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Hotel/guide recommendations for Sardinia

We will be going to Italy in June and are planning to spend 6 days in Sardinia. There will probably be four of us and I was wondering where the best place to locate ourselves would be and whether any of you had any hotel or B&B recommendations? I'm particularly interested in possibly staying in a Blue Zone area like Seulo, Ogliastra, or Barbagia of Ololai. That said, I don't know if these places are in the middle of nowhere with no place to eat and no one who speaks a drop of English (my Italian is limited to a pocket of useful phrases though I do speak Spanish, which helps). If that's the case, would it be better to stay somewhere more central and drive to these places to spend some time? With that in mind, I was thinking that it might be helpful to have a local guide, so if any of you can recommend someone for Sardinia, I'd really appreciate it.

I'll also follow-up with a separate post regarding catching the ferry from Olbia to Civitavecchia with a car...

Posted by
15165 posts

I don’t know a lot about the area you plan to stay. Sardinia to me is mostly lovely sea and beaches, so I always stayed on the coast, in particular in the Gallura area (Santa Teresa di Gallura). I don’t think you need a guide. All you need is a car amd a guidebook. Possibly also a phrase book or dictionary, although many younger Italians speak at least some English.
Regarding the car I don’t know why one would ferry a rental car from the mainland. It is much cheaper to fly there (or go by boat) then rent a car upon arrival. Ferrying a car across to Sardinia costs at least $150 one way. It makes sense only for an Italian who is ferrying his own car, but in your case you might as well rent on the island, unless renting in Sardinia costs significantly more than renting on the mainland so to offset the price of the auto ferry, which I doubt.

The only reason I wanted a guide is because I have heard that places like the Barbagia and Oligastra are very isolated and people there speak a different dialect. I've also read that English is rarely spoken so because I am interested in learning about the culture there, I thought it would be easier without the language barrier.

As for the ferry, we are scheduled to fly from Milan to Sardinia and back but the we are going to an agriturismo in Orvieto after Sardinia and the host told us it would be less time driving if we caught the ferry from Olbia to Civitavecchia with the same car and then just drove about 1.5 hours to the agriturismo. If we return the rental car in Sardinia then we'd have to fly back to Milan, pick up another rental car and then drive 5 hours to Orvieto.

And Ruth, thank you for the tour guide referral. We are actually staying in Sienna as well so I will definitely contact Antonella.

Posted by
365 posts

Roberto,
You have helped me in the past and I really appreciate it. Can you tell me anything about getting from Florence to Sardinia? We are arriving in Venice for 2 nights then to Florence 3 nights then on to Sardinia. I wanted to fly but find I will have to go to Pisa or Bologna to get a flight, How about a ferry to Olbia?

Regards,
Lorie