Sardinia Region Guide

Sardinia is usually sold on its beaches, which undersells it considerably.

• The nuraghi. Around 7,000 Bronze Age towers, more megalithic structures than anywhere else in the Mediterranean. Su Nuraxi di Barumini is UNESCO-listed, but they stand in fields all over the island, often unfenced and unattended.
• Water that genuinely looks like the photographs. The limestone and granite mean very little sediment, so the sea reads turquoise over white sand in a way the Mediterranean mostly does not.
• A living language and living traditions.Sardinian is a Romance language, not an Italian dialect, and the most conservative descendant of Latin. Cantu a tenore, the island's four-part male throat singing, is on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.
• An interior almost nobody visits. The Barbagia and the Supramonte are mountain country with deep gorges, shepherding villages and some of the least-touched landscape in southern Europe.
• Food and wine that are distinctly its own. Cannonau, pecorino, bottarga and a bread designed to keep for months.

What it is not: cheap in summer on the north-east coast, or quick to cross. The island is roughly 270 km long and the roads are slow.

Sardinia is large and its attractions are spread to the edges. Most trips should pick one coast and one inland excursion.

The north-east

The Costa Smeralda is the developed luxury coast, built from 1962 by a consortium led by the Aga Khan to a controlled architectural style. Around it, the Maddalena archipelago is a national park reached by ferry from Palau, and the granite coast toward Santa Teresa is quieter and free.

The east and the Gulf of Orosei

The most dramatic coastline on the island: limestone cliffs dropping into the sea, with beaches — Cala Goloritzé, Cala Mariolu, Cala Luna — reachable only by boat or on foot. Behind it rises the Supramonte, and the Gola Su Gorropu is among the deepest gorges in Europe.

The west and the north-west

Alghero is a walled seaside town that has spoken Catalan since the 14th century and still does. South of it, the quartz-pebble beaches of the Sinis peninsula sit beside the Phoenician-Roman site of Tharros, and Bosa stacks coloured houses above a river.

The south

Cagliari is the capital, built up a limestone hill with a fortified quarter above the port and a salt lagoon full of flamingos on its edge. West of it lie the Sulcis mines and the islands of San Pietro and Sant'Antioco.

The interior

Worth a full day at least. Barumini for the nuraghe, Mamoiada and Orgosolo for masks and murals, and the Barbagia villages for a Sardinia entirely unlike the coast.

Sardinia's pressures are concentrated into July and August, on a coastline that cannot absorb them, and the island has responded with rules that are genuinely enforced.

Beach rules that carry fines

Taking sand, pebbles or shells from Sardinian beaches is illegal, with fines running to several thousand euros, and airport checks do happen. The quartz beaches of the Sinis and the pink sand of Budelli exist in finite quantity and were visibly degraded before the law.

Several beaches now cap daily numbers and require booking — La Pelosa at Stintino and Cala Goloritzé among them — and some charge a small fee. Check before travelling to a specific beach rather than arriving and being turned away.

The summer peak

August is extreme on the north-east coast, with ferry crossings, hire cars and accommodation all booked months ahead and priced accordingly. May, June, September and October are warm, swimmable and far quieter. The interior is quiet in any month.

Fire

Wildfire is the island's most serious seasonal hazard. Summers are dry and windy, and large fires recur. Open flames are prohibited outside designated areas from June to October, and this is enforced.

Water

Sardinia depends on reservoirs and has recurring drought. Coastal resorts place heavy demand on supply precisely when it is lowest.

The interior

Barbagia villages are losing population steadily. Staying inland, eating in village restaurants and buying directly from producers puts money where it is scarcest, and the food is generally better than on the coast.

Sardinia has a long season, and the two months everyone chooses are the two worth avoiding.

• April-May. Excellent for everything except swimming. The interior is green and flowering, the archaeological sites are comfortable, and the coast is empty. The sea stays cold until late May.
• June. Arguably the best month: warm, swimmable, everything open, and before the Italian holiday rush.
• July-August. Hot, 32-38 °C inland and dry, with the north-east coast at full capacity and prices at their peak. Ferries and flights need booking well ahead. This is also festival season — the Faradda di li Candareri at Sassari on 14 August and the Redentore at Nuoro are both major.
• September-October. The strongest window overall. The sea is at its warmest after a summer of heating, the heat has broken, and prices fall sharply from the second week of September.
• November-March. Mild on the coast, cold and wet in the mountains, with snow on the Gennargentu. Many coastal businesses close entirely. This is when the interior is at its most interesting: Carnival brings out the Mamuthones at Mamoiada and the Sartiglia joust at Oristano, both in February.

Relative cost index vs region average