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The Best 7-day Sardinia Itinerary (Roadtrip Guide)

Map of Sardinia, Italian island in Mediterranean

When G and I started planning our holidays in France, we were going to head to Corsica to get our beach fix. But there is almost no tourist information on Corsica, so we decided on a weeklong Sardinia itinerary instead. Sardinia is the Italian island just south of Corsica in the Mediterranean.

The island doesn’t get a ton of attention on the Internet or elsewhere either (in English at least), but I’m really not sure why. It’s absolutely stunning. The mountainous interior landscape is perfect for trekking and climbing, and the endless coastline abounds with views of turquoise waters and limestone cliffs.

Renting a private boat to explore Gulfo di Orosei
The island literally has everything you could ever want out of a vacation: you could stay in a resort, you could go camping, biking, road-tripping, you could stay on agriturismo – small farms dotting the countryside…It’s really a never-ending list of fun.

That being said, it took us a lot of research to develop our Sardinian itinerary, so I vowed I would publish one featuring our 7 days in Sardinia when I returned to help out others and spread the gospel about how incredible this island is.

Transportation – Sardinian road trip, anyone?

Our rented car for transport in Sardinia

You’ll definitely need a car to get around Sardinia. Rent one online before going, and make sure to get an automatic if you don’t know how to drive manual.

It’s easy to find your way around: Sardinia doesn’t have a ton of roads to begin with, and there are signs everywhere. We navigated without using any GPS, just paper maps the whole time!

Sardinia travel tips:

  • Bring or plan to buy a sun hat. The sun is absolutely brutal!
  • Try mirto – it’s a Sardinian liquor made from the myrtle plant
  • Sardinians are incredibly kind and friendly. Learn some basic Italian to get around, though, as there is very little English spoken on the island.
  • Bring a waterproof camera. You won’t regret it.

Our 7 Day Sardinia Itinerary

One week is not long enough to see the entire island. We were flying in and out of Olbia, so we decided to drive a circle around the northern half of the island. You could do the same for the southern half if you’re really interested in seeing the capital city, Cagliari, or you could just pick one spot to stay (e.g. Cala Gonone) and then make day trips from there as needed.

We spent a lot of time in the car. While I’m grateful we got to see so much and understand the regional differences and see a variety of landscapes, if I went again, I would want to just chill in one region and soak it all in.

Days 1-3: Cala Gonone

We spent our first day getting our bearings and adjusting to the jet lag.

We walked around the town of Cala Gonone, chilled in the sun on the rocky beach nearby, and had a blissful dinner overlooking the water and coastline at our hotel.

The next day, we rented a private dinghy boat and took to the waters! We boated to the incredible beaches along the Golfo di Orosei. The water was a clear and sparkling turquoise everywhere we went. I think this was unquestionably our favorite experience in Sardinia.

*To rent a boat just walk to the water in Cala Gonone and ask for quotes from the boat rental stands. They will have options to rent your own boat, rent a boat with a driver/guide, or go on a group boat tour to one or a few of the beaches along the gulf. I was glad we did it solo, although I can see the benefits of having a guide with you. We had trouble getting close enough to shore with the motor off (as we were instructed beforehand) to transport our stuff (including cameras) to the beaches. I imagine having a professional driver would really help with this. However, we appreciated being able to go at our own pace and driving the boat was pretty fun too!*

Us on our rented private boat in Gulfo di Orosei, Sardinia
We drove our little boat from beach to beach along the gulf
Swimming at the beaches along the Gulfo di Orosei from Cala Gonone, Sardinia
How about the color of that water?!

The next day, we drove along the SS 125 highway to see the views of the inland valleys. We glimpsed the canyon Gorropu from afar and ended up at a swimming spot recommended by Massimo, the owner of our hotel, where the rocks spilled into the emerald water. We had this spot almost all to ourselves (there was just a handful of other people coming by to check it out) before retreating to the car and making the drive to Alghero by way of Bosa.

Stay: Hotel L’Oasi was literally a rooftop corner of paradise. Butterflies fluttering by greeted us as we rolled up in our yellow Fiat. The understated rooms and reception/restaurant area are complemented by breathtaking views of the gulf and the Mediterranean Sea. It’s easy to see why this hotel is a crowd favorite (just check out their Booking.com reviews): not only are the views out of this world amazing, but the lovely owners, Massimo and Caterina, serve up delicious authentic Sardinian food at dinner and even breakfast (definitely go for half-board if you stay here).

Hotel L'oasi in Cala Gonone, Sardinia
Our hotel

Days 3-6: Alghero, Spiaggia della Pelosa

We woke up in Alghero, a Sardinian city in the northwest with strong Catalan influences. We spent the day walking around the charming historic city center then took the ferry to Grotta di Nettuno, Alghero’s most popular tourist attraction.

Gelato in Alghero, Sardinia
Trying out some gelato in Alghero’s historical city center

The caves were enormous! The main room (“cathedral room”?) was especially impressive, but unfortunately the cave magic didn’t really translate on camera. You’ll just have to see it for yourself.

The Grotta di Nettuno in Alghero, Sardinia
Inside the Grotta di Nettuno in Alghero, Sardinia

The next day, we drove up to Spiaggia della Pelosa, which is a beach mentioned by one of the contributors to my post on bloggers’ favorite beaches. It was so cool to see in person what I had previously blogged about – and I definitely see how it could become someone’s favorite beach.

Stay: We used Airbnb to book an apartment in Alghero ($65 off your first Airbnb stay!)

Spiaggia della Pelosa in northwestern Sardinia
Spiaggia della Pelosa was insanely crowded but still so beautiful

 

Sardinia Itinerary Days 6-9: Arzachena/north region

We explored the nuraghis, or Neolithic ruins, around Arzachena. Our favorite was Nuraghe la Prisgiona, which had a big dome made of stones that you could enter as well as a still-functional ancient well!

Nuraghi gigante in Arzachena, Sardinia
Me in front of one of the nuraghis outside Arzachena

Gatien read between the lines of our Lonely Planet guide and found a brief mention of the Olivastri Millenari: olive trees purported to be over 3,000 years old. Given my obsession with olives, this was the perfect excursion. I had been dying to set sight on some olive trees since arriving in Sardinia.

Turns out the site closes before 6 pm (I don’t remember the exact time) so we had to jump the fence (oops :/). The trees were huge and had little baby olives on them. There was something really mystical about them – I felt like maybe one of them would start singing the Grandmother Willow song from Pocahontas while we stood in awe at their base.

Visiting the olivastri millenari in Sardinia
Dreams do come true
Baby olives growing at olivastri millenari, Sardinia
Baby olives from these ancient trees

We also drove through Costa Smeralda to see what all the fuss was about (this is the most highly touristed region of Sardinia). It was pretty but we preferred Cala Gonone’s down-to-earth vibes.

During our drive back home, we happened upon a grove of Sardinia’s famed cork trees. I’ve never seen one before so this was really interesting.

Stay: We used Airbnb to book a room at a B&B in the countryside outside Arzachena ($65 off your first Airbnb stay!)

If we had had more time and money…

If we had had more time and money we would have loved to do the following during our 7 day Sardinia itinerary:


Further Reading and Resources


Thank you to Hotel L’Oasi for their hospitality! As always, I only write the truth based on my experiences.

This post contains affiliate links. For more on that, please see my Disclosure policy.

The Best 7-day Sardinia Itinerary (Roadtrip Guide)

25 comments

  1. Leah says:

    Wow, looks like a lovely vacation you had! I never knew much about Sardinia, so this was so interesting to read! Thanks for sharing your trip!

  2. Looks like you had an incredible time with so many opportunities to explore history in the neolithic ruins and the beautiful greenery from the olive trees. It’s great to learn about a place that isn’t traveled to as much and I’m glad there are still places like this to explore someday and treasure.

  3. ashleigh says:

    I have always wanted to go to Sardinia! I looked into it while living in Europe but we decided on somewhere else. Now, after seeing your photos, I wish we would’ve gone! Thank you for sharing!!

    • mishvo says:

      It’s a great addition to a south of France trip – if you’re going in the summer months, the south of France is honestly so crowded it can be overwhelming and prices are jacked up. But Sardinia is way less touristed.

  4. Ewa says:

    Hi!
    I’m going to sardinia in couple of weeks with my hubby, can’t wait! Could you recommend for us your car hire company? Many thanks,

    Ewa

  5. What a coincidence! I was looking on Pinterest for cool images of Sardinia to add to one of my boards and I stumbled upon this article and also discovered that you have linked to my guide, thanks a lot! I’m so happy you had a good time on my Island! The only thing I saw that made me cringe was the picture with the beach filled with umbrellas, I know it’s like that during high season (with a few exceptions known only by some of the locals) πŸ™‚ Such a pity but everyone wants a piece of paradise!

    I’m also glad that you liked Cala Gonone better than the Costa Smeralda. I tend to agree, especially because I saw the Costa Smeralda more than 20 years ago when it still was a wild area and it was STUNNING. Now when I go there, yes… as you said… it’s pretty but for us Sardinians, it is like going to Disneyland or something. We don’t really consider it the real Sardinia. Thanks for the lovely write up on the best Island in the world (ok, I’m biased I know) πŸ˜‰
    Ciao!
    Clelia

    • mishvo says:

      Hi Clelia,
      Oh yay I’m glad you found me! I actually get a lot of click-throughs to your site from this post by the way. We did have such a blast on our Sardinia trip. I’m so glad we went. Yeah that one day at the beach was crazy, it was such a mad house. But like you said, I think it was because it was just suuuuper high season right in the middle of the summer. We did totally love Cala Gonone. I would go back there to stay and chill for a while in a heartbeat. Anyways, thanks for your comment and nice to ‘meet’ you!! πŸ™‚

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