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Foreign 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 a wonderful trip to my beautiful island. Today I'm gonna answer one of your most probably pressing questions, especially for first time, where to stay in Sardinia? A lot of you write me asking where is the best place to stay and I don't have a straightforward answer, unfortunately. Remember that Sardinia is a big, big island. It's the size of Vermont and it takes a long time to explore. Even I haven't explored all of it. So while I cannot give you a straightforward answer, I can help you identify the things you need to consider when you decide where to stay. The first thing you need to consider is the season. When are you visiting Sardinia? Are you visiting the summer months? Are you visiting in the winter months? This will obviously affect the kind of activities you're going to do. If you're visiting in the summer, chances are that you're going to spend time at the beach and you will want to stay somewhere that has access to wonderful beaches. And that's easy because everywhere in Sardinia has wonderful beaches. If you're visiting in the winter months or in the spring, you may want to go to a city that has access to wonderful restaurants where you can hop in a car and reach the most beautiful hiking trails that we have. Another thing you need to consider is where you are landing your port of access in Sardinia. Remember last time we talked about how to get to Sardinia and I explained that we have three airports. One is in Cagliari, the capital of the island, and serves the south of Sardinia. We have one in the northwest, Alghero, and one in the northeast, Olbia. We also have four harbors, one in the north called Porto Torres, one in the south called Cagliari, two in the northeast of the island, Olbia, and Golf Aranci that are quite close together. So keep this in mind when picking where you are going to bathe yourself for your holidays. Another thing I want to say, I'm going to give you a selection of my favorite locations around the island and for each of them one or two excellent hotels where you can't stay for your where you can stay for your holiday. You can combine all of this and of course you are welcome to send me an email with your question. You can find my email in the description of this podcast and I will come back to you with advice if relevant, or, you know, if you want to pop an email just to say hello, you're welcome to do that. So let's get started. Where is the best place to stay in Sardinia? I'm going to start from my very favorite location because I'm from here, I'm from California, the capital of the island. First of all, Kalleri is very easy to reach from the airport. The airport is just a little over six miles from the city and you can be in town in just 15 minutes, drive seven minutes by train, and then of course, you have to reach your final destination, your final accommodation in the city. Cagliari is a wonderful city to visit throughout the year. Come in the winter or the spring and fall months and you will have lots of excellent sites to visit. In the historic center you can access a hiking trail just within minutes from the center of town. You can go kayaking throughout the year. There's nature parks where you can see flamingos. Come in the summer months and you have wonderful beaches just at your doorstep. You will have Poeto beach, which is the main beach in Cagliari. We have Kalamosca, which is the second largest beach. And you can easily drive to many, many more places in, in within easy driving distance, like Pula, where you can see the beaches of Santa Margherita di Pula. You can drive to Kia for the amazing beaches of Kia, or Villa Simius, for example. So the best place is to stay in Cagliari. I love Villa Fani. I've stayed there a few times. Yes, even in my hometown. I do try hotels. It's a lovely, lovely small hotel in the center of town with easy access to wonderful, delicious gourmet restaurants. And if you want to stay at the beach, I recommend Nautilus. It's one of the new Hills Hotel in Puerto Beach. You are literally walking out the door and you're gonna find yourself with your, with your toes in the sand. It's just a wonderful place to stay. Another option, let's move away from Cagliari. I recommend Villa Simius. Villa Simius is about an hour drive, an hour and 10 minutes drive from Cagliari Elmas Airport. So it's easy, easy to reach, but you're gonna, you're gonna need a car to get there or you're gonna need to organize a private transfer or hop on a bus, but I don't really recommend it. Why stay in Villasimius? Endless beaches, wonderful paradisiac beaches and some. It's home to some of the best beach resorts in Sardinia. So my Favorite beach is there. I go to Punta Molentis all the time. Like at least once every summer I go there. It's one of the protected beaches in Sardinia. There's a small. Going to have to book it in advance, but it's just so worth it. There's also Porto Junco, which is another gorgeous beach, and Porto CER Campulongo. Many, many, many more. The town has great restaurants, lots of bars, some nightlife for those of you that you know want to go to bed late. When it comes to the best places to stay in Velasimius, I am a big fan of of Simius Playa. It's a really nice hotel right on the beach. There's a swimming pool, there's a spa. So it has everything you need for a wonderful stay. Not far from Villa Simius. Again, my favorite place in Sardinia, other than Cagliari, that is Costa Ri. It's a great place to stay in Sardinia for families. It's just an hour and five minutes drive from the airport. It's really, really close to Villa Simios. So the best part of it is that if you stay in Villa Simios, you can explore the beaches of Costa R too. And if you stay in Costa R, you can explore the beaches lessimus too. Costa R is literally where I grew up, or, you know, other than Callari. My parents have been bought a holiday home when I was a child and they've been going since. So obviously I visit them all the time now. The main beach in Costa R is a wonderful long golden sand beach with pristine clear waters where it's wonderful to spend your time. If you have kids, they can play in the sand for hours. And the restaurant choice is a bit less than what you'd find in Villa Simius. But you know, you can still drive there. It's like 15 minutes, so it's so easy. It's just a fantastic place. And there's many, many more beaches other than just Villa Simius, other than just the main one in Costa. Rice, sorry, Calacintias, Calapira, Cala di Monteturno. It's just wonderful. There are many excellent places to stay in Velasimillos. If you are traveling with your family, your best bet is probably the free beach. It's one of the best resorts in this part of the island. The free beach has a really beautiful pool. I remember sneaking in as a child to try and jump in the pool. They have tennis courts, a spa restaurant and a bar. And of course, it's within walking distance from Costa Ri Town center. Let's focus on another area of Sardinia. Let's focus on Santa Margherita di Pula and Kia. They are great places to visit if you want to have the combination of wonderful beaches and archaeological sites. They're easy to reach from Cagliari. It takes about 40 minutes drive. From Cagliari Airport, you can access the amazing site of Nora, the archaeological ruins of Nora, which is a Phoenician town that then became Roman. And there are many hiking trails in the area of Kia and in the area of Domus de Maria nearby. The beaches of Pula, needless to say, are wonderful. You know, when you are in Kia, you can. The main beach is Sujude, which is a long, sandy beach with sand dunes, which you actually cannot walk on dunes in Sardinia. But you know, you have it there to see, and it's stunning. There are many excellent places to stay in either Kia or Pula. I am going to mention two. One is the Forte Village Resort. Just be careful when you are staying in the Forte Village Resort because the resort is massive. They have lots of restaurants, lots of tennis courts, soccer fields, whatever you need. And they have 21 restaurants. They have a bunch of hotels inside the. Not all of them are as good. So pick. Read the reviews very carefully. My favorite place, however, is Hotel Faro Capos Partivento. I stayed there. It was the very end of March and it was fantastic. It's a little bit isolated. It's over Kalachipola beach, which is the last beach in Kia. And it's wonderfully secluded. It's located in a lighthouse, so you get these impressive views that are just out of this world. Now let's focus on a different area of Sardinia. Carlo Forte. This is. Oh, wow. I cannot begin to tell you how much I love it. Carlo Forte is located in San Pietro island, so is about 4.3 miles off the mainland of Cerdina, which means that it takes about two hours to get there. From the airport, you are gonna need to drive to Calazetta, which is in Santioco island, and from there take a ferry to Carlo Forte. Calo Forte is one of the most beautiful small towns in, well, I want to say in the world. It's so colorful, it's so quaint, it's so unique. The town has a unique heritage because the founders were coming from the Tabarca island, which is off the coast of Tunisia, which is where merchants from Genoa moved in the. In the past, in the late 15th or 17th century. Sorry. And so they speak a dialect of. That is actually More similar to Genoese than it is to Sardinia. Now Carlo Forte is wonderful throughout the year, but I specifically recommend visiting between June and September because that's when it, when the island is at its best. Now here you're gonna find delicious restaurants. The main, the best restaurants serving fresh tuna because Carlo Forte is a very famous place for tuna fishing. And in Carlo Forte, my most recommended place to stay is Di Mora Ferralasco. I stayed there for a weekend last September with my sister. We loved it. It's so maybe I want to say 7 to 8 minutes walk from the town center. Beautifully secluded so that you don't get the noise of the nightlife. They serve the most amazing breakfast. The owner is a wonderful, a wonderful person. They have a pool, they organize apparatus. It's just, it's just fabulous. I highly, highly recommend it. What if you want to visit western Sardinia, then you can go to Oristano. The closest airport is Cagliari Elmas, takes about an hour and 15 minutes drive. But you can also fly to Alghero. It's about halfway between Cagliari and Sassari. Cagliari and Alghero. Now why stay in Oristano? Well, the city itself is small, but small as it is, it's packed with excellent restaurants like my favorite is Kraft the Banana. You know, delicious food. Oristano is a great place to stay if you're visiting Sardinia during the Carnival season. During Carnival they hold one of the most unique festivals you're ever gonna see in Italy. It's called Sassartiglia and it's like consists of a men and women wearing traditional costumes and masks and holding a, either a sword or a launch and trying to catch a star that is hanging in between the walls of the street. It's just, it's just adrenaline filled, you know, it's a unique show. Obviously that's not the only charm to Oristano. There's, you know, you can access the incredible archaeological sites of Taros. You can visit the quaint small town of San Giovanni Dicinis. Nearby you can visit the Cabras Museum where you can see the giants of Monte Brama and many, many more day trips. And it's also a lesser visited part of Sardinia. So it's not going to be as crowded, it's not going to be as touristy. Now if you want beaches, of course we have those too. My favorite, Isarutas Mariermi. But I also also really love San Giovanni di Cines beach, which is wonderful. I also love Maimoni, which is also a dog friendly beach. Now When I go to Oristano, I stay at Hotel Il D. It's inside an ancient noble house dating back from the 17th century. It's in the heart of Oristano historic center, close to the restaurants area. It's really a good place to stay. Moving further north from Oristano, there's Alghero. It's just one of the best places to stay in Sardinia in any season. I love it in the summer, but I also love it in the spring. It's a wonderful place to stay in Sardinia if you don't want to rent a car. Because the city is small, it's easy to explore and you can get public transportation to go to all the nearby beaches, which are wonderful and the nearby attractions. In terms of attractions, well, the city itself is lovely. It's small, it's right on the sea. So you can walk along the bastions to see a wonderful, a wonderful sunset. And you can just hop on a boat to go visit the Neptune's Caves. Or you can decide to walk down the Escala del cavirol. It's a 600 and I think 42 or 52 steps that go along these cliffs and get you to these wonderful caves. Other sites to visit in Alghero. Oh gosh, so many. Nurage, Palma Vera, one of the best kept archaeological sites in Sardinia. And Angelo Ruyo Necropolis. You love wine, you got it there. You can visit Cel Mosca Winery, a fantastic, fantastic wine winery, the biggest in Sardinia. They do wonderful wine tasting experiences. It's right by Angelo Ruyo Necropolis. So it's really close. It's really easy to get there from town. Now, if you decide to stay in Alghero, the most unique and impressive place to stay is Casa Villa Marina. It's actually located in the vineyards of Seleomosca Winery. And you know, the views are incredible. Well, you get the views of the wineries, you don't get the views of the vineyards, you don't get the views of the city, See, but just the place is so quiet and so peaceful that you're gonna love staying there. Now, if you want to opt in the north of Sardinia for a lesser visited destination, there's Sassari. It's about 30 minutes drive from Algero Fertilia airport. Remember the airport on the northwest coast of Sardinia? It's an interesting place to visit in May when they have the Cavalcata Sarda festival. They have lots of pretty churches, they have wonderful, a wonderful museum of archaeology that you can visit. There are some good restaurants. I love I love the Pizzeria Remy. It just. The pizza is delicious there and they have some good hotels. The one I always stay at whenever I'm in Sassari is Carlo Felice. It's not in the center, but it is within easy driving distance and easy. Actually I want to say easy walking distance as well. Maybe half hour walk to the city center. They have, the rooms are plain but comfortable. They have an excellent buffet, buffet breakfast and just the staff is very, very friendly. That's wherever. Whenever I go to Sassery, that's where I stay. If moving along, if you wanna have access to the most impressive picture postcard perfect beaches in Sardinia, you're gonna have to stay in Stintino. Now centino is about 45, 50 minutes drive from Alghero Fertilia, so it's easy to reach by car, but you're gonna need a car. Now Centino is where you'll find the incredible La Pelosa beach. It's the most famous beach in Sardinia and it's a protected beach. So you're gonna have to book it in advance. And you're gonna have to be on top of your game to make sure that you get your reservations. And it's also where you access the island of Azinara, which is one of the most beautiful places in Sardinia for nature lovers. There's hiking trails, they have unique wildlife such as albino donkeys. And it's a great place for snorkeling, but it's protective. Now, when it comes to the best place to stay in Cintino, I love the small, wonderful guest house Amare. It just is such a perfect place. They have comfortable, newly refurbished rooms, access to a terrace with wonderful views of the sea. Now, close to Stintino and about an hour drive from Alghero Fertilia airport, there's Castel Sarno. It's a quaint, small hilltop town. It's perched on this hill with views of the sea and the coast. You can see all the way to Azinara from there. And they have a castle at the top, the Doria Castle. It's a lovely place to stay, a lovely place to explore. Just imagine, you know, a quaint city with colorful buildings. They have excellent restaurants. My favorite one is Il Cor Morano. Sorry, I was getting my birds mixed up. It's a wonderful, wonderful restaurant. Some of the best pasta and dishes on the island. Here you're gonna find the option of staying at Bahia Lolla Resort. It's on the hills just outside of Castel Sardo and they have rooms with A balcony overlooking the sea. It's just amazing. Not far from Castel Sardo you can go to Costa Paradiso. It's about an hour and a half drive from Costa Esmeralda. Olbia. Costa Esmeralda airport. So you're coming from Olbia airport, so in the east of the island. And again, it's a wonderful place to stay if you want to access beautiful coves in Sardinia, you know. But the best one is Likosi by far. But there's also Calasa Raina, which I really love. Now, the one issue I may suggest with Costa Paradiso is that services are a bit less, so you find a bit less restaurants, you know, beaches may be a bit more difficult to access in case you're traveling with your kids and you're going to need a car. But if you stay here, Hotel Costa Paradiso in Li Cosi, you know, walking distance from Likosi beach is a really good option to stay. From Costa Paradiso we move to Santa Teresa di Gallura. It's a lovely small town in the Galura region of Sardinia. About an hour and 10 minutes drive from Olbia. Costa Smeralda Airport. It's a wonderful place to stay in the summer, I want to say, because there's lots of beautiful beaches. And if you go there at the end of August, beginning of September, you may have a chance to attend the Musica Suleboque jazz music festival, one of the most famous festivals in Sardinia in terms of beaches. Again, you have lots of options here. There's even Rena Bianca, just in Santa Teresa di Gallura, which is a wonderful, gorgeous beach. And my favorite restaurant is Da Tomas. I love it there. Now, when I visited, I stayed at Hotel Canelvento. It's just slightly outside the center and they have really nice room with a balcony and its rooms are comfortable and spacious. And they have a wonderful buffet breakfast. Okay, now we're moving to my absolute favorite place in Sardina that is not either Cagnari or Gosare, obviously. And I go almost every summer because it's just so packed with things to do, places to visit, gorgeous beaches. And this is La Maddalena. It's worth to stay in Sardinia for the best boat tours. I want to say getting there from Olbiacosa Esmeralda Airport is going to take you about an hour and a half. Keep in mind that you're going to have to drive to Palau and from there you're going to have to take a ferry to La Maddalena. Now, a lot of people. Write, write me asking about the ferry to La Maddalena. There's no need to book it. There are so many fairies departing throughout the day that you're always going to catch one and departing through the day and throughout the night. So there's a ferry roughly every 15 minutes. It's just a matter of getting to the harbor. Get into the getting going to the ticket office saying that you wanna get on the ferry with your car and how many tickets you need, and that's it. It's very, it's, it's done. It's very easy. Once you are in La Maddalena, all the choice of things to do is endless. Of course, there's a small town to visit, which is really pretty and you can go on hikes, hikes galore, especially in the next door, Caprera island, where you can visit Garibaldi Compendium, Garibaldi House Museum. And you know, Garibaldi was the Italian unification hero. And of course, the main reason we locals and people from all over Italy and the world visit La Maddalena is to go on a boat tour of La Maddalena Archipelago. You will visit the most impressive beaches that you will ever see in your life. Well, you know, that's everywhere in Sardinia. But, you know, this has a special flavor because they're even, they're, they're hard to reach. Think Budeli, which is a famous pink beach. Think Calacuticcio, which we call Little Tahiti. Although I say it's actually better. Whenever I go to La Maddalena, I always stay in the same place. It's quite, it's basic, but it's comfortable and I love the people there. It's called Hotel Villa del Parco. Now it's a bit outside the center of La Maddalena, which means you're gonna have a good. You're going to have a parking spot which is, you know, necessary. They have the most wonderful buffet breakfast ever. It's really, really satisfying. They also have rooms that all have a kitchenette. So in case, you know, you want to cook your own meal rather than go to town for, for dinner, that's also an option. And Enzo, the, the owner, he has his own boat and he run boat tours and they are the very best boat tours go on in La Maddalena island. Now I want to continue with another place to stay in Sardinia, the Emerald Coast. Honestly, the Emerald coast is a very exclusive place to stay. I cannot call myself an expert because I don't really go there very often. It's very Expensive. It's a luxury place and it doesn't really have much of a Sardinia feel. It's mainly a place for billionaires, I want to say. So locals only go there to go to the beach and then leave, leave and go away. Now, if you decide to go, my recommended place to stay in the Emerald coast is Petra Segreta Resort in San Pantaleo. San Pantaleo is a lovely, small historic village and the Petra Segreta is perched on a hill overlooking the sea and they have a wonderful restaurant called Fuoco Sacro. It's just wonderful. If you want to still access the beaches of the Emerald coast, drive a bit south, stay in Olbia. You know, it's just, you know, the airport is 10 minutes drive from the city and they have lots of good, more budget friendly places to stay and you're going to be able to access a lot of, again, more budget friendly restaurants. And driving to the beaches of the Emerald coast and driving to the beaches south of Olbia is just, you know, so, so, so easy. When I go in Olbia, I stay at Casauno, a boutique hotel. It's located in the historic center and easy to reach. It's one of the nicest hotels in town. South of Obia, about 25 minutes drive from the airport, you'll find San Teodoro. It's. If you're traveling with, let's say, younger people, it's a great place to stay because it has a lot of nightlife and of course, wonderful, wonderful beaches. You can, you know, for example, hit La Cinta beach, which is the main beach in town, and Lu Imposto, and the most famous one is Calabrandinki, which is a protected beach in Sardinia. Again, you're going to have to book to book it. It's just, you know, picture the most shallow waters that you can imagine and really thin white sand is just a wonderful place. When I go to San Teodoro, I like to stay at Baglioni Resort. Now, it's a very expensive place to stay, so I only stay there if I manage to find a more budget friendly deal. But if you can afford it, it's just a wonderful place to stay. Baglioni Resort south of there, you could consider staying in Orosei. It's about an hour and 15 minutes drive from Olbia Airport. So if that's where you're landing, it's a good option. It's a wonderful, wonderful place to stay. If you want to access the magnificent Oasi Bidarosa, it's a national park. And if you want to visit the beaches of Capo Comino and Berquida, which you know, have wonderful sand dunes. Ozzy Bitterosa is just paradisiac. Now here Domo Provois is in the heart of Orosei and you're gonna need a car to access the beach, but it's, it's fairly easy. And now my final option for places to stay in Sardinia will be either Tortoli or Santa Maria Navarrese. They are. Santa Maria Navarrese is located at one end of of the Bounet coast. Now you might have wondered why I had not mentioned the B coast. And it's not because I don't love it. It's because I love it too much. You know, save the best for least for last. It's just an incredible place to stay and to base yourself. You're going to need a car to explore. There's a lot of excellent restaurants and excellent places to stay stay. So no, when, when you are in Boune, make sure to hop on a boat tour to visit the go the the B coast and the beaches of Cala Goloriz, Cala Sisine, Cala Mariolu, Cala Luna. And the list could go on forever. You can also hike to Calagoloritsa. It's a very demanding hike, especially when you're visiting in the summer and it's hot, but I still highly recommend it. Keep in mind that Calagulorica can only be accessed via hike. When I go to Santa Maria Navarrese, I like to stay at NASCAR Hotel. It's a wonderful smaller hotel which has a really good restaurant in a really beautiful location of Santa Maria Navarrese. Now this was a lot of information today. We've been talking for 30 minutes now and again, let me remind you, there's no bad places to stay in Sardinia in terms of location. Wherever you're staying, you're going to have access to wonderful beaches, hiking trails, lots of history and more. So try and combine, if you're coming for a longer time, a few places that are closer one to the other. Because again, remember I said that driving around Sardina may take longer because we have lots of windy roads. And try to spend at least three days in each location to make the most of it and not to make your itinerary too packed. Now next time we're going to be talking about the best beaches in Sardinia. A favorite topic of mine and it's, you know, it's going to be hard to keep it short because we have so many wonderful beaches. And I hope you liked today's episode. If you like this podcast, remember to give it a a five star rating and a good review. And until next time, goodbye.