Practical Information for visiting Alghero

Alghero is easier to reach from outside Italy than from inside Sardinia.

Alghero-Fertilia airport is ten kilometres from the town and has been a low-cost base for years, with a wide European network in summer and a much thinner one in winter. For many visitors it is the only Sardinian airport they use.

Buses connect to Sassari in under an hour, which is the transport hub for the north of the island, and on to Porto Torres for ferries to Genoa and mainland France.

Trains run to Sassari on a slow branch line.

Reaching Cagliari takes around three hours by car on the SS131, or longer by public transport; the island is bigger than it looks on a map.

Ferries to the mainland go from Porto Torres, about forty minutes away.

Coverage for mobile networks is good in the town and along the coast, patchy on the Capo Caccia cliffs.

Alghero is a safe town with very little crime, and the risks here are almost entirely coastal.

Petty theft is uncommon but rises in the crowded old town in August; ordinary care is enough.

The maestrale is the real hazard. It gets up fast, and the sea off this coast can go from calm to dangerous within an hour. Take boat cancellations seriously rather than looking for an operator who will still go.

The Escala del Cabirol, the stairway down the cliff to Neptune's Grotto, is several hundred steep steps with a long climb back. People underestimate it, particularly in heat.

Cliff edges at Capo Caccia are unfenced in places and the limestone is friable.

Some beaches have lifeguard cover in season only, and the water off the rocks is deep close in.

Summer wildfire is a serious risk across Sardinia.

Emergency services are reachable on 112.

No vaccinations or special precautions are needed; standards are those of Italy generally.

Sun and wind together are the usual problem: the breeze disguises how strong the sun is, and people burn on boats and beaches without noticing.

The cliff stairway at Capo Caccia is genuinely strenuous. Anyone with a heart condition or limited mobility should take the boat.

Sea urchins are eaten raw here in winter and carry the usual risks of raw shellfish; harvesting is also restricted in some years.

Jellyfish appear along this coast in some summers.

Pharmacies are in the modern town with a posted out-of-hours rota.

The Ospedale Civile in Alghero has an emergency department; the larger hospitals are in Sassari, under an hour away.

EHIC and GHIC cards are accepted; travel insurance remains worthwhile.

The single emergency number across Italy is 112, reaching police, ambulance and fire, generally with English-speaking operators.

Other numbers still in use: 113 police, 118 medical, 115 fire.

The Ospedale Civile in Alghero has the nearest emergency department; the referral hospitals for northern Sardinia are in Sassari, under an hour away.

There is no foreign consulate in Alghero. The nearest consular representation is in Cagliari, and embassies are in Rome.

Report thefts to the Carabinieri or Polizia di Stato for the report an insurer will require.

At sea, the Capitaneria di Porto handles rescue through 112. On the Capo Caccia cliffs and stairway, phone coverage is unreliable and a fall is a technical rescue — do not go down late in the day or alone.