Sardinia

The island's capital climbs a limestone hill above its harbour and lagoons, and at the top sits Castello, the walled quarter the Pisans fortified in the thirteenth century. Two white towers of that era, the Torre dell'Elefante and the Torre di San Pancrazio, still guard the gates, and inside lie narrow lanes of tall, faded palazzi, the cathedral of Santa Maria with its crypt carved into the rock, and a cluster of museums. The Bastione di Saint Remy, a grand neoclassical terrace and stairway, is where the city gathers at sunset to look over the rooftops to the sea.

The National Archaeological Museum, in the Cittadella dei Musei at the top of the hill, is the best introduction to Sardinia's past, with bronze figurines of nuragic warriors, priests and shepherds and some of the great stone giants of Mont'e Prama. Below Castello, the Marina and Stampace districts are where to eat, and the San Benedetto market is one of the largest covered food markets in Italy.

TipPublic lifts link the lower town with Castello and save the steep climb in summer heat.

Cagliari is one of the few Italian cities with a proper beach on the city bus network. Poetto runs for around eight kilometres from the headland of the Sella del Diavolo, the "Devil's Saddle", eastwards towards Quartu, lined with kiosks, bathing clubs and a long promenade for cycling and evening walks. Behind it, the salt pans and lagoons of the Molentargius-Saline regional park shelter a large colony of greater flamingos, often visible pink against the water.

TipWalk the path up the Sella del Diavolo early in the morning for wide views over the beach and the Gulf of Angels.

South-west of Cagliari, the coast road beyond Pula reaches some of the most beautiful beaches in the Mediterranean. At Chia, a string of bays, including Su Giudeu and Sa Colonia, curves between dunes of fine golden sand, juniper and a lagoon where flamingos feed, with a Spanish watchtower on the headland. A little further west, Tuerredda is a perfect crescent of pale sand facing a small island across shallow, startlingly clear water.

The Roman and Punic city of Nora, on a peninsula near Pula, makes a good stop on the way, with mosaic floors and a small theatre right by the sea.

TipCar parks at these beaches fill up by mid-morning in July and August and are paid in season. Arrive early, or come in June and September when the water is just as clear.

The south-west coast feels like another island: the Costa Verde is a long, empty stretch of cliffs, scrub and beaches beneath hills once riddled with lead and zinc mines. Its showpiece is Piscinas, where the wind has piled up some of the tallest sand dunes in Europe, rising tens of metres behind a beach that seems to go on for ever. The rough road in passes the abandoned mining village of Ingurtosu, its ruined buildings left as they were when the mines closed.

Further south, the mining heritage of the Sulcis-Iglesiente area can be explored at Porto Flavia, a tunnel and loading dock cut into the cliff above the sea stack of Pan di Zucchero near Masua.

TipThere is little shade and few services along the Costa Verde, so bring water and food, and take care with the strong currents on windy days.

Sardinia has thousands of nuraghi, the cone-shaped stone towers built by its Bronze Age people, but Su Nuraxi is the finest and the only one on the UNESCO World Heritage list, inscribed in 1997. A central tower, begun in the second millennium BC, is wrapped by a bastion of four corner towers and surrounded by the round huts of a village that grew up around it. The site lay buried under a mound of earth until heavy rains in the late 1940s exposed it, and it was excavated by the archaeologist Giovanni Lilliu in the 1950s.

Visits are by guided tour only, leaving every half hour, and you squeeze through dark corridors and climb narrow internal stairways inside walls metres thick. The same ticket covers the Casa Zapata museum in the village, built over another nuraghe, and the Giovanni Lilliu centre.

TipBarumini is about an hour north of Cagliari on the main road, so it fits easily into the drive from the south coast to Oristano. Tours can be cut short in bad weather.

On a thin finger of land at the southern tip of the Sinis peninsula, west of Oristano, Tharros was founded by the Phoenicians, grew under Carthage and was rebuilt by Rome. Its streets of basalt paving run down to the water, and two Roman columns, re-erected after excavation, stand against the sea in one of the island's most famous views. A Spanish watchtower crowns the hill above, and a path continues to the lighthouse at Capo San Marco.

The rest of the Sinis is flat, quiet and lovely, with lagoons full of birdlife and beaches such as Is Arutas, made of tiny, rounded grains of quartz in white, pink and green. In Cabras, the Giovanni Marongiu museum displays more of the Mont'e Prama giants, large stone statues of warriors and boxers from the early Iron Age.

TipTaking quartz grains from Is Arutas, or sand from any beach, is illegal in Sardinia and is enforced with heavy fines.

Bosa is one of the most photogenic small towns on the island: a jumble of pastel houses stacked up a hillside along the river Temo, Sardinia's only navigable river, beneath the medieval Malaspina castle. Walk the cobbled lanes of the old Sa Costa quarter up to the castle walls, then cross the old stone bridge to the riverside row of former tanneries. The town is also known for its sweet amber Malvasia wine.

The coast road north from Bosa to Alghero is one of the most scenic drives in Sardinia, running high above the sea along empty cliffs.

TipBosa Marina, at the river mouth, has a beach and is where most summer life happens; stay in the old town for the evening atmosphere.

After the Crown of Aragon took Alghero in the fourteenth century, it was resettled with Catalans, and an old form of Catalan is still spoken here, with street names in both languages. The compact old town sits within honey-coloured sea walls and towers, and the ramparts make a fine walk at sunset, when the sun drops behind the headland of Capo Caccia across the bay. Inside, the lanes hold the cathedral of Santa Maria, the Gothic church of San Francesco with its cloister, and many shops selling the red coral for which this stretch of coast is known.

Nearby are the Nuraghe di Palmavera, a nuragic village a short drive west, and the wine estates of the Nurra plain.

TipAlghero's airport is only a few kilometres from town, so this is an easy place to start or finish a trip.

The great limestone headland of Capo Caccia drops sheer into the sea west of Alghero, and at its foot lies Neptune's Grotto, a sea cave of lakes and galleries hung with stalactites and stalagmites. Short guided tours lead through the main chambers. You can arrive by boat from Alghero harbour, a scenic trip along the cliffs, or on foot down the Escala del Cabirol, a staircase of more than 650 steps cut into the cliff face.

Even without entering the cave, the drive out to the cape and the views from the clifftops over the island of Foradada are worth the trip.

TipThe cave only opens when the sea is calm enough, and tours run on the hour; boats do not sail in rough weather. Opening hours are shorter in winter, so check before setting out.

At the north-western tip of Sardinia, beyond the old tuna-fishing village of Stintino, La Pelosa is a small beach of very fine white sand and shallow, luminous water, with a sixteenth-century Aragonese tower on an islet just offshore and the island of Asinara behind. It became so crowded, and lost so much sand, that the town now limits numbers. In 2026, booking was required from mid-May to mid-October, with 1,500 places a day and a fee of €3.50 per person, booked through the official site; children under 12 did not need a reservation.

Rules here are strict: a mat is required under towels to stop sand being carried away, and smoking and dogs are banned. Boats from Stintino run to the Asinara national park, a former prison island known for its small white donkeys.

TipPart of each day's allocation is released two days in advance at 9am and sells out fast. If you miss out, the nearby beaches towards Stintino are free and far quieter.

Off Sardinia's north-eastern tip, a scatter of granite islands surrounded by clear, shallow water forms a national park. Ferries from Palau take about twenty minutes to La Maddalena town, a lively little port, and a causeway links it to Caprera, where Giuseppe Garibaldi spent his last years; his house is now a museum. A scenic road loops around La Maddalena past coves of smooth pink rock.

The best way to see the outer islands, such as Spargi, Budelli and Santa Maria, is on a day boat trip from Palau or La Maddalena. The famous pink beach of Budelli has been closed to landing and swimming for decades to protect it, and boats may only view it from a distance.

TipChoose a smaller boat for a quieter day; the larger excursion boats can be crowded in high summer.

In the 1960s a consortium led by the Aga Khan turned a stretch of empty north-east coast into a resort for the very rich, with villas, marinas and a carefully controlled style of rounded, rough-plastered buildings. Porto Cervo is its showcase, with superyachts, designer boutiques and the white church of Stella Maris. The beaches are the real attraction for most visitors: Capriccioli, Liscia Ruja and others with granite boulders and vividly coloured water.

For more everyday prices, look at San Pantaleo, a pretty hill village with a Thursday market, or the coast around San Teodoro to the south.

TipIn August, traffic and prices peak; the area is far more relaxed in June and September.

In the heart of the Barbagia, a mountain region long known for shepherds, banditry and resistance to outside rule, the village of Orgosolo has become an open-air gallery. Hundreds of murals cover its walls, many painted from the 1970s onwards under the art teacher Francesco Del Casino and his students, with political and social themes: land struggles, emigration, war and world events, as well as scenes of village life.

Nearby, the forest of Montes and the high plateau of the Supramonte offer walking country, and some local families host traditional shepherds' lunches.

TipPark at the edge of the village and walk the main street, Corso Repubblica, where most of the murals are.

Along the east coast, the limestone mountains of the Supramonte plunge straight into the sea, and between Cala Gonone and Santa Maria Navarrese there is almost no road, only cliffs, caves and a series of coves reachable by boat or on foot. Cala Luna is a crescent of sand backed by caves and oleanders at the mouth of a gorge; Cala Mariolu has dazzling white pebbles; and Cala Goloritzé, beneath a 140-metre limestone pinnacle, is often named among the most beautiful beaches in the world.

Boat trips from Cala Gonone or Santa Maria Navarrese stop at several coves and the sea cave of Bue Marino. Cala Goloritzé can only be reached on foot from the Golgo plateau above Baunei, with a walk of around an hour each way, and visitor numbers are limited, with online booking and a small fee.

TipWear proper shoes for the trails, carry plenty of water and expect a hot climb back. Experienced hikers can tackle the Selvaggio Blu, a multi-day trek along this coast that needs a guide.

One of Europe's deepest canyons cuts through the Supramonte between Dorgali and Urzulei, with limestone walls rising several hundred metres and, at its narrowest, only a few metres apart. Trails reach the entrance either from the Genna Silana pass on the SS125 or along the Flumineddu valley from the Dorgali side, both demanding hikes of a couple of hours each way. Inside, the floor is a chaos of huge white boulders, and progress beyond the first section turns into scrambling.

In 2026 entry cost €6 for adults and €4 for those aged 6 to 17, paid in cash at the ticket point at the entrance, with entry between 10:00 and 15:30.

TipThe return from the gorge is the hard part, mostly uphill. Start early, avoid the midday heat and do not go in after heavy rain.