Rome to Sardinia

To get to Sardinia from Rome you would take the ferry from Civitavecchia. There are multiple companies that do the route. The shorter run takes maybe 5 hours and they also have "overnight" runs. Best way to get back and forth from Rome to Civitavecchia is by train. There are also a few flights if you prefer to go directly. This may depend also on your transportation options. Once on the island we used either a car or motorcycle to get around. Thus, we always took the ferry as it was cheaper to rent a car - or ride our motorino - in Rome.

Here are the ferry companies to research: Civitavecchia/Olbia: Tirrenia Lines (in bankruptcy); SNAV Lines; Moby Lines Civitavecchia/Porto Torres: Grimaldi Lines Civitavecchia/Cagliari: Tirrenia Lines The most beautiful arrival is into Cagliari harbor. You could rent a car in either Olbia, Porto Torres or Cagliari. Here are the flights: Rome/Olbia: Meridiana
Rome/Alghero: Alitalia/Air One; Ryanair (CIA) Rome/Cagliari: Alitalia/Air One; Meridiana; Ryanair (CIA)

Thank you both for the information. The information has been useful.

Susan, we did this last summer. Since we were spending time in Tuscany and Umbria we found it to be cheaper to take our rental car with us on the overnite ferry, even factoring in the cost of our upgraded room (We check pick-up and drop off rates using the Auto Europe website.) When we came back we dropped off the car in Sardinia, and took one of the cheap inter-EU flights back to Rome. (We flew out of Cagliari on Ryan Air to Rome's other airport: Ciampino, and got a cheap personal shuttle Use Whichbudget.com and Skyscanner to check out the ultra lo cost airlines that ply the route from Sardinia to Italy.