Sardinia is absolutely incredible! It’s one of those places where you start to plan your next vacation back, before you’ve even left. I was fortunate enough to spend three weeks there and the whole time I kept wondering if the locals ever got used to the views. Everywhere you look it’s simply stunning. We went there for the gorgeous water and were astounded by the beauty of the land, the mountains in particular.
In addition to the beautiful landscape, the Sardinian people were incredible. Everyone we met was so nice and easy-going. I think part of the secret to Sardinians living for so long is that they live unbothered. Unlike many places in Italy, Sardinia also has fabulous air conditioning! We were shocked at the infrastructure of this island. Everything about Sardinia makes you want to return as soon as possible.
The island itself is massive. We only got to see the eastern part of the island. We started in the north, paused in the middle, and ended in the south. From top to bottom, it’s a 5 hour drive and it’s a 2 hour drive across. There are three different airports that service various parts of the island. One of our boat captains told me that he’s lived there for 40 years and hasn’t seen all of it. It’s important to understand the size of Sardinia when planning a trip here. Decide which sections you most want to see and put those places into google maps to see the length of time it will take to get from point A to point B. It will also determine which airports you want to fly into or out of. Make sure to do this with everything. I made the mistake of booking a dinner reservation that looked relatively close on the map. It turned out to be an hour and a half drive, each way. Whoops!
Sardinia also has its own culture and language. That’s right, language, not dialect. The Sardinian language is also a romance-based language, but it is very different sounding. When we first arrived, I assumed my Italian was rusty from not using it since last summer, but quickly realized that was not the case. The good news is, most people we met also speak Italian and English.
SAN PANTALEO
We flew into Olbia airport and drove a half hour to San Pantaleo. This was our home base for the north and it was perfect. We stayed at an incredible Airbnb that was a 5 minute walk to the center of town. The town is adorable, with cute shops, delicious aperitivo, and some yummy restaurants. The backdrop to this town is an incredible jutting of the mountains that surround it. They are stunning and I constantly found myself staring at them.
The real gem of San Pantaleo is its proximity to the gorgeous beaches. We were able to do quick boat trips from different ports because of its location. We took boats out of both Palau and Olbia and would have also done Porto Cervo if we had time. I highly recommend both boat tours listed below. Riccardo and Corrado were both fantastic captains and we had excellent days on the incredible waters. Each company goes to a different area, Morama goes to the Maddalena Archipelago and Ecosport goes to Isola Tavolara. Tavolara is better for a shorter trip (half-day) and Morama is better for a longer trip (full-day).
SAN PANTALEO TIPS and INFO
- Our Favorite Aperitivo: Caffè Nina: Via Torres, 8, San Pantaleo
- Our Favorite Restaurant: SerGiò Ristorante Pizzeria: Via Zara, 35, San Pantaleo
- Our Favorite Gelato Shop: Spun: Via Terni, 1, San Pantaleo
- Boat from Palau: Morama Cruising Porto Turistico, Pontile A, Palau
- Boat from Olbia: Ecosport Sardinia Spiaggia di Cala Suaraccia
COSTA DI BAUNEI
The second leg of our trip was to visit the central, eastern coast of Sardinia, known as Costa di Baunei. When I began marking beaches that I wanted to go see I noticed that many of them were along the same coast. All of these incredibly stunning beaches were one after another and many of them were only accessible by boat. Based on that, we decided that a stop over in the middle was a necessity.
Now, this part of the page is a little different from the norm. I’m not going to list my favorite places, or where to stay, because I didn’t have any. This was the one part of our trip where I absolutely loved the boat trip and the stunning beaches, but I didn’t like where we stayed or any of the food we ate. It was strange, considering how good the food was in the other parts of the island, but it was not enjoyable.
Boat Trip: Charter Sardinia: Arbatax Province of Nuoro. Paolo was wonderful to work with and made sure we had an excellent day. We departed from the port of Arbatax and sailed all the way up to Cala Luna, stopping along the way to snorkel or swim out to the beaches. I highly recommend this tour!
VILLASIMIUS
The third leg of our trip took us to the south, eastern peninsula of Sardinia and the town of Villasimius. This is the perfect location to easily get to a variety of gorgeous beaches. You could easily go to a different beach each day, each with its own stunning sand and water. Each morning we would ask Ivan, the owner of the B&B where we stayed, to give us the name of a beach we hadn’t been to yet and he never ran out of places to suggest. I’ve listed his B&B below because it is super clean, centrally located, has a pristine pool for relaxing after the beach, and top of the line hospitality.
In addition to having easy access to amazing beaches, Villasimius also has incredibly delicious food, like how is the food this good? food. We kept going back to two restaurants in particular that had some of the best pasta we’ve had in all of Italy. I personally had better cacio e pepe in Villasimius than I’ve ever had in Rome. I will list them below and if you plan on going, you must put in reservations ahead of time. They get booked weeks out.
It should be noted that the town itself isn’t cute. I have a love for what I call, CLTs (cute little towns), such as San Pantaleo. This is not one of them. There is no town square, there’s no stunning architecture, there’s not much history in the actual city itself. What Villasimius is, however, is the perfect place to be centrally located for reaching beaches and for having a delicious meal when you return from the beach.
The boat trip we took from Villasimius was with Archeo Diving and it was the coolest snorkeling experience we had on Sardinia. All of the snorkeling in Sardinia is neat because the water’s so clear and everything can be seen through those magical shades of blue. That being said, we saw more aquatic species in this boat trip than we did in the other three boat trips combined. I couldn’t get over the sheer number of fish we saw; thousands and thousands of fish swirling all around us. The trip also gave us a unique view to spot more beaches. If you’re going to this area, make sure to book a boat trip with Archeo Diving.
VILLASIMIUS TIPS and INFO
- Housing: Palazzo Michaelangelo: Via Michelangelo, 09049 Villasimius
- Delicious Food: Sa Tankitta: Via Umberto I, 240, 09049 Villasimius
- Delicious Food: Terra enogastronomia pregiata Villasimius: Via Donatello, 1, 09049 Villasimius
- Yummy Gelato: Gelateria Amore Mio: Via del Mare, 86, 09049 Villasimius
- Boat: Archeo Diving: Porto Turistico, Via Degli Oleandri, 09049 Villasimius