An island with its own language, its own bronze-age civilisation and, on the Costa Smeralda and the Golfo di Orosei, water as clear as anywhere in Europe. Some 7,000 nuraghi — drystone towers built between 1800 and 1100 BC — are scattered across it, with Su Nuraxi di Barumini a UNESCO site. Inland, the Barbagia and the Gennargentu are as far from the beach resorts as it is possible to get: shepherd villages, longevity statistics that made this one of the world's original Blue Zones, and Cagliari's Castello quarter above the salt pans in the south.
- Costa Smeralda and the Maddalena archipelago
- Golfo di Orosei — Cala Goloritzé, Cala Mariolu
- Su Nuraxi di Barumini
- Cagliari's Castello
- Alghero and the Neptune's Grotto coast
- Barbagia and Orgosolo
- La Pelosa, Stintino
- Best time to go
- June and September are the sweet spot — warm sea, open resorts, no August prices. Much of the coast shuts from November to April; the interior is a spring and autumn destination.
- Getting there
- Cagliari, Olbia and Alghero airports; overnight ferries from Civitavecchia, Livorno, Genoa and Naples. You cannot see Sardinia without a car.
© OpenFreeMap · OSM · terrain Mapterhorn · boundaries © EuroGeographics (Eurostat GISCO)
Headline places
What italia.it leads with in Sardinia.
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Su Nuraxi di Barumini The finest of Sardinia's 7,000 bronze-age nuraghi, and a UNESCO site -
Costa Smeralda Fifty kilometres of granite and turquoise, developed from nothing in 1962 -
Golfo di Orosei Limestone cliffs with beaches — Cala Goloritzé, Cala Mariolu — reachable only by boat or on foot -
La Pelosa, Stintino Shallow white sand facing Asinara — numbers capped and shoes banned in summer -
Neptune's Grotto A stalactite cave at the foot of Capo Caccia, down 654 steps or in by boat -
Orgosolo A Barbagia shepherd village covered in political murals since 1969 -
Bosa Coloured houses along a river under a Malaspina castle
Cities & bases
Where to sleep, and what each place is good for.
Islands
Our guides
Full destination guides we already publish in this region.
Sardinia by experience
The themes this region delivers on.
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Art & culture More UNESCO World Heritage sites than any other country on earth -
Food & wine Regional to the point of parochial — and all the better for it -
Coast & islands 7,900 km of coastline and around eighty inhabited islands -
UNESCO Italy Sixty World Heritage sites — the largest tally of any country -
Borghi & villages The hill towns that carry I Borghi più belli d'Italia and the Orange Flag -
Nature & national parks 25 national parks, from alpine glaciers to volcanic islands -
Sport & the outdoors Dolomiti Superski, the Giro's climbs and Garda's windsurfing -
Luxury Italy Portofino, the Costa Smeralda, Capri and the great lake villas
