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Foreign My name is 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 of Sardinia and share my most useful tips that will help you plan and memorable trip to my wonderful island. Today I want to talk to you about two of my favorite holiday destinations in Sardinia. Costa Ric and Villasimius. Both of them hold a very beloved place in my heart because this is pretty much where I spent my summers growing up. And I still go there all the time, every summer, because my parents own a holiday home in Costa Ri. Of course, you may be wondering which one should I go to, Costa Ri or Villa Simius? The good news is that you don't have to pick. They are so close, one to the other, only 15 minutes drive apart. Which means that if you decide to space yourself in Costa Ri, you can still visit Villasimius and vice versa. If you base yourself in Villa Simius, you can enjoy the beaches in Costa Ri. What's the main difference between the two of them? Virasinius is more of an actual small town, meaning there is a permanent resident population year round, which swells a lot during the summer months. Costa Rio, on the other hand, is more of a holiday hub, which means there aren't residents during the winter months. I mean, of course, my parents go there all the time, even in the winter months. The house is lovely even, you know, and we have friends that also spend, you know, a few months in the winter there, but they lack services and they lack the structure of a proper town during the winter months, whereas in the summer months, all services are in place. You know, you have shops, you have restaurants, you have everything you may possibly need. Both Costa R and Villa Simius are easy to reach from Caglieri. First of all, there are buses that go there. The bus takes about two hours and you can go there by car. Driving there will take you no more than an hour. What is the main reason to visit Costa Ri and Villa Simius? Well, the beaches. The beaches there are stunning. Some of the best beaches in Sardinia that you can imagine. So let me start with my home away from home, Costa Ri. Costa Ray has one main beach. It's just Montenai beach. Monte Nai Montenay is actually the mountain that surmounts this part of the coast. It's a long, very sandy, golden sand, fine golden sand beach with incredibly transparent waters at the very end of this beach, which is fully serviced by the way, and accessible also. To disabled visitors, there is Santa Giusta, which is a smaller cove, which tends to get very crowded because there is a big rock at one of its ends, known locally as Scoglio di Pepino, literally Pepino's rock, which people really love. It's honestly, it's a gorgeous place. It's a gorgeous spot to get views of the beach. Both places are very suitable for families with children. You know, children can play with sand, they can swim in the water. It usually is a safe place. It's a bit more exposed to this mistral wind and to the southern winds. Well, the. The east, eastern winds, really, which means that when the wind is blowing, sometimes it's not as pleasant. But other than that, it's a wonderful beach. There are kiosks along the beach where you can get food. There's even one of one restaurant that we love in my family. It's called Chaplin. Chaplin likes Charles Chaplin. And you can join boat tours departing from the beach. It's just very easy. Other beaches in Costa Ri that I really recommend visiting are Cala di Monte Turno, known just as Monte Turno, this one is a smaller beach. It's a nicely protected cove, again, with really fine white golden sand and shallow waters that are super transparent. There is a kiosk where you can stop to have a drink or a meal, and you can rent umbrellas if you want. Otherwise, visiting the beach is free, other than paying for the car parking. And other beaches here include Calacincias and Calapira. I am a massive fan of Calapira because it's so beautiful and sheltered and surmounted by a span watchtower, a tower that was built by the Spaniard conquerors in Sardinia in the 17th century to protect the coast. But there aren't that many facilities at this beach. Calacintias, on the other hand, is longer, wider. There's a few kiosks where you can rent umbrellas. You can get a sunbed and one of them. Some of them have fantastic restaurants. My favorite is Maclas. It's a lovely place for a meal, for an evening. It's a beach that is suitable for the entire family. Water here is a tad deeper than it is in Costa Ri, but it's still very safe for children. Villasi Mus, as I said, is also home to gorgeous beaches. My favorite one here is Punta Molentis. Literally, not a summer goes by without me making a visit to Punta Molentis. Punta Molentis is one of the protected beaches in Sardinia. This means that in order to visit, you have to book ahead of time. Now you have to pay a small fee per person and there's a fee for the parking lot. Once you get to the beach, you can place your umbrella where you want, or you can also rent Besif, booked in advance, one of the sunbeds and umbrellas that are at the beach. And there is a kiosk where you can get food and drinks. And there are toilets as well, so it's fully equipped. It's a wonderful beach. The water is really shallow, transparent, fine white, white sand. A gorgeous small promontory from where you get stunning views. It's just special. Another protected beach is Porto sa Rushi. Porto sa Ruschi. Now Porto sa Rushi as well, has to be booked in advance. It's not an equipped beach, so you'll have to bring whatever you need for the day. It's stunning. It just imagine beautiful rock formations that make it a fun place to snorkel. Incredibly clear waters, fine white sand. The one main difference between Porto Cerugi and Punta Molentis is that Punta Molentis is very well sheltered from the wind. There are more beaches in Villasimios that I can mention. Porto Giunco is probably the most popular one. It's a long, well, longer than the white sand beach, surmounted by a promontory, on top of which you'll find a watchtower. Again, Aragonese watchtower. And the water is incredibly blue, an incredible shade of blue. Again, shallow, so perfectly safe for families with children or for people who are not so confident swimming. And there are obviously more beaches. Cala Caterina, Las Piaggia del Riso, literally Rice Beach Campus, Campulongo, and then Simius Beach. All of them are gorgeous. So if you ask me how long you should spend in Villa Simius or Costa Ri to make the most of it, I would say give it a week. A week allows you to relax. If you are in Costa Ri, depending on where you're staying, you can probably rent, you know, a holiday home close to the beach, and you just park your car and literally just walk to the beach and forget about the stress of daily life. Villa C? Mios. Again, it depends on where you're staying. Sometimes you may have to hop on a car or a short bike ride to get to the beach. And both of them offer this incredible variety of beaches so that you can decide whether if you want to stay just an entire day at the same beach every day, or hop from one to the other. In both cases, you have the chance of getting on a boat tour. As I Said, in Costa Rey they depart directly from the beach. Boat tours depart directly from the beach in Punta Molentis. Otherwise they depart from the harbor and they stop in various places along the coast where you can admire, you know, the clear waters. You can go snorkel for a little bit. You can observe the islands off the coast. For example, Serpentara or Isola DEI Cavoli. Serpentara takes the name from the shape. It looks like a snake. Isola de Cavoli. Isola de Cavoli. It's a wonderful spot for snorkeling. Now both of them are protected places. Both of them are part of the area. Marina Protecta, protected marine area of Capo Carbonara. Capo Carbonara, which is in Villa Simius. And you can visit them on boat tours. They won't stop in Serpentara. Nobody can stop in Serpentara. But they will stop at the Isola DEI Cavoli, depending on the itinerary. And some boat tours. Also go north of Costa Ri to other wonderful and slightly lesser known places where you can also enjoy swimming. There are more beaches north of Costa Ri that are lesser known. My family loves Calasa Figo. Now, compared to a few years ago. More and more people are starting to know it. Probably I talk too much about how beautiful it is and you get more visitors. It's also a bit tricky to get to. The road isn't very well signaled, but I still want to mention it. Cala Safigo. Now, if you are more of a family person, probably Costa R is a better place for you. Meaning that you'll rent a holiday home. You can cook your meals. There are a few restaurants where you can go, all of them more or less good. My favorite would be Chaplin, which has a very family atmosphere. It's not. It's not fancy. It's more like a trattoria. Very honest prices and very good food. There is also Sagardiga Esubici. This is a bit more of a fancier place. And there are a few good pizza places. Villa Simius has a wider variety of restaurants. Let's not forget that that it's a bit bigger of a place. And it's also a place where they have a resident population in the winter months. Now this means that Villa Cios also has a bigger selection of shops and, you know, supermarkets. This is to say, perhaps you will find Villa Simius a bit more lively compared to Costa Ri. But don't worry, both of them organize event events in the summertime. Costa Rica last summer had a wonderful street food festival. They had rock bands they had live entertainment for children. You know all sorts of things to make sure that if you're traveling with your family you can enjoy the place Villasinius. Likewise, you will find street bands playing, you will find concerts again, lots of restaurants. There's always every night there is a small market along this market along the streets it's usually a craft market so you can buy small trinkets to bring home if you want. So to sum it up, you don't really have to choose between Villa Simius or Costa Ri. You can stay in one and drive to the other very easily. If you are if you are staying in Costa Ri, you can go for dinner in Villasimius very easily and the other way around. I just want to wrap it up here. Watch out for the description of this podcast as I will insert a few more information that will help you get an even better understanding of the area. Until next time, make sure to rate my podcast. If you like it, give it a five star review and goodbye.