7-Day Best Journey of Sardinia: Cagliari to Costa Smeralda Complete

Day 1: Arrive Cagliari

Arrive Cagliari. Afternoon: Castello district walk — Elephant Tower, Cathedral, Bastion of Saint Remy views over the Gulf of Angels. Welcome dinner at a traditional restaurant featuring fregola con arselle (Sardinian couscous with clams) and seadas. Overnight UNAHOTELS T Hotel, Cagliari (5★).

Day 2: Cagliari to Oristano — Nuragic Sardinia

Morning: Cagliari’s National Archaeological Museum — the Nuragic bronze figurines that represent one of the Mediterranean’s most mysterious ancient civilizations. Roman Amphitheatre (2nd century AD). Drive north to Oristano. Afternoon: Tharros — a spectacular archaeological site on the Sinis Peninsula, occupied from the Nuragic era (1500 BC) through Phoenician, Punic, and Roman times. Walk the Roman streets with their intact paving, the thermal baths, and the tophet (Punic child cemetery). The setting — a narrow peninsula with the sea on both sides — is breathtaking. Overnight Oristano.

Day 3: Nuoro & Sardinian Interior

Drive east into Sardinia’s mountainous interior — the Barbagia region, the island’s cultural heartland. Visit Nuoro, Sardinia’s “Athens” — the Museum of Sardinian Life and Folk Traditions (housed in a complex of traditional buildings) for a deep dive into sheep-herding culture, traditional costumes, and the haunting canto a tenore polyphonic singing (UNESCO intangible heritage). Afternoon: drive through Orgosolo, the “painted village” with its famous murals — over 200 political and social murals cover the town’s walls, a tradition started in the 1960s as protest art. Continue to Alghero. Overnight Hotel Catalunya, Alghero (4★).

Day 4: Alghero & Neptune’s Grotto

Morning: Alghero’s Catalan old town — Cathedral of Santa Maria, Palazzo d’Albis, Aragonese sea walls. Afternoon: Capo Caccia and Neptune’s Grotto — 656 steps down the cliff face to the marine cave with La Reggia chamber, the Great Organ stalactite formations, and Lake Lamarmora (120m long underground salt lake). Overnight Alghero.

Day 5: Tempio Pausania & Castelsardo

Morning: drive to Tempio Pausania, a granite town in the Gallura region famous for its cork production (Sardinia produces 80% of Italy’s cork). Visit a cork workshop. Afternoon: Castelsardo — the medieval hilltown with its 12th-century Doria castle, basket-weaving museum, and pastel houses. Overnight Castelsardo area.

Day 6: Costa Smeralda — The Emerald Coast

Drive to the Costa Smeralda. Morning: Porto Cervo — the Piazzetta, the marina (billionaire yachts), Stella Maris Church. Afternoon: beach time at Capriccioli, Liscia Ruja, or Spiaggia del Principe (Prince’s Beach) — the finest white sand and clearest water in the Mediterranean, backed by juniper and granite. Farewell Sardinian feast: porceddu (roast suckling pig), pane carasau (crispy flatbread), and cannonau wine. Overnight Olbia area.

Day 7: Departure

Transfer to Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport.

What’s Included

• Air-conditioned vehicle
• Driver
• Fuel Cost, Parking Fee, Toll Fee
• Accommodation in selected hotels
• Daily breakfast

What’s Not Included

• Entrance fees to attractions
• Tour Guide
• Meal (lunch and dinner)
• International flights
• Travel insurance
• Personal expenses