Sardinia Itinerary for Most Stunning Beaches

I have only spent 6 days in Sardinia, so I am no expert, but the prettiest beaches (and therefore activities at those beaches probably) to me were in the north. On the northwest coast north of Alghero were resorts (we stayed in Stintino and I swam to another island, WOAH that's a story) that were mainly focused on the water, but the prettiest water/scenery was north of Olbia near la Maddalena. I know that places like Porto Cervo and the Costa Smeralda like cater to the fancy folk, but I am sure there are boat tour companies that would have off shore excursions. Unless there are things of interest scuba wise, it didn't seem to me like the south had too many popular beaches for activities. There were some caves that we visited in the southwest I believe close to that island? We spent 2 days in Nora outside of Cagliari to explore the city and the countryside.

Our EXTREMELY rushed trip was
Ferry into Olbia, stay north of the city that night
Drive north to the coast and then move west and stayed in Stintino a night
visited Alghero on the way down south to Nora (I think we did the interior a bit on the way south and north)
two nights in Nora (did Cagliari and the caves or whatever to the west)
drove back up to Olbia and stayed outside of town where we stayed the first night

It was WAY TOO RUSHED. I would say two bases might be best, one in the north and one in the south, a lot of changing will shortchange your limited time there.

Thank you, Katherine! This is very helpful. If you're the same author of another post I read, then I did see the story about swimming to an island - no thanks! Haha. Appreciate your insights and itinerary!

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

Last summer we visited Sardinia for the first time. We did a 17 days / 16 nights round trip with our own car from/to Golfo Aranci, where we arrived by night ferry from Livorno.
- 3 nights in Alghero
- 4 nights in Santa Teresa di Gallura
- 2 nights in Riola Sardo
- 4 nights in the hinterland of Portoscuso
- 3 nights in Dorgali

That was just enough time to get a first glimpse of the island and I still have so many ideas and wishes for a next time.
Some of our highlights:

Around Dorgali:
We rented a boat in Cala Gonone to explore the Golf of Orosei down to Cala Goloritzé. What a stunning coastline and beautiful beaches.
We did a guided cave tour in Valle di Lanaitto. 45 min. hike to the cave entrance, abseiling into the cave with several chambers and a few climbing sections inside the cave. That’s how I can motivate our teenagers to do some hiking.

Around Santa Teresa:
We did a boat tour from Palau into the La Maddalena archipelago (Cala Soraya, Piscine di Budelli). May be the best day of our trip.
Capo Testa - Bizarre rock formations with enclosed small sandy bays. Very suitable for photography, swimming and snorkeling.

Alghero:
Alghero is lively town with a picturesque old town and a nice beach (Spiaggia di Maria Pia) on the outskirts of Alghero.
We enjoyed the boat ride around Capo Caccia and the visit of the cave Grotta di Nettuno very much.

Around Riola Sardo:
Reason for our stay there was to visit of Sinis peninsula with the ancient city of Tharros.
This made us aware of Is Arutas beach, which is my personal favorite beach of our trip.
It’s a pebbles beach with tiny, polished pebbles of different colors just a little bigger than a grain of rice. It’s the only one we have been twice.

Around Portoscuso:
We actually wanted to explore the coast between Porto Pino and Chia, which is supposed to be very beautiful, but the evening we came to Portoscuso, a bad weather front arrived with heavy rain and storm.
Instead we drove to Porto Flavia and continued along the coast to Buggerru and back via the mountains and the temple of Antas. The coast here is very beautiful. Next time I would rent a boat in Buggerru to explore the coast and bays.

Based on our route I can’t help for the south coast, south east and Cagliari.
In general the east coast is more touristic than the west coast.

With 7 days only I would decide to head north either via east- or west coast and return back to Cagliari via the inland highway.
The good news, there is no wrong. You will find beautiful landscape and nice beaches either way.

Paul (and Katherine), thank you so much! Given both of your feedback and the other forums, we have decided to focus our 6 days on Costa Baunei /Gulf of Orosei (staying in Cala Gonone) and La Maddalena (staying on the island).

We are definitely going to do 2.5 days/2 nights in Cala Gonone, and 2 days/1 night in La Maddalena. We have one additional day we can work with. If you had to choose, would you add an extra day onto Cala Gonone or onto La Maddalena? See below for details. Any and all suggestions welcome.

Fri: Arrive in Cagliari 7:35 pm; depending on how long it takes to get luggage and rental car, hopefully we have time to get dinner in Cagliari and walk around a little bit to explore (not sure how late-night of a city Cagliari is so not sure if this is feasible), because this might be the only time we spend in Cagliari, unless we add on a couple more hours in town the next morning. But again, not particularly interested in seeing Cagliari's historical sites. Either way, will likely book hotel in Cagliari proper for sleep. Thoughts on this plan are welcome.

2.5-3 DAYS IN CALA GONONE:
Sat:
- Leave Cagliari in the morning and drive to Cala Gonone - any suggestions for route?
- Not sure what time we will get there, so don't yet know what we will do that day once we arrive; suggestions welcome for low-key exploring/activities that day

Sun: Boat rental/excursion to Costa Baunei

Mon:
- Go rock climbing with a guide, or go for a hike in the national park; will look into the caves Paul suggested!
- DECISION: STAY FULL DAY IN CALA GONONE AND SPEND ANOTHER NIGHT THERE WITH DRIVE TO PALAU/FERRY TO LA MADDALENA ON TUES MORNING, OR HEAD TO LA MADDALENA ON MONDAY AFTERNOON/EVENING?

Tues:
- Either arrive on Tuesday morning or the night before - worth it to stop in Olbia on the way for a quick look around or food?
- Do a boat tour of La Maddalena on Tues-- depending on tour options, this might make the decision for us about having to stay in La Maddalena on Mon night to make a Tuesday morning tour
- Stay in La Maddalena on Tuesday night

Wed, July 3:
- Spend most of day in La Maddalena
- Leave La Maddalena in late afternoon/early evening to drive 4 hours back to Cagliari (or could leave earlier if you think there's something else worth doing that day on the drive back to Cagliari)
- Arrive near Cagliari and sleep before 11 am flight the next day

Leave Cagliari in the morning and drive to Cala Gonone - any
suggestions for route?

The fastest, but longest and least interesting route would be along E25 highway. Thus, I would follow SS125 along the coast.

DECISION: STAY FULL DAY IN CALA GONONE AND SPEND ANOTHER NIGHT THERE
WITH DRIVE TO PALAU/FERRY TO LA MADDALENA ON TUES MORNING, OR HEAD TO
LA MADDALENA ON MONDAY AFTERNOON/EVENING?

After a day hiking or climbing I wouldn’t want to move on in the evening.

worth it to stop in Olbia on the way for a quick look around or food?

I don't know, we only know the street around Olbia. We didn’t stop there.
Between Cala Gonone and Olbia there are several worthwhile towns and beaches.
We did stop in Posada and spend some time at Spiaggia Orvile on our way north.

drive 4 hours back to Cagliari (or could leave earlier if you think
there's something else worth doing that day on the drive back to
Cagliari)
- Arrive near Cagliari and sleep before 11 am flight the next day

A nice break about halfway would be Nuraghe Santu Antine, a very nice remain of Sardinia’s Nuragic civilization.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/C7s23vqk8TEtPQvF8

For the last night you might look at San Sperate. It’s a small town with many mural paintings, less than 20 minutes away from Cagliari Airport. We passed through and spend about 30 minutes there.
https://www.italyreview.com/san-sperate.html