Sardenia, I'm looking into travel there.

I posted several pieces of information in the post below, several years ago. The info is still applicable.

The correct spelling of the island is SARDINIA in English, or SARDEGNA in Italian.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/sardinia-a4b6bf34-12f0-4f41-aa46-cc7c08ab1f7f

This site could be of some use : https://www.sardegnaturismo.it/en

Sardinia is a favorite of this writer: https://www.wanderingitaly.com/maps/sardinia.html

Bear in mind that Sardinia is quite an expensive destination. Many billionaires dock their yachts there.

Sardinia has a wide range of prices, from very cheap to very expensive, depending on location and facility. If you go outside of July/August it's actually much cheaper than most destinations in the mainland. I usually went in June to very early July, and I found very reasonable yet fancy accommodations. Restaurants are on average cheaper than major destinations like Florence or Venice. Prices sky rocket in July and especially the second half of July and all of August. If you can go in June or September, you will pay very little. The island has a high seasonality. Few people visit there outside the peak of summer. Even in June things are still slow.

We’re planning a trip to Sardinia for the fall and I’ve just downloaded a Kindle copy of the Eyewitness Guidebook for Sardinia. It has useful maps, suggested itineraries and information about sights. I’m finding it helpful for planning (still in the early stages!)

Best wishes for your travel planning!

It depends on where you want to go and what you want to see. Keep in mind that Sardegna will be pretty expensive for tourists, especially so in Costa Smerelda. There are a lot of things to see, and the island is very big. You won't see it all in a day, or even a week. Places I would recommend would depend on time of year and mostly in the north, where I lived. If you are in Sardegna for May, Cavalcata Sarda in Sassari is fantastic. It's a parade of traditional Sardinian costume. In summer, you must go to the beach every day. It's very hot. Fortunately, there are a lot of beaches. The islands of the Maddalena archipelago are beautiful. You can rent a boat (gommoni) for a day and tour the islands and snorkel. There are several rental places in Palau. Most people go to Sardegna from June to August, you can generally tell the month by the nationality of the tourists. June for Germans, July French, August mainland Italians, September is still gorgeous, and mainly for locals.

Try an Agriturismo for local food. Definitely try Mirto. It's a Sardinian liqueur. Very good.

The information is great and it will help me a lot. I am not a fan of following the crowds, so September sounds perfect.

Hi 3ddana -

We’re just back from Sardinia. Someone on this forum suggested I might care to post a trip report but I’ve held off doing that because our trip was by no means comprehensive, quite the reverse in fact. Also being British I did wonder if it might be thought I was muscling in a bit! So just for you, a few headlines from our trip.

We did a weeks walking holiday (individual day walks, not A to B to C….) on a trip organised by KE Adventure (based in Keswick, a name readers of the forum will no doubt recognise). We flew from London Heathrow to Olbia, Sardinia’s northern airport as we were exploring roughly the north east of the island. We overnighted first and last night in downtown Olbia (Hotel Moderno, no frills, maybe a little ‘tired’ but perfectly comfortable, friendly staff, handily situated for the airport bus (for a couple of reasons we took a taxi both ways, cost 25 Euros per trip, compared with the bus’s 1 Euro fare) and shops, bars and restaurants, not that we especially needed them.

Our base for the week’s walking was further south at Dorgali, a quiet but attractive little town inland from the Gulf of Orosei. Our hotel, the Ilquerceto, was excellent, good facilities, nicely furnished, helpful staff, but it was situated at the bottom of the town (Dorgali is on the side of a hill) in a slightly less-attractive-than-the-centre area which to pull no punches was a touch industrial - nearby gas station and a couple what appeared to be builders merchants yards. But overall very pleasant, although any journey into town was a steady upward plod for fifteen-twenty minutes. The good news is it was downhill all the way on the way back. Dorgali is apparently off any well trodden tourist beat, but has plenty of shops, bars, cafes, restaurants, supermarkets etc. to cater to your every whim.

The walking was rough and tough underfoot and strenuous. The terrain, loose stony paths, made the underside of your feet throb. And it was hot, certainly for the likes of a lad brought up in Northern England. Two litres of water per person was the bare minimum requirement. Every walk. We took in the summit of Mount Tiscali and it’s ancient summit archaeology, explored the stupendous Goroppo Gorge (scrambling on smooth limestone, which to complicate matters, was wet at the time, is compulsory to make any progress of any sort into the gorge), failed in a final day attempt to climb Monte Corrasi, disappointing having done most of the ‘collar work’ but heavy rain and a thunderstorm atop any mountain make it a good place NOT to be! Got a soaking for our trouble, but dried out by the time we got to the bottom. These walks were all in the Nouro/Olenia (two of the larger inland towns) Supramonte massif, characterised by its limestone rocks (not unlike home to be fair!).

The other two walks were based on the Gulf of Orosei shores. First a walk to Cala Gonone from Dorgali which had an interesting start through a tunnel dug through the mountain of Monte Tului but which finished with a hot, foot bruising descent on loose, sharp, uneven basalt rock paths. The other walk was from Cala Gonone to Cala Luna a beach which can only be reached on foot or by boat. This was described as a walk through the wooded cliff tops to the isolated beach, but it turned out to be a roller coaster of a walk on an assault course of loose stony rocks, pretty unpleasant underfoot. And hot, hot, hot! Fortunately the return trip was by boat!

We actually took issue with KE’s itinerary - we’ve had occasion to do this before, as they seem to almost deliberately underestimate journey times and distances - all the walks we did were in excess of the stated mileage and duration, and little mention was made of the rugged nature of the terrain underfoot.

…CONTINUED….

I did have a good think about whether I was going soft in my old age, as we’d both got through with no problems other than aching limbs and a touch of dehydration, but one lady who was in the group, who’d chosen the trip as potentially a nice easy intro to daily walking holidays was forced to miss two of the days because of the damage she’d inflicted on herself. Not her fault and a little more realism in the trip notes, without making them unnecessarily scary, would have better aided her ultimate decision.

Afterthought - It should be noted that Cala Gonone is the ONLY coastal town on the Gulf of Orosei and as such it’s a busy little harbour/resort as boat trips leave from there to reach not only Cala Luna, but many of the other isolated beaches and caves along the extensive Gulf coastline.

Our trip guide, Stefano, was excellent throughout, acting as walking guide, who set a sensible and reasonable pace throughout, mindful to stop frequently to ensure we took on fluid and rest (and in my case, towel off excess perspiration!), lunch organiser, unofficial translator when our limited Italian failed and conveyor of excellent all round knowledge.

Despite the strenuous nature of the week I enjoyed it immensely and Sardinia, though uncompromisingly rugged in the areas we explored, is beautiful to look at and I would go back again given the chance. Maybe include a bit more sitting in a bar watching the world go by next time though!

Feel free to contact me if you need any more info, assuming you think I can provide it! Though lengthier than I anticipated, this report, like our trip, is by no means comprehensive!

Ian

The only part that is expensive is the Costa Smeralda proper, basically between Porto Cervo and Porto Rotondo. Once you see the yachts docked i those two harbors you will discover why.

But otherwise, if you avoid going from the third week of June to the first week of September, when prices are high, and you avoid Porto Cervo and Porto Rotondo (and vicinity) you will find Sardinia much more reasonably price than Venice or Florence (or even the Cinque Terre)

That information is great, I will go after the first week of September. I will want to hang out at the beach mostly.

I would say that ALL of Costa Smerelda is going to be expensive for tourists. I lived in Arzachena, and touristic prices are all the way to Palau, and maybe even to Santa Theresa di Gallura where you catch the ferry to Corsica. Just be prepared for it.