Sardinia: what to see and do, beaches and culture

At the island's north-western tip, facing Isola Piana and Asinara, La Pelosa is a tongue of white sand sloping into shallow turquoise water, guarded by an Aragonese tower of 1578. The water stays shallow for tens of metres, which makes it a family beach and one of the most photographed spots in Sardinia.

Its fragility led the town of Stintino to regulate access: from 15 May to 15 October, a maximum of 1,500 people a day, on paid booking (€3.50 per person, free under 12) through the official site spiaggialapelosa.it, with QR-code checks from 8am to 6pm. A beach mat under your towel is compulsory so as not to carry sand away, and dogs are not allowed.

Sardinia's capital and main gateway (Elmas airport, ferries from Civitavecchia, Naples and Palermo), Cagliari climbs a set of hills above its port. The fortified Castello quarter, with the cathedral of Santa Maria, the Pisan towers of the Elephant and San Pancrazio and the Bastione Saint-Remy terrace, overlooks the Marina, Stampace and Villanova districts, where the restaurants and markets are.

The National Archaeological Museum, in the Cittadella dei Musei, displays the Nuragic bronzetti and the giants of Mont'e Prama; the Roman amphitheatre carved into the rock recalls ancient Karalis. East of the city, Poetto beach stretches eight kilometres of sand below the Sella del Diavolo headland, and the Molentargius salt pans host flamingos all year round.

Cala Mariolu is one of the coves of the Gulf of Orosei, on the east coast between Cala Gonone and Santa Maria Navarrese. Rounded white marble pebbles, water shading from turquoise to deep blue and limestone cliffs dropping into the sea: the cove is regularly ranked among Italy's most beautiful. Its name is said to come from the monk seals, the fishermen's fish 'thieves'.

No road reaches it. You arrive by boat from Cala Gonone, Arbatax or Santa Maria Navarrese, or by a long, exposed trail from the Golgo plateau, for experienced walkers only. In summer the municipality of Baunei limits the number of people on the beach; the shared boats organise the landings.

60 km north of Cagliari, Su Nuraxi is the most complete and best-studied nuraghe on the island, and Sardinia's only UNESCO World Heritage site (1997). A central tower from the 16th century BC, still 18 m high, is enclosed by a four-tower bastion; around it, the circular foundations of a village of over 200 huts, inhabited until the 6th century BC, form a stone labyrinth you overlook from the top.

The visit is only with a Fondazione Barumini guide, in timed slots; the single ticket includes the Casa Zapata museum complex in the village (an Aragonese palace built over another nuraghe, visible under a glass floor) and the Giovanni Lilliu centre. The Giara plateau is ten minutes away.

Facing Palau at Sardinia's north-eastern tip, the La Maddalena archipelago lines up seven main islands and some sixty pink-granite islets, protected as a national park since 1994. La Maddalena, the only town, is 20 minutes by ferry from Palau; a bridge links it to Caprera, where Garibaldi lived and died (his house is a museum) and where Relitto beach and Cala Coticcio are, the latter with limited access, on booking with a guide (Heart of Sardinia app).

The other islands are visited by boat on day trips: Spargi and its Cala Corsara, Budelli and its pink beach (landing forbidden, seen from the sea), Santa Maria and Razzoli. The very clear waters over white sand are among the finest in the Mediterranean; landing and anchoring are regulated by the park.

On the north-west coast, Alghero is Sardinia's Catalan town: settled by the Crown of Aragon in the 14th century, it has kept its language, Algherese, its sea walls and its cobbled lanes around the cathedral of Santa Maria and the church of San Francesco. The bastions make a sunset walk facing the bay, and the harbour is the departure point for Capo Caccia.

25 km away, Neptune's Grotto opens at the foot of the Capo Caccia cliff: chambers of formations and an inner lake, paid guided visit. You walk down by the Escala del Cabirol, 654 steps cut into the rock face, or arrive by boat from Alghero harbour (seasonal service, cave ticket not included). Porto Conte bay and Lazzaretto beach round off the outing.

The Costa Smeralda is a twenty-kilometre stretch of coast north of Olbia, developed from 1962 by a consortium led by Prince Karim Aga Khan. Porto Cervo, its purpose-built showcase village, concentrates the luxury marina, boutiques and hotels; the beaches of Capriccioli, Liscia Ruja and Spiaggia del Principe, between pink granite rocks and emerald water, explain the name.

It is the most expensive corner of Sardinia and one of the busiest in August. The beaches remain public and free: you reach them by small roads and paid car parks, often full by late morning in high season. Outside July-August the coast regains its calm and prices come down.

In the Supramonte, between Urzulei and Orgosolo, the Gorropu canyon was cut by the Rio Flumineddu into the limestone: around 500 m deep, vertical walls of over 450 m and a floor that narrows in places to a few metres. It is one of Europe's deepest canyons, home to golden eagles and mouflon.

The shortest access starts from the Genna Silana pass on the SS 125 between Dorgali and Baunei: a 650 m descent on a steep path to the canyon mouth, where you scramble between boulders for the first kilometres (green and yellow marked sections). A second, longer but flat approach follows the river from the Sa Barva bridge. Beyond the markers, crossing the gorge requires a guide and climbing gear.

Between Teulada and Capo Spartivento in the south-west, Tuerredda is a half-moon bay of pale sand closed by two headlands, with an islet a few strokes from shore that you reach by swimming or pedalo. The shallow, clear water shades from emerald to blue; it is one of the most sought-after beaches on the south coast along with those of Chia.

The municipality of Teulada caps summer visitor numbers to protect the site; the car park and a beach kiosk are the only services. The scenic road linking it to Chia and Porto Pino runs past coves and dunes.

Halfway between Alghero and Oristano, Bosa is one of the few Sardinian towns built on a river: its ochre, pink and blue houses climb the bank of the Temo below the Malaspina castle (12th century), whose chapel keeps 14th-century frescoes. The Sa Costa quarter, all lanes and stairways, and the old tanneries (Sas Conzas) along the river make up the walk around the centre.

The town produces Malvasia di Bosa, an amber dessert wine, and its beach, Bosa Marina, is 3 km away at the river mouth. The Bosa-Alghero coast road (SP 105, 45 km), village-free and clinging to the cliffs above the sea, is considered one of the island's finest.

On the north coast between Porto Torres and the Costa Smeralda, Castelsardo is a medieval town clinging to a headland above the Gulf of Asinara. Founded in the 12th century by the Doria of Genoa, it keeps its castle, which now houses the museum of Mediterranean basketry, the cathedral of Sant'Antonio Abate with its lantern bell tower over the sea, and a maze of stepped lanes.

5 km east, on the road to Santa Teresa, the Roccia dell'Elefante is a trachyte block eroded into the shape of an elephant and hollowed with prehistoric tombs (domus de janas). The town lives from fishing and basket-weaving, still seen on doorsteps.

In the heart of the Marmilla, an hour north of Cagliari, the Giara di Gesturi is a 45 km² basalt plateau rising 550 m above hills of wheat and vines. Cork oaks, maquis and seasonal pools (the paulis), carpeted with buttercups in spring: it is the only habitat of the cavallini della Giara, small semi-wild horses, several hundred of them roaming free.

The plateau is explored on foot or by mountain bike on marked tracks from the Gesturi, Tuili or Setzu entrances; it also holds nuraghi and traces of prehistoric settlement. Su Nuraxi at Barumini is ten minutes south, so the two combine easily in a day.

40 km east of Cagliari on the road to Villasimius, the Sette Fratelli massif ('seven brothers', after its seven granite peaks) is covered with holm oak, cork oak and strawberry-tree forest, one of the largest in Sardinia. It is one of the last refuges of the Sardinian deer, reintroduced and monitored by the regional forestry agency.

Trails start from the Campu Omu forestry house on the SS 125, where a small museum presents the massif's wildlife; the marked routes climb to Punta Sa Ceraxa (1,016 m) or follow the Rio Cannas. It is the nature outing of Cagliari's residents, best done outside summer for the cooler air.