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Now let the sea day I'll be doing hello, I am Claudia. I was born and raised in Sardinia and I still call it home. I am the mastermind behind the Strictly Sardinia Travel blog and now the Strictly Sardinia Podcast where each week I will bring you the best Sardinia has to offer and share my most useful tips that will help you plan a memorable trip to my wonderful island. In the last episode I talked to you about visiting Sardinia in October. This week I will share with you all the reasons why you should consider visiting Sardinia in the winter. Let me stress that you will find a more detailed version of today's episode on my blog, strictlysardinia.com as always, you will find the link to my blog post in today's episode description, so don't forget to read that for more information. Now let's talk about Sardinia in the winter. How is Sardinia in the winter? It's actually great. It is normally considered a summer holiday destination and it's easy to see why. We have long beaches, we have crystal clear seas. We have delicious food, food that you can enjoy al fresco. We have crisp white wine that are best enjoyed when they're cold. However, every season is a good season to visit Sardinia and the trip to Sardinia in winter is still very much possible. And if you don't like the heat, or you looking into a holiday that will not break the bank, winter is definitely the best time to go. There's much more to see in Sardinia than just the beautiful beaches. There is plenty of culture and history to occupy your time during the winter. In some cases, visiting during the off season gives you rewards that you will not get otherwise. So today's topic the reasons to visit Sardinia in the winter the weather is sunny. Well, most of the time anyways. Sardinia is hot and humid in the summer, but in the off season it's a different story. It's not freezing, but it's much cooler. But that doesn't mean the weather is bad. Most of the time Sardinia is sunny. In fact, it is considered one of the best destination for winter sun in Europe. The thing you may need to consider about Sardina in the winter is that there is a difference in the weather between the coast and the interior mountain region where the coast is pleasantly mild and the mountains are much colder. I live in Calderi and we haven't gotten snow here since probably 1993. I'm not kidding. I think I was 17 back then. Oops, I just told you how old I am. But we do get regular snow in the mountain every season. You can even ski In There is a ski station in Sardinia, but we do get rain in November. Things are mild. The average daytime temperature is between 13 and 70 degrees, depending on where you are. They drop to 8 degrees Celsius at night. In December, we get around nine hours of sunshine every day, and the temperatures are slightly colder. But we have enjoyed incredibly warm Christmas days that we've spent walking along the beach here in Cagliari. So really, give it a try. And you may be pleasantly surprised at how warm it is. We do get rain, of course, as I said, but it's minimal. All in all, the mild winter on the coast makes Sardinia a pleasant spot to explore. It definitely is less crowded, too. Sardinia is a beautiful place to visit in the summer, when you can go to the beach and swim in the sea. But it gets terribly crowded then. Who wouldn't want to spend a few weeks away from these crowds? Tourist season in Sardinia starts in May, runs until September. There's a lot of people on the island at that time. Outside of the tourist season, no crowds at all. Sardina in winter is empty of tourists. There's none, literally. So you will have beautiful historic centers to yourself, just to share with the locals. Likewise for archaeological sites, likewise for hiking routes. And the beaches will be empty. Except, as I said before, we locals do enjoy going to the beach throughout the winter months too, either for a walk, for a run, or even to just lay in the sun a little bit. If it's a sunny day, why not? But you won't have other tourists. It's cheaper to fly to Sardinia in the winter, perhaps slightly more complicated, depending on where you're flying from. But usually there is a good availability of flights. Budget flights are always available from various cities in Italy, such as Venice, Rome, Milan through Bergamo, various places in Europe, Dublin, London, Paris, for example. You have to look into Ryanair or EasyJet or Irwings for direct flights to Sardinia. Otherwise you always have the option of flying to Sardinia if you're coming from North America or from outside of Europe through Rome. But the prices will be surprisingly much cheaper than they would be in the summer months. It's also cheaper to stay. Now, many of you ask me whether things are open in Sardinia in the winter, and I'm always puzzled by this question because, hello, there's 1.6 million people living here. So there are holiday resorts, you know, at the beach that obviously don't have any tourists in the summer, in the winter months, because it's not time to go to the beach. But everything is open elsewhere. So if you visit Cities like Caglieri, Alghuero, Olbia, Sasserino, Orisano or even smaller towns. Things are open. We still go out to eat, we still go shopping. Yes, ladies and gentlemen. But accommodation outside of the peak tourist months, which are between May and September, is much, much cheaper. Which means you can snag a room that is probably even a four star hotel or a much more beautiful place for a fraction of the price that you would pay in the summer months. One more reason to visit Cernina in the winter is that Caglieri is a fantastic city. City break. There are a lot of cities throughout Europe which are thought to be a city break destination. Think Paris, think London, think Vienna, Prague, Budapest. But what about Calyris in Sardinia? Sardinia's very own capital. It's so often overlooked, but it has some serious city break credentials. Winter in Caliari is perfect to to explore the ancient city streets, immersing yourself in the history of the city. The temperatures are mild, as I said before, perfect for exploring. It's never too cold, you can still enjoy a lot of sun and there's a lot to do. The city is super interesting. There are four different historic neighborhoods and the city center goes beyond the historic neighborhoods. There's lots of, lots of excellent restaurants that, yes, stay open throughout the years. There's bars, there's cafes, there's pubs, museums, plenty to do. You can even go on a hike. Yes, in the city, within the city. And actually there are a few hiking trails within the city that you can easily reach from the center of town by an easy bus ride. And we have a nature reserve in the city as well. It's called Molentargeos and it's a wonderful spot to admire various species of birds, such as pink flamingos. You can't swim in Sardinia in the winter months, but you can still enjoy the beaches. Now mind you, I saw people swimming in December. Locals and the water is really cold. However, personally I wouldn't do it because I. I think it's too cold. But you can still enjoy a day hanging at the beach, having a picnic at the beach, going for a walk along the beach, having the beach to yourself, laying in the sun a little bit. It is fantastic. Caleri itself has a city beach called Poeto that makes it a wonderful place to have a break. Winter is also a great time to go hiking. Fair enough. The days are a bit shorter. You will need to leave really early in the morning and usually by 5pm at the latest you should be back in your car because it gets dark. But the weather is usually pleasant. Very few times when rain will stop you from hiking. And in fact, I never believe there is. I never believe there's such thing as bad hiking weather. There is bad hiking gear. If you have the right hiking gear, like a rainproof jacket, you can go hiking in the winter months, you can go hiking in the rain. And that is definitely the case in Sardina. As I said, we have tons of hiking trails, you know, through the forest, mountain views, coastal views. It's a definitely one of the things you should consider doing if you decide to visit Sardinia in the winter. More than that, we also have many interesting archaeological sites. Sardinia is super historical. We have a civilization, the Nuragic one, that is older than the Romans on the Italian mainland. Evidence of the Nuragic civilization are scattered around the island. And the Nuraga landscape of Cerdina is actually UNESCO heritage. We have tons of Nuraga you can visit some from on day trips from Calgary, for example, Sunuragi in Barumini is only a 45 minutes drive. But you can go to more like in the small town of Guazila, you can go to Santo Antine in Torralba, you can go to La Prizgiona in Arzakena, you can go to Nurage. But Almavera in Alghero, pretty much wherever you go in Sardinia, you will have archaeological sites to visit are not interesting in Uraghe, well, there's more. We have Roman ruins, we have Taros and Nora, which are two of the most beautiful sites on the island. We have hidden gems like Tempio di Antas in Flumini Maggiore. We even have historical mines that you can visit, which are completely unique. But the island is also packed with museums, of course. The Archaeological Museum of Cagliari and the Archaeological Museum of Olbia are two of the most interesting ones that you can visit if you're into archaeology. But there's more. I'm a massive fan of the Ethnographic Museum of Nuoro, where you can learn a lot about Sardinia's clothes, culture and traditions. But you know, there's so many more that you can consider visiting. The island is also packed with lovely small towns and villages. Sardinia is packed with them. They are colorful, they are quaint and quiet. Perhaps if you visit in the winter, you won't find much action, but there are locals living there. You may find it's easier to get a bit more local action when a place is devoid of all tourists. My favorite village, probably Boza. It's so pretty, so colorful. It's just off the coast. It has a hilltop castle from which you can see the views of the town. It has a river Temo flowing through it, which makes it very scenic. Winter in Sardinia also means carnival. Now this doesn't happen at the same time every year because carnival is linked to Easter celebration. But if you visit Sardinia in February, you get to see the carnival celebrations and we have some unique ones. The two ones that I want to recommend are Sassartiglia Sartillia, which takes place in the city of Oristano and is an exciting event during which knights compete on a joust tournament in the hope of winning the top prize, a silver star. There's also the Mamoyada Carnival, one of the most famous events on the island, which begins with processions and traditional mosques and is ancient, dates back more than 3,000 years, predating Christian rites. Of course, we have more festivities than that. Speaking of which, Sardinia in the winter gives you the chance of discovering its traditions and cultures. We have a lot of festivals and I mentioned carnival already, but visiting when it's not so crowded, you have the chance to spend more time with the locals. You can have all the earthy food and wine of Sardinia in the winter. Our food can be quite rich and you can have more of it in the winter when you need the energy to keep a bit warmer. Although as I said before, it's not cold. One dish that I recommend trying if you visit Sardinia in the winter, it's Sou Philindeo, sort of a thin pasta, as thin as human hair. And I'm not kidding, it's as thin as human hair that it's traditionally cooked in sheep broth. It's super tasty, super comforting in the winter months. Now, before I share the topic of next episode, let me remind you that in if you ever need more tips and help to plan your trip to Sardinia, you can book a one hour consultation with me. The link for that is in this podcast episode description, so make sure to read it. Of course there's also my Strictly Sardinia Travel blog that has more tips and more articles you can read that help you plan your trip. Next week I will talk about all the best festivals in Sardinia. Finally, if you like my podcast, share it with your friends who are coming to Sardinia. Give it a five star rating and a good review. Now until next week. Goodbye.