The 11 Best Things to Do in Sardinia, Italy

Drive Along Sardinia's Most Beautiful Highway

You'll need a car to explore the best parts of Sardinia fully, so make the most of your vehicle and take a drive along the scenic SP71. Italy designates its national scenic byways as strada panoramica, and the SP71 highway along the southernmost tip of Sardinia is a detour worth taking.

Drive about 45 minutes south of Cagliari's capital city, and you'll see a turnoff for the SP71 toward the town of Chia. The scenic road is only about 16 miles long, but you should set aside at least a couple of hours to complete it, giving yourself plenty of time to stop along the way. Stop at any one of the coves along the route for an intimate time at the beach, and follow signs for the Faro Capo Spartivento for a short hike to a lighthouse with breathtaking views of the Mediterranean.

Discover the Colorful Town of Bosa

If you wish you could experience the beauty of Cinque Terre or the Amalfi Coast without the hoards of tourists, then Bosa is the place for you. This seaside town features colorful houses and rolling hills as the more well-known destinations on the mainland. Still, because of Bosa's relative remoteness, you won't see many non-Italians there. The pastel-colored houses against the water look like real-life postcards, and you can climb to the top of the Castle of Serravalle for a panoramic view of the whole town. It's about a two-hour drive north from Cagliari, but it brings you closer to all other gems in the island's northern part.

Explore Cagliari’s Castello Neighborhood

You'll likely start your trip in Cagliari, Sardinia's capital and most populous city with over 5,000 years of history. The walls of its imposing hilltop citadel are narrow, winding medieval streets; a comprehensive archaeological museum; defensive towers (some of which can be climbed for knockout views of the coast); and the ornate 13th-century Saint Mariàs Cathedral. Roman and Carthaginian ruins are a short walk outside the old city walls. Add in a few pit stops in the area's cozy bars, restaurants, and shops, and you've got an excellent way to spend an afternoon and evening.

Get Posh on the Costa Smeralda

Sardinia’s “Emerald Coast” rivals the French Riviera as an undisputed playground for Europe’s rich and famous, with a large number of Russian oligarchs and their mega-yachts thrown in for good measure. The summertime action centers around Porto Cervo, home to breathtakingly expensive waterfront villas; bronzed, beautiful statues; all-night discos; and encamped paparazzi hoping to catch the latest peccadillo of some Italian politician or film star. This is the place to visit if you want to vacation like a celebrity.

Plumb the Mysteries of Nuragic Culture at Barumini

From around 1500 BCE to the Punic Wars in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, the Nuragic peoples were the dominant culture on the island. They left behind more than 7,000 nuraghi, beehive-shaped stone fortresses surrounded by smaller hive-shaped buildings and, often, a defensive wall. The best example of an extensive Nuragic village is Su Nuraxi at Barumini, a UNESCO World Heritage site about one hour north of Cagliari.  

Ride a Gommone in the Golfo di Orosei

The “hidden” beaches, coves, and grottoes of the Golfo di Orosei on the island’s central-east coast are some of the most spectacular scenery in the Mediterranean. The best way to reach them is by gommone, or zodiac raft, which can be hired at either Cala Gonone or Marina di Orosei. You might see dolphins frolicking in the raft’s wake, and you’ll stop at several different beaches to swim in waters so clear and blue they defy superlatives.

Walk Alghero’s Seafront and Descend Into Neptune’s Grotto

On the northwest coast, Alghero’s 13th- to 16th-century seaside ramparts face Spain and speak to its past as vassalage of the Crown of Aragon—an ever-shrinking percent of the population still speaks Algherese Catalan, a dialect more closely related to Spanish than Italian. Explore Alghero’s pretty, well-preserved centro before heading to Neptune’s Grotto (Grotto di Nettuno), a great stalactite sea cavern reachable by boat or via a 654-step rock-cut staircase.

Discover Sardo Traditions in Nuoro

In the rugged, mountainous interior, the city of Nuoro and its surrounding province preserve indigenous Sardinian folkways, from sheepherding to traditional costume, music, dance, and rituals.

Nuoro’s excellent ethnographic museum attempts to sort it all out, but it is best experienced in smaller towns like Mamoiada, Oliena, or Orgosolo, which is famous for its contemporary murals. The region has some of the island’s best hiking with nuraghi, prehistoric tombs, springs, and caves dotting the rocky landscape, plus plenty of random sheep, donkeys, and goats.  

Sample Cannonau, Bottarga and Carasau

Like every region of Italy, Sardinia is proud of its food and wine. Don’t leave without trying cannonau, a hearty red wine made from grenache grapes, or vermentino, an acidic, citrusy white. Thin, crispy carasau bread is on every restaurant table, and some variation of spaghetti alla bottarga (made with mullet roe) is on every menu. If fish eggs aren’t for you, try culurgiones, pasta pockets stuffed with potato and ricotta. Sardinian cheeses swing heavily towards sharp pecorino or, for the daring, casu marzu, a sheep’s cheese with live maggots. Finish your meal with a glass of sweet mirto, a liqueur made from myrtle berries.

Visit the Seaside Ruins of Nora or Tharros

The ancients valued waterfront property just as much as we do now, and the archaeological sites of Tharros, near Oristano, and Nora, near Cagliari, attest to this. The cities date to at least 1,000 BCE and were inhabited over time by Nuragic peoples, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Romans, all of whom left their marks. Both sites are partially underwater. You may see colonies of pink flamingos near Nora. Just outside Tharros, stop at the exquisite 6th-century Church of San Giovanni di Sinis, one of the oldest on the island. 

Get Away From It all on Asinara

If the summer beach crowds get to be too much, island-hop to Asinara National Park, northwest of Porto Torres. There are a few accessible beaches, plus hiking, bike rentals, and bird watching. You can even arrange to sleep at the one basic hotel within the park. Try to spot one of the albino donkeys indigenous to the island, as well as feral horses, goats, pigs, and maybe even the occasional mouflon, a wild, horned sheep. Access to the island and park is limited, so you’ll need to book passage with an authorized boating company.