Explore Sardinia by area

Sardinia is best understood as seven distinct regions rather than a single coastline, and this destinations hub organises the island around them. In the south, Cagliari is the natural base — a working regional capital with its own city beach at Poetto, a hilltop old town, and easy access to Villasimius, the dune-backed coves of Chia, the Phoenician-Roman ruins of Nora near Pula, and the resort strip of Costa Rei.

Gallura, in the northeast, holds the Costa Smeralda glamour: Porto Cervo, Porto Rotondo and Baja Sardinia cluster around Arzachena, Olbia's airport anchors the whole region, and San Teodoro, Palau and Santa Teresa Gallura — the ferry port for Corsica, just across the Strait of Bonifacio — extend it along the coast.

The northwest centres on Alghero, whose old town still carries a genuinely Catalan character, right down to the language spoken in its streets, paired with the limestone cliffs of Capo Caccia and the Grotta di Nettuno sea cave, the university city of Sassari inland, Stintino's La Pelosa beach, the medieval fortress town of Castelsardo, and the pastel-painted riverside town of Bosa. To the east, the Golfo di Orosei is Sardinia's most dramatic coastline: Cala Gonone and Dorgali are the gateway towns for coves such as Cala Goloritzé, Cala Mariolu and Cala Luna, reachable mostly by boat, with Baunei and the port of Arbatax nearby.

The west is quieter and more agricultural: Oristano anchors the Sinis peninsula, home to the quartz-sand beach of Is Arutas and the ruins of Tharros, while further south the Costa Verde hides the dune system of Piscinas and Iglesias sits at the heart of the former mining district of Sulcis-Iglesiente; inland, Barumini holds Su Nuraxi, Sardinia's UNESCO-listed nuraghe. The interior, Barbagia and the Gennargentu massif, is a different island altogether: Nuoro, Orgosolo with its political murals, Mamoiada — home to the Mamuthones masked ritual — and Oliena sit at the edge of the Supramonte, where Punta La Marmora marks the island's highest point.

Finally, the islands: La Maddalena and Caprera form a national park, Asinara is a former penal colony now roamed by white donkeys, Tavolara rises sheer from the sea near Olbia, and Carloforte, on San Pietro, keeps a Ligurian dialect and a tuna-fishing tradition unlike anywhere else in Sardinia. Most visitors combine two or three of these regions rather than attempt all seven in one trip.