Sardinia: nuraghi, Barbagia villages and the coast

1. Day 1: Arrive in Cagliari

   Cagliari Elmas Airport (CAG) to your hotel in central Cagliari

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Cagliari
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Cagliari Elmas Airport (CAG), about 8 km north west of the city on the edge of the Santa Gilla lagoon, in time for the early-evening briefing: plan to land by about 4 pm (the latest arrival time is confirmed with your final itinerary). A driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the short drive into the centre. Our hotel is central, within walking distance of the Marina quarter and the public lifts that climb to the old walled Castello. If you land early, walk the arcades of Via Roma along the harbour, or sit with a coffee in Piazza Yenne. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week: the pace, the boat day and what the shepherds' lunch involves. Then we walk up to the Bastione di Saint Remy, a broad terrace on the old walls, for the evening view over the rooftops and the gulf, and go on to a welcome dinner of Sardinian dishes at a local restaurant.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Cagliari Elmas Airport (CAG)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Evening walk to the Bastione di Saint Remy
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   

2. Day 2: Castello, the Nuragic bronzes and Nora

   Cagliari's Castello, then south to Nora and Pula and back

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Cagliari
   Day 2 details

   We start in the cool of the morning in the Castello, the walled hilltop quarter that Pisa fortified in the early 14th century. A local guide walks us past the Torre dell'Elefante, named for the small stone elephant on its wall, the cathedral of Santa Maria and the Palazzo Viceregio, seat of the Spanish and then Savoy viceroys. The walk ends at the National Archaeological Museum, home to hundreds of Nuragic bronze figurines of chiefs, warriors, archers, mothers and animals, our first look at the people who built the towers we see tomorrow, and to finds from Nora, which we walk this afternoon. We drive about 45 minutes south to Pula for a long seafood lunch, then, once the midday heat has passed, walk Nora: a town founded by the Phoenicians, later Punic and Roman, on a low headland between two bays. Its theatre, baths and floor mosaics run almost to the water, and the late light is kind to the stone. Back in Cagliari by early evening; the evening is free.

   Included

   • Guided walk in the Castello: the Torre dell'Elefante, the cathedral of Santa Maria and the Palazzo Viceregio
   • National Archaeological Museum of Cagliari: Nuragic bronzes and finds from Nora
   • Seafood lunch in Pula
   • The Phoenician and Roman site of Nora, with a local guide

   Optional experiences

   • Walk at the Molentargius lagoons to see the flamingos, with a naturalist guide (extra, price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Ride the public lifts up to the Castello instead of climbing the streets, and sit out the Nora walk at the beach café by the site entrance.

   Free time: Evening free in Cagliari

   Activity: About 4 to 5 km on foot, much of it on steep cobbled streets in the Castello and uneven ground at Nora. Bring a hat: Nora has little shade.

   

3. Day 3: Su Nuraxi at opening, then into Barbagia

   Cagliari to Barumini, then north by Nuoro and Mamoiada to Orgosolo

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Orgosolo
   Day 3 details

   We leave Cagliari at 8 am and drive about an hour north through the Marmilla's rolling wheat country to Barumini, to be at Su Nuraxi when it opens at 9 am. Visits here are guided only, in small timed groups, and the first group of the day has the site at its quietest. The central tower, built in the second millennium BC and later wrapped in a bastion of four more towers, stands over the stone huts of the village that grew around it; inside you climb narrow passages and steps within the walls. Su Nuraxi was excavated in the 1950s and listed by UNESCO in 1997. Next door, Casa Zapata shows a nuraghe found beneath a Spanish noble's house. After a country lunch near Barumini we drive north on the main road to Nuoro, then south east into Barbagia, the mountain heart of the island. In Mamoiada we stop at the museum of the Mamuthones, the sheepskin-clad, black-masked figures of its carnival, before reaching Orgosolo in the late afternoon.

   Included

   • Su Nuraxi di Barumini at opening, with a site guide
   • Casa Zapata in Barumini
   • Country lunch near Barumini
   • Museo delle Maschere Mediterranee in Mamoiada

   Easier option: Stay on the ground level at Su Nuraxi, where the village huts and the outer walls are seen without the narrow climbs inside the towers.

   Free time: Evening free in Orgosolo

   Activity: The longest driving day, about 3 hours 15 minutes in two legs: about 1 hour to Barumini in the morning and 2 to 2.5 hours after lunch, with the Mamoiada stop on the way. Inside Su Nuraxi the passages are narrow and the steps steep and uneven.

   

4. Day 4: Orgosolo's murals and a shepherds' lunch

   Orgosolo, then into the Supramonte woods and back

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Orgosolo
   Day 4 details

   Orgosolo is a village of shepherds and stone houses on a hillside, known across Italy for the murals painted on its walls since 1969, many of them begun in the 1970s by the art teacher Francesco Del Casino and his students. After a slow breakfast a local guide walks us along Corso Repubblica and the lanes off it to read them: scenes of village life, land and labour struggles, and twentieth-century politics, some decades old and others recent. Late morning we drive up into the Supramonte, a high limestone plateau of holm oak woods above the village, for lunch with a shepherd family. It is a long meal outdoors: meat roasted slowly on the fire, pecorino, pane carasau, the paper-thin flatbread shepherds carried with their flocks, local Cannonau wine and the talk that comes with it. We are back in Orgosolo by mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day is free: sleep, read, or walk the village again once the day visitors have left.

   Included

   • Guided walk through the murals of Orgosolo
   • Shepherds' lunch in the Supramonte woods, with wine

   Optional experiences

   • Guided morning hike to the Nuragic village of Tiscali, hidden in a collapsed limestone sinkhole, in place of the murals walk (extra, price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Skip the morning walk and join the group for the drive up to lunch; the lunch site is a short walk from where we park.

   More active option: In place of the lunch, hike to Tiscali with a local guide, about 4 hours on rocky paths with about 300 m of climbing and a picnic on the way, and rejoin the group in Orgosolo by late afternoon.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Orgosolo

   Activity: About 2 km of easy walking in the village; the lunch is outdoors on uneven ground, in the shade of the trees.

5. Day 5: Su Gologone and the Gulf of Orosei by boat

   Orgosolo to Su Gologone, Dorgali and Cala Gonone, then by boat on the Gulf of Orosei

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Cala Gonone
   Day 5 details

   We leave Barbagia after breakfast for the coast, stopping first at Su Gologone near Oliena, a karst spring where clear blue-green water rises from a crack in the limestone at the foot of the Supramonte. From there it is a short drive through Dorgali and a tunnel in the mountain down to Cala Gonone, a small resort on the Gulf of Orosei, for lunch by the harbour. In the early afternoon, when the sun is high over the water, we board a small boat south along a coast of limestone cliffs with no road along it. We stop at the Grotta del Bue Marino, named for the monk seals that once lived in it, for a guided walk inside past its rock formations and pools, then at Cala Luna, a crescent of sand under the cliffs, to swim. Sea permitting, we continue south past further coves before turning back. The evening is free on the seafront at Cala Gonone.

   Included

   • Su Gologone spring
   • Lunch at the harbour in Cala Gonone
   • Boat on the Gulf of Orosei, with a stop to swim at Cala Luna
   • Guided visit to the Grotta del Bue Marino sea cave

   Easier option: Stay on board during the swim stop, and skip the cave walk if the steps at the landing are not for you.

   More active option: Snorkel at the swim stops: bring a mask or borrow one on board.

   Free time: Evening free in Cala Gonone

   Activity: The boat does not sail in strong wind. If the sea is rough this afternoon we go the next morning and leave later for Bosa; if we cannot sail at all, we walk part of the coast path from Cala Gonone instead and refund the boat.

   

6. Day 6: Across the island to Bosa and Alghero

   Cala Gonone to Bosa by Nuoro and Macomer, then the coast road to Alghero

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Alghero
   Day 6 details

   We cross the island from east to west today, about two and a quarter hours inland past Nuoro and over the Marghine hills to Bosa, where the Temo river reaches the sea. The old quarter of Sa Costa climbs from the river in rows of houses painted ochre, pink and blue, to the Castello di Serravalle, built by the Malaspina family in the 12th century; inside its walls a small church keeps 14th-century frescoes. A local guide walks us up through the lanes, past doorways where women may be working filet, the fine Bosa lace. Lunch is a sit-down meal in town with a tasting of Malvasia di Bosa, the amber wine made on the hills around it. In the afternoon we take the coast road north, about an hour of empty cliffs and coves with stops at the viewpoints, where griffon vultures sometimes ride the wind. We reach Alghero in the late afternoon, and the evening is free.

   Included

   • Guided walk in Bosa's old quarter, Sa Costa
   • Castello di Serravalle in Bosa
   • Lunch in Bosa with a Malvasia di Bosa tasting
   • The coast road from Bosa to Alghero, with viewpoint stops

   Easier option: Stay by the river in Bosa while the group climbs to the castle, and meet again for lunch.

   Free time: Evening free in Alghero

   Activity: About 3 hours of driving in two legs: about 2 hours to Bosa in the morning and 1 hour on the coast road after lunch. The climb to the castle in Bosa is steep, on cobbles and steps.

7. Day 7: Neptune's Grotto and Catalan Alghero

   Alghero to Capo Caccia and the Nuraghe di Palmavera, then Alghero's old town

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Alghero
   Day 7 details

   We drive about 35 minutes out to Capo Caccia, a headland of white cliffs west of Alghero, to be at Neptune's Grotto for one of the first tours of the day. The way down is the Escala del Cabirol, about 650 steps cut into the cliff face in the 1950s, with the sea below you the whole way. Inside, a site guide leads you along a lit path past a salt lake, columns and curtains of stalactites. On the way back we stop at the Nuraghe di Palmavera, a Nuragic tower and village with a meeting hut where the elders sat on a stone bench around the walls. Lunch is your choice in Alghero, and the afternoon is free: the beach at Lido, the shops of Via Carlo Alberto, or a rest. At about 6 pm a local guide walks us through the old town, settled by Catalans after 1354; Catalan is still spoken here and written on the street signs. We finish on the sea walls for sunset and go on to a farewell dinner.

   Included

   • Neptune's Grotto at Capo Caccia on an early tour, with a site guide
   • Nuraghe di Palmavera
   • Guided walk through Alghero's old town and along the sea walls at sunset
   • Farewell dinner

   Easier option: Skip the steps and take the boat from Alghero harbour to the cave entrance (included, sea permitting), or stay at the clifftop viewpoints at Capo Caccia.

   More active option: Walk back up the steps and on along the clifftop at Capo Caccia for the view of the Isola Foradada.

   Free time: Lunch and afternoon free in Alghero

   Activity: About 650 steps down to the cave and the same back up, with railings but in full sun on the return. The boat option depends on the sea.

   

8. Day 8: Alghero, and home

   Alghero to Alghero Fertilia Airport (AHO)

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   A free morning in Alghero. Walk the sea walls once more while the town is quiet, buy coral or Sardinian cheese and bottarga to take home, or swim at the town beach. If you want company, your guide walks to the morning fish market by the harbour or the Torre di San Giovanni with anyone who wants to come. After checking out we drive about 20 minutes north to Alghero Fertilia Airport (AHO), where your guide sees you to the terminal and checks your flight before saying goodbye. Many flights from Alghero connect through Rome or Milan, and some routes run only in summer, so check your connection when you book. Book a flight leaving after about noon. If you would rather fly from Cagliari or Olbia, or stay on in Alghero for a few more days, we can arrange the transfer or the extra nights for you.

   Included

   • Drop-off at Alghero Fertilia Airport (AHO)

   Optional experiences

   • Transfer to Olbia or Cagliari airport instead of Alghero (extra, price shown at booking)

   Easier option: If your flight leaves before about noon, we arrange an earlier transfer from the hotel.

   Free time: Morning free in Alghero

   Activity: Book a flight leaving after about noon.

Wildlife and weather: May and June bring days of about 22 to 28 C, green hills and the maquis in flower; September and October stay warm and the sea is at its warmest. July and August are crowded on the coast and often pass 35 C inland, so we do not run then. The mistral wind can blow for a day or two in any month and stops the boats. Flamingos feed in the Molentargius lagoons by Cagliari for most of the year, and griffon vultures are sometimes seen over the coast road between Bosa and Alghero.

• Cagliari2 nights
• Orgosolo2 nights
• Cala Gonone1 night
• Alghero2 nights