How to Get Around Sardinia

Sardinia is large, its rail network is limited, and its attractions are dispersed. A car is essentially required.

Arriving

Three airports: Cagliari Elmas in the south, Olbia Costa Smeralda in the north-east, and Alghero Fertilia in the north-west. Which one you use should follow which coast you are visiting — they are three to four hours apart by road.

Ferries run from Civitavecchia, Livorno, Genoa, Naples and Piombino to Olbia, Porto Torres, Golfo Aranci, Arbatax and Cagliari. Crossings take between 5 and 13 hours; taking a car across is often cheaper than hiring on the island in August, and needs booking months ahead for that period.

Trains

Trenitalia links Cagliari, Oristano, Macomer, Sassari and Olbia — useful along that spine and almost nowhere else. The narrow-gauge ARST network serves some interior routes slowly. The Trenino Verde is a seasonal tourist line through the Barbagia and Ogliastra that is a destination rather than transport.

Buses

ARST coaches reach most towns but run infrequently, and services thin out sharply at weekends and outside summer.

Driving

• The SS131 is the main road, running Cagliari-Oristano-Sassari-Porto Torres.
• Interior roads are narrow, winding and slow; a 100 km mountain drive can take well over two hours.
• Hire cars sell out for July and August, and prices multiply. Book early.
• Livestock on rural roads is normal — sheep and occasionally free-roaming pigs.
• ZTL zones operate in Cagliari and Alghero.

How easily, and at what cost, can you combine the region’s main destinations?

Cost compares the options for each route rather than quoting a fare: inexpensive means the price is not a factor in planning, moderate cost means a real line in the budget, and the expensive option is one worth weighing against the alternative. Fares change from year to year; the ranking between them does not.