Hi all,
After Malta we went to Sardinia and I leave you the list of what we visited:
- Cagliari
- Su Nuraxi di Barumini
- Parco della Giara
- Oristano
- Is Arutas Beach
- La Liccia Beach
- Monti Russu Beach
- Capo Testa
- La Pelosa Beach & La Pelosetta Beach
- Le Saline Beach
- Cala Unia Beach
- Cala Goloritzé Beach
- Cala Pira Beach
The first night we had dinner at a vegan restaurant, and it was very expensive. I expected the same prices than in Sicily and it was nothing like that. The locals told me that eating in a restaurant costs between 25 and 35 euros per person. In Sicily with 12 or 15 euros per person you ate like a king.
That night we arrived we were very surprised to see everything so full of people, Diego thought it was a holiday. They explained us that from Friday to Monday in Cagliari it was always like that because people used to eat out a lot.
The good thing is that people are very polite. We stayed in the center, and we had a restaurant with a terrace just downstairs and there was no noise.
The first day we visited Cagliari and in half a day we saw everything. The city is small and has little. If I compare with Sicily, for example, Palermo and Catania are bigger and have more things.
That afternoon we went to pick up the car in the airport area to leave the next day to the north of the island.
In the last post I told you about the odyssey we had with Sicily by Car. We ended up renting with Only Sardinia and it cost us 375 euros for 5 days. In general, all agencies were between that price and 475 euros. It is very expensive; for that amount, you have a car for the whole month in Madeira. In addition, you have no other option because public transport on the island is almost non-existent.
The second day we went to Su Nuraxi di Barumini, which is a site of the Nuragic culture on the island and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1997. Admission costs 14 euros per person and you must do it with a guide obligatorily; you cannot enter alone.
I found it expensive for what it was and more if I compare it with Sicily, where we paid 10 euros and had miles of wonderful temples. Still, it is impressive to see such a well-preserved Bronze Age site and I understand that if you let tourists freely enter, they would surely destroy everything.
Then we went to the Parco della Giara, which we were excited about because it is a reserve where there are free horses in their natural habitat. As soon as we started walking, we saw two horses and cows. It was good, although we expected to see more.
We went through Oristano since in the reviews they put it as one of the most beautiful cities in Sardinia. We went first to file a complaint with the police (for the scam of Sicily by Car) and then we toured the city. The truth is that it didn’t have anything special and from there, we decided not to waste time seeing cities and dedicate ourselves only to nature.
To end the day, we went to Is Arutas Beach and we loved it, especially if we compare it with what we saw in Malta.
When we got back to the car, we found that we had been fined because where we had stopped was supposedly a blue zone. There Diego was demoralized because we only needed that.
Our accommodation was in the mountains, but it was comfortable for us because it was in the middle of everything we had to visit.
The next day we went to see La Liccia Beach. We passed through an area called Rena Majore and you cannot imagine the beautiful houses that were hidden in nature. The area was ideal because you were in the middle of the forest, and you had the beach half an hour walking or 5 minutes with the bicycle.
La Liccia beach was beautiful and there were not many people. Although it was a cloudy day, it was impressive how crystal clear the water was.
Then we went to Monti Russu Beach and it was also spectacular. There were even fewer people than in the previous one.
Finally, that afternoon we went to the Capo Testa lighthouse. There is a drastic change of landscape, and it is all rocky; In addition, in the area you can do several hiking routes and there are hidden beaches. There were a lot of people. We loved that area and if we had had more time, we would have gone back to do a hike.
The next day we went to La Pelosa Beach, which, according to reviews, is one of the most spectacular. We arrived and everything was crowded. You could park right next to the beach, and it was a mess of people and street vendors. In addition, the blue zone is the most expensive we had seen so far: 3 euros per hour. At 9 in the morning there was not even a little hole in the sand to put the towel. Although with the paddle board we could have gone to the island in front and be calm all day. This area also had some spectacular stone houses on the mountain.
Le Saline Beach is very long, but it is covered in dried seaweed and right next to a port or factory, so the water should not be very clean. We left right away from there too.
We started to investigate to see if we could find a beach that did not have parking nearby or restaurants, so more or less we could make sure that it was not massive.
Cala Unia seemed like the right place for us, and it was. We had to hike up the mountain and then swim to reach a lonely and paradisiacal beach.
Our penultimate day in Sardinia we went to Cala Goloritzé. In some TikTok I had seen that the Coast of Baunei was spectacular. The way to get there was already beautiful with pure green mountains.
To visit the cove, you must pay entrance fee and do a one-hour hike. In addition, you must book online because there is a quota of 200 people per day. It was an easy route for us. When we arrived, we were horrified by the crowd, and we had to do magic to take the pictures alone.
The beach is nice and has a lovely blue color, but it is a bit cloudy and not ideal for snorkeling.
What I liked the most about this visit is that we saw donkeys, cows and goats along the way.
The last day of the trip was the only relaxation we had in two weeks of vacation. We went to Cala Pira beach, which was an hour’s drive from Cagliari, and we stayed there until the afternoon. That area was also wooded and with some beautiful houses.
In short, we loved Sardinia and it would have been much better to take advantage of the two weeks there and not go to Malta. It is important to keep a few things in mind:
- Everything is blue zone and quite expensive (2 to 3 euros per hour). There are no free parking lots, much less in the beach area.
- Sardinia is very green and especially in the north we saw many caravans. It’s easy to find unspoiled beaches and spectacular hiking spots. I also liked that they take good care of the tourist sites and the island in general.
- Archaeological sites are not large or majestic. After Su Nuraxi di Barumini, we ruled out seeing more archaeological sites because there were just a few stones scattered around.
- Everything is expensive: accommodation, car rental, eating, parking, etc. I expected it to be like Sicily but not at all. Sardinia shows that it has a high level and that it is a more elegant destination.
- Lastly, although we didn’t eat at many restaurants, the few vegans we tried were disappointing; Except for a pizzeria that had vegan options.
Here you have the map to see the places we vsited:
Bellow you can find the links to my YouTube channel: