Fly into Sardinia

No way to discuss flying into Sardinia without knowing where you are flying from.

Our depart will be from JFK in early to mid September 2018. Not sure where to fly into... Rome, Naples, or if possible direct to Sardinia but I doubt it. Any additional information regarding sardinia and Corsica will be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Lorieann

There are no direct flights from Sardinia to the US.
You can fly to Sardinia from Rome or Naples, or other European hubs, but most are seasonal flights which may not be available in September.
There are 3 international airports in Sardinia:
Olbia (OLB) and Alghero (AHO) in the north, and Cagliari (CAG) in the south.
You can see where they connect by looking at Wikipedia articles for those airports.
The northern half of the island is the more beautiful part IMO.
There are no flights from Sardinia to Corsica, but there is a ferry from Santa Teresa di Gallura to Bonifacio. The crossing is about 45 min.
If you cross by car, which I have done multiple times, be aware that some rental companies prohibit putting their cars on ferries, so read the rental agreement carefully or check with the rental agency.
To rent a car in Sardinia and dropping it off in Corsica to fly out of there is not a good idea. Sardinia is part of Italy, Corsica of France. International Drop off fees are very large (even assuming the contract lets you put a car on a ferry). Also the nearly totality of flights from Corsica go to France and are very expensive. So you would need to return home from Paris. A better option is to return to Sardinia and fly back from Olbia.

Hi Roberto,

I'm almost certain you helped me plan my trip to Sicily last year. We had a great time. I wil, add your advise to my notes. We hope to go in September so I have some time to plan. I'm sure I'll be in touch. Thanks again
Lorieann

I just got back from 3 weeks in Sardinia last night.

Roberto is correct about the airports and flights. You can not fly direct from North America to Sardinia. But there are dozens of ways to connect from various airports around Europe, and exactly where you fly through is up to you - there are probably a hundred possible options. We flew from Seattle to Amsterdam, then we spent a couple days there, then we caught a low cost flight from AMS to OLB (on Transavia), which was fine. Simple, not expensive. Could you spend a little more or a little less by flying via somewhere else? Probably. Lots and lots of choices so you will need to do the research on what makes the most sense for you. Personally, I always believe that if you shop for flights and the only criteria you use is the lowest possible cost, then you deserve the experience you get, but that's me (and then everyone complains how awful flying has become...).

Getting to the island by foot-ferry would surely be cheaper than flying, but would probably waste most of a day. Which commodity is more limited for you: time or money? It was a no-brainer for me.

Roberto is correct about the 3 airports there. Note that the airports each have different connections - OLB had many more flights/options than either CAG or AHO. OLB is the gateway to the "Costa Smeralda" which is the major tourist draw so more flights. My research showed most seasonal flights ended abruptly on 9/30.

Forget taking a car from Sardinia to Corsica (or vice versa) and leaving it there - that would cost you more than your flight from JFK.

You will need a car to get around on Sardinia. Driving was generally easy though occasionally challenging (it's Italy, 'nuff said). Be very careful about ZTLs.

We rented a car (Europcar-Italy) and their contract DID say ferry travel was NOT allowed; we planned to take ferries to some smaller islands off the coast of Sardinia so we asked them to clarify the policy. They came back and said ferries within Italy were fine, but not international ferries.

I'm sure that Corsica is also beautiful, but we had 3 weeks, and that wasn't enough to really see all of Sardinia that we wanted, and I drove a lot - probably more than many people would think reasonable (I could easily have spent a month there, probably longer), so we decided to save Corsica for a separate trip, and I'm really glad we did. There's plenty to see and do on Sardinia.

Roberto likes the northern half of the island. Yes, the northern half was great, but we thought the southern half was equally great. We loved all of it, and I'm really glad we went everywhere we did (short version: we flew into OLB, grabbed the car, and then drove all the way around Sardinia, counter-clockwise, mostly along the coasts, returning back to OLB to fly out). I'll just say it was spectacular, awesome, and one of our best trips ever (we're pretty seasoned world travelers so that's a high bar).

September is a good time to go, we had very nice weather overall, just a couple cool and windy days when we first arrived, and a very rainy last day, otherwise generally warm/hot and sunny. Went swimming several days (including last week) - towards the end of the trip is was starting to get a little cool but still fine for swimming when the sun was out. I came home with a sunburn (now peeling...).

David is correct. To visit Sardinia you need more than a week. The island is large, almost 2 and 1/2 times the size of the big island of Hawaii. Although there are freeways connecting the major cities, however the routes along the coast are two lane highways full of curves, where maximum speed is limited. You won't be able to travel beyond 50 km/h (30 mph) on those highways. If all you have is a week, I'd stick to one section of the island. I like the northern side, but the island is all beautiful.

The Cagliari (CAG) airport in the south is the largest airport in the island, but Olbia (OLB) has a similar number of flights in the summer, as it is the airport closest to the major tourist destinations. Many flights to OLB do not operate outside of the summer months, therefore you need to check your dates of travel carefully.

Corsica is beautiful also. Some would say even more so than Sardinia.
Although most associate Corsica with their spectacular beaches, just like Sardinia, Corsica is probably more rugged and lush with amazing mountains and forests. There are even ski resorts in Corsica, although it's unlikely you'll see snow in September.
Sardinia also has mountains and forests like Yosemite, but overall Sardinia has generally a drier landscape. Sardinia is more like California, Corsica is more like Oregon.

Sardinia is more like California, Corsica is more like Oregon.

Interesting analogy. Personally, I really love Oregon (used to live there). I guess we need to start planning that trip to Corsica, because Sardinia pretty much blew us away. :)

Well David. Another thing that will blow you away in Corsica is the prices. I usually stayed around Santa Teresa in Sardinia and it was amazing how prices in restaurants magically rise as you cross the Strait of Bonifacio from Sardinia to Corsica. It's almost twice as much as to eat out in Corsica.