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Sardinia, Corsica?, Portofino, Cinque Terra

Hi all,
I am attempting to put together an itinerary for a 33 night road trip in Italy, where we would like to include north and south Sardinia and Corsica, if at all possible. There will be 2 couples. The only thing locked in are the travel dates: Arrive Rome 28/8, fly out 30/9.
The idea is to catch a ferry to Olbia on 29/8.
From there we were hoping to see north & south Sardinia and spend some time in Corsica.
From Corsica get a Ferry to Genoa and make our way down the coast to Rome via Portofino, Cinque Terre & San Gimignano (to break up the long drove to Rome). And besides, my wife wouldn't forgive me if we bypassed San Gimignano again.
We would like to spend 3 nights in Rome and Cinque Terre, respectively, and we have allocated an additional 4 nights for Portofino and San Gimignano, inclusive. These are proposed but not locked in.
So this big hole in the middle is what I need help with. Since I always work in nights, as it helps with booking accommodation, that leaves 22 nights.
Some of our thoughts:
Although we want to visit some nice beaches, it is not the purpose of our trip.
Our interests also include archialogical sites, quaint old towns and good, local, food and wine.
Olbia is not an essential place to stay. Happy to bypass it and start somewhere else more interesting.

Interesting sites:
Archaeological Park of Turris Libisonis - Porto Torres
Nuraghe Santu Antine
Roman baths in Oristano - SW
Amlptheater in Cagliani - South
But the above may be too long a list?

We would like to do a La Maddalena boat trip, as I can't see the time to stay there.
Salt flats of Caglian to see the Flamigos, hopefully.
I have heard that we should also stay in an inland location like Nuoro to experience the true Sardinia?
I'm also told we must also eat at a Agriturismo.
We would preferably stay in a number of bases and explore the local region from each. 2-4 nights in each? The longer the better.
I suppose I should discuss the elephant in the room. Is it viable to attempt to visit Corsica as well as Sardinia? Can we at least get a taste of Corsica?
What are your thought?

cheers
Frank

Posted by
4 posts

From my experience, would recommend...

Monte d'Accoddi ziggurat near Sassari... instead of Archaeological Park of Turris Libisonis - Porto Torres
Nuraghe Santu Antine is amazing
Pozzo Sacro di Santa Cristina... instead of Roman baths in Oristano - SW
Tharros near Oristano....instead of or before Amlptheater in Cagliani - South
But the above may be too long a list?

I would also add the Sound Garden of Sciola, not far from Cagliari. Amazing.

We consulted Jeff Biggers IN SARDINIA book as a guide for historical insight.

Posted by
62 posts

Instead of staying in both Portofino and Cinque Terra, you could consider staying in Santa Margherita Ligure or Camogli and do day trips to Portofino and Cinque Terra from one of those towns. That’s what we did last summer and it worked really well.

Posted by
2 posts

Hi CK,
thanks for the advice, regardless it seems that Santa Margherita Ligure is a better place to stay than Portofino. I'm still a little torn about training back and force to Cinque Terra, as it is about a 2.5 hour round trip. It does mean, however, that we could stay more nights in Santa Margherita Ligure and less in Cinque Terra, itself.

Posted by
62 posts

Maybe look at Sestri Levante instead? I think it would be a shorter train ride to the cinque terra than from Santa Margherita.