Immediately behind the beach are white sand dunes and the Stagna di Notteri lagoon, a birdwatcher’s favourite, where you’re very likely to see pink flamingos feeding.

Bird of prey, Sardinia | Snappy Travels

Unidentified bird of prey circling overhead

Bosa

Watch the old boys fishing off the quay at Bosa Marine or venture slightly further up the river to see Bosa old town. Narrow cobbled streets and pretty postcard views of coloured houses neatly stacked up the hillside beneath the castle make for great photography (and remind me of a Hundertwasser painting). If you visit on a summer evening the sunset brings out the best light, washing the scene in a golden orange hue.

Bosa river quay with boats, Sardinia | Snappy Travels

Bosa river and quayside with boats

Alghero and Porto Conte

Driving back into the hills en route to Alghero via Suni, Padria and Villanova Monteleone, the SS292 takes you through brown scrubland (macchia) and forests, and some quaint, quiet hilltop villages with far reaching views. It’s a lovely drive in good weather with lots of nuraghi, neolithic tombs and the eerie but fascinating complex of troglodyte-like burial chambers at Necropoli di Pottu Codinu. There’s even a natural spring (Fonte Di Ramadas) where you can top up your water bottles like a local, all worth stopping for.

Necropoli di Puttu Codinu, ancient necropolis complex | Snappy Travels

Inside Necropoli di Puttu Codinu, ancient subterranean necropolis

If you’re lucky you’ll encounter a natural traffic jam in the form of sheep or goats being herded from one field to another, bells clanking as they go. They move at their own pace so it’s best just to sit back and wait for them to pass, rather than risk the wrath of the shepherd by trying to drive through the herd.

Sheep traffic jam, Sardinia | Snappy Travels

Sheep traffic jam in the Sardinian countryside

The road down to Alghero itself is not for the fainthearted; a good surface but with 8 or 9 serious hairpin bends the numerous crash barriers, sometimes stacked three-high, are there for good reason! Some local drivers like to pretend it’s a race track, taking sharp corners at speed on the wrong side of the road. In fact for two days of the year it is used as just that – the Scala Piccada time trials for various car types from vintage runners to racing classes.

Pushing north east beyond Alghero you’ll reach Parco Regionale Porto Conte, a well maintained coastal and inland area of natural beauty. It includes the tourist hotspot Grotto Di Nettuno (Neptune’s Grotto caves) at Capo Caccia and numerous areas favoured by birding enthusiasts for puffins and a variety of other sea birds, birds of prey, bee eaters, Griffon vultures and more. On that front we found September to be a bit quiet though, or perhaps just not in the right place at the right time.

Above Neptune's Grotto, Porte Conte, Sardinia | Snappy Travels

Above Neptune’s Grotto, Porte Conte

Tempio Pausania

A biggish but charming town high up in the Gallura region (north east). Formerly a Roman settlement it has natural mineral springs (Fonti Rinaggiu) and dramatic views in all directions. Most of the buildings look similar, being built from the same granite, bar of course the central cathedral and Oratorio del Rosario. The latter is a 14th century construction with an impressive arched frontage, though the site is thought to have originally been a pagan temple.

Tempio Pausania mountain railway station, Sardinia | Snappy Travels

Tempio Pausania mountain railway station

Nuraghe di Majori

5-10 minutes drive north of Tempio Pausania you’ll find one of the better preserved nuraghi in Sardinia. Unlike most nuraghi the main section is mostly complete, with entrance passageway, chambers either side, open-topped walled ‘courtyard’ and some steps leading to the ‘roof’ which you can safely walk on. The left hand chamber is fully intact and therefore pitch black so accept the torch they offer you at the ticket office (included in the bargain €3 entrance fee). Inside there is a further small chamber at the back if the shadowy darkness doesn’t scare you. The main attraction in this room however is when you look above you, where you’ll see a breeding colony of Pipistrelle bats. They’re a rare protected species so behave respectfully so that future generations can enjoy them too.

Nuraghe Majori, Sardinia | Snappy Travels

Nuraghe Majori in megalithic Sardinia

Immediately surrounding the nuraghe is a short nature trail through woods where you can see a host of birds including woodpeckers, the shy Sardinian warbler, hoopoes and bee eaters. From here it’s a pleasurable hour’s drive to…

Palau

On the way into Palau from the south or west you can’t miss the imposing 19th century Fortezza di Monte Altura which overlooks the town and its coastline. It’s a fun drive up the top and if you venture beyond you’ll drive past Porto Rafael’s expensive gated holiday homes of the rich and famous, many mimicking the local troglodyte building style – curvy white buildings with Gaudi-esque chimneys and towers. On the left you’ll eventually see a small fenced tower, maybe an ex-World War II defence turret, which is a fantastic if windy viewpoint. Park up in one of the small laybys nearby and walk up the steep stone steps; when you reach the top you’ll be rewarded with views of bays, rocky capes, islands, Palau town and, on a clear day, Corsica to the north. If the 360 degree views aren’t enough, look to the sky too as circling overhead may be the squawking Eleonora’s falcons, on many a visiting birdwatcher’s hit list.

Porto Rafael coastline, Sardinia | Snappy Travels

Porto Rafael coastline

Palau town itself is not much more than a port for ferries to Corsica and pleasure boat trips to nearby islands. The harbour is worth a look, busy with boats of all sizes and fishermen trying their luck on the quayside.

Parco Archeologico di Arzachena

The area around Arzachena is particularly rich in neolithic sites. Visit any one of them and you can buy entry into any or all of the seven that lie within a few kilometres of each other – the more you add to your ticket the cheaper it becomes per site. The seven Parco Archeologico sites are Nuraghi Albucciu, Tempietto Malchittu, Complesso Nuragico La Prisgonia, Necropoli Neolitica Li Muri and the three Tomba dei Giganti (Giant’s Tombs) Moru, Coddu Vecchju and Li Lolghi.

Li Lolghi Giants Tomb false doorway, Sardinia | Snappy Travels

False doorway at Li Lolghi ‘Giant’s Tomb’

The ‘Giant’s Tombs’, named after their size rather than literally being the final resting places of giants, are impressive: 3,500 year old (therefore pre-dating the Pyramids) ceremonial and collective burial long barrows with huge carved entrance stones. With the mounds of earth and stone that originally covered the passage graves in place they would have been an imposing sight for bronze age man. If you’ve visited West Kennet Long Barrow in the UK that’ll give you a close comparison.

Coddu Vecchiu Giants Tomb burial chamber, Sardinia | Snappy Travels

Coddu Vecchiu ‘Giant’s Tomb’ burial chamber

Costa Smeralda

The Emerald Coast is a 10km strip of beaches and exclusive resorts with brilliant turquoise waters. The high end strip was created in the 1950s by Aga Khan, was home to Berlusconi’s playboy parties and is still frequented by royals, celebrities and general VIPs. Don’t expect to see any however; the exclusive parts are securely private. The closest you’re likely to get is playing “whose luxury yacht is that?” from the beach with the rest of us! The Costa Smeralda is made up of numerous idyllic bays and beaches, not all are signposted and some are accessed only via a dusty, bumpy dirt track. Don’t stop and pay at the first car park you reach, there are generally more further along and in quieter times you can park for free if you can find a car-sized gap at the edge of the track.

Costa Smeralda beach, Sardegna | Snappy Travels

Costa Smeralda beach

Porto Rotondo

Our final destination before returning to the airport was Porto Rotondo, a quaint coastal village nestled midway between Palau and Olbia. It’s another one of those clearly wealthy private resorts with posh cars, yachts and gated houses. The seafront marina is dotted with pricey outlets, the water between the expensive boats dotted with shoals of tiny fish. If you have a few Euros left and an hour to kill, perhaps pop-in for one last pre-check in Italian espresso.

Porto Rotondo paving art, Sardinia | Snappy Travels

Porto Rotondo paving art

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Travel tips for Sardinia

  • Lots of annoying flies! Take mosquito spray as there are a few of these too, especially on the north coast.
  • If you see equino or cavallo on a menu, that’s horse meat.
  • The sound of distant clanking bells isn’t your imagination, it’s sheep or goats moving around.
  • Those black or red tree trunks with no bark? They’re oaks, with the bark stripped for cork production.
  • Drive carefully (like anywhere). There are plenty of hairpin bends where you can expect oncoming vehicles in the middle of the road. On straighter roads the unexpected obstacle is herds of sheep.
  • When ordering water (and you’ll need plenty of it) specify ‘still’ or ‘no gas’ if you don’t like fizzy, as carbonated water is the norm in Sardinia.
  • Use a reputable car hire company, preferably one that has an element of customer service and manners, unlike Europcar!

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Sardinia photo gallery

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Wildlife seen in Sardinia

Sardinia is a hotspot for birdwatchers, with many to see across the island’s various lagoons and protected nature areas, not least bee eaters and the endemic Corsican Citril Finch. For reference, http://ibis.atwebpages.com/birdwatching_in_sardinia/ is a useful starting point, with pictures. Here’s what we saw on our late summer trip:

Bird list

  • Greater flamingo
  • Stonechat
  • Sardinian warbler
  • Egret
  • Moorhen
  • Purple swamp hen (gallinule)
  • Ferruginous duck
  • Bittern
  • Black-winged stilt
  • Hobby (?)
  • Ring-necked parakeet
  • Hooded crow
  • Pigeon
  • Dove
  • Marsh harrier (?)
  • White wagtail (?)
  • Spanish sparrow
  • Spotless starling
  • Lesser spotted woodpecker
  • Eleonora’s falcon
  • Booted eagle
  • Cormorant

Marine life

  • Garfish
  • Ornate wrasse

Other species

  • Metallic borer beetle
  • Pipistrelle bats
  • Grass snake