Sardinia

TheCitizen

Going there in a few weeks. Anyone here been there, any tips or recommendations?

sallymomo

Are you going anywhere in particular? Alghero?
Sardinia is a beautiful island with lots to do, what are your interests? Lazing on a beach, kitesurfing???

TheCitizen

Will be staying in Alghero. Lookin forward to the beaches and the sight seeing inland, wondering does anyone have recommendations of a particular site to see that may not be one of the obvious ones flagged on the lonely planet.

robocode

Any one able to chime in? I'm thinking of going to Sardinia in August and would love to get some recommendations. I'd also like to get an idea of average daily spend I could be looking at.

sallymomo

The citizen,
I will be there myself in two weeks, can’t wait!

With regards to places to see, it really depends on what you are into.
Do you mean in the line of beaches, historical sites, hilltop villages, boat trips??
Eg, I know in the likes of Lonely Planet they will mention beaches such as La Bombarde & Lazaretto which are within cycling distance of Alghero and actually look across the bay at the town but they wont tell you that just past La bombarde there is a tower (like the Martello towers here) and the far side of that is a little cove that not many people use which is very peaceful, you might have to share it with a couple of locals or a single sailing boat but its nice and quiet and same beautiful clear waters. Take a car and visit La pelosa beach the far side of stintino – beautiful, but it will be jammed. South of Alghero there are some lovely little coves off the main road for swimming
Historical sites- most of these are mentioned in the guide books, tripadvisor etc as are the hilltop villages (lonely planets most recent “Secret locations” mentions the village of burgos which is just over an hour drive from Alghero inland (you can take the wonderful Bosa coast road for most of this trip)
Boat trips, the obvious one being from Alghero to Capo Caccia and the caves underneath (the boat trip itself is lovely on a warm sunny day if you are not prone to sea sickness – the Andrea Jensen is supposed to be a lovely day out on a real sailing boat but I haven’t tried it yet.
Aside from that, my tip is; if you hire a bicycle or car in the town from one of the local crowd, ask them their favourite places that are not highlighted in the books. They will tell you without hesitation.
Chat with the locals, ask them their opinions, I have not come across many who won’t converse
On a clear warm night sit on either the town/sea wall and watch the sun go down over capo caccia, some wonderful colours or if you are staying near via lido there is a drinks hut half way towards the town where you can grab a drink and sit on the wall there or on their seats and do the same – I will be there!
It is a beautiful island worth exploring.

Robocode,
Similar to The citizen, it is hard to give pointers without knowing your tastes and also how long you will be there for. In your case however, 1 thing that stands out – you are going in August so prepare to share everything with crowds. August is holiday month in Italy and they hit the coasts and islands in numbers. This will also change the prices of stuff.
With regard to your daily spend, you can get by cheap enough if you were in self catering and used one of the many supermarkets for breakfast and lunch. Dinner can be made cheap by eating wonderful pizzas or pasta, but veer into seafood or meats and things will get expensive. Wine and beer are cheaper than here in restaurants/bars and you will get some form of nibbles in most places when you order drinks, olives, nuts, crisps etc
Coffee in cafes will set you back up to 2 euro, most hotels serve filter coffee so if you are bound by your tastebuds you might prefer to get your coffee in a café.
Check out the menus before you order/take a table as the only charge not on the menu is Coperto which is the table charge per person

Enjoy!

robocode

Thanks sallymomo. Yeah I expect August to be very busy, but couldn't avoid it unfortunately. Thinking of getting an apartment through airbnb, maybe in Alghero. As long as we can walk to nice beaches we're happy

sallymomo

Nothing unfortunate about a holiday in Sardinia/Alghero

If you book well in advance you might be able to get something alright - there are a few apartments owned by Irish people that have visited for years (its not like Spain or Portugal where you will bump into an Irish community..)

Check out Air BNB/holidaylettings etc

If you have any specific questions don't hesitate to PM me, only too happy to try and answer!

Otherwise, have a great time

If you are not going to hire a bike or car then I suggest Maria Pia beach which is a little further from the town (depending on where you end up staying) than the main beach but worth the extra few mins

robocode

We considered hiring a car for the two weeks but have decided against it now. Will be flying into Alghero, don't know whether to stay in Alghero, or head over to the East coast e.g. Cala Gonnone, or even just a bit north of Alghero to Stintino. Really we just want an apartment/hotel within walking distance of a lovely beach, that's not going to be overcrowded. Maybe we're looking for too much for August!

Dredd_J

Are there direct flights from Dublin?
I remember trying to get self catering a couple of years ago but couldnt find any direct flights from Dublin.

fm

We stayed in alghero 5 years ago in september,nice walled town with a nice beach.prices weren't too bad if you stay off the obvious tourist areas.we flew in to olbia on the east coast and stayed there for 3 days,not worth going to.

robocode

Dredd_J wrote: »

Are there direct flights from Dublin?
I remember trying to get self catering a couple of years ago but couldnt find any direct flights from Dublin.

Yeah Ryanair have started doing direct Dublin to Alghero for only ~€150 return. We looked at going a couple of years ago but were put off by not having direct flights.

schemingbohemia

After a wedding in Cagliari I went up the east coast to Arbatax, which isn't great in itself but the hotel I stayed in had a lovely beach just down the road and I also went on a boat trip along the coast from the local port which was lovely, they basically went from beach to beach.
http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Hotel_Review-g608903-d1552178-Reviews-Il_Vecchio_Mulino-Arbatax_Tortoli_Province_of_Ogliastra_Sardinia.html

Bit of a drive from Alghero but might be worth it for mixing up the holiday a bit.

sallymomo

fm wrote: »

We stayed in alghero 5 years ago in september,nice walled town with a nice beach.prices weren't too bad if you stay off the obvious tourist areas.we flew in to olbia on the east coast and stayed there for 3 days,not worth going to.

FM,
did you go anywhere nice while staying in Olbia? For the first time since we started visiting Sardinia we are going across to Olbia to stay for 3 nights (one of the group wants to go and we dont see any harm in seeing new stuff)
Can you recommend anything at all? Thinking of day trips to San Teodoro, Porto Rotondo, Porto Istana...that kind of thing

fm

we stayed in a hotel outside of town--can't remember it's name but it's now called the Geovillage Sport Wellness & Convention Resort.sorry only went in the olbia town one night and it wasn't great.Alghero was so much nicer.

jobless

im going to Sardinia soon myself and have booked a few days in alghero... was then thinking of heading to La Maddelena.... has anyone been?...

not sure what to do after that but any recommendations welcome... looking for a mix or inland and beach options.... is there anywhere in particular where scuba diving is an option..?

Limerick91

Does anybody have hotel recommendations for Alghero, cheers

sallymomo

Any idea of a budget for your hotel? When are you going?

Limerick91

About €110 a night and travelling in September, cheers

sallymomo

If you keep your eye on Trivago etc (or indeed the hotels own website) I highly recommend the Carlos V. You might get it close to your budget if lucky, the lowest I got it for I think was 114 per night last September.
I believe the Alma Di Alghero and Domomea are not too bad either.
Stay away from the Hotel Soleado..walls are paper thin and plumbing is shocking noisy. Did not sleep for entire 3 nights stay there last year.

Anyway, I'm off there in the morning so if you have any questions before I go dont hesitate to ask and I might get to it or can answer when back

Fiftyplus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/90793011#Comment_90793011

Hi jobless, How did your Sardinia trip go. We're heading there in two weeks, Alghero to Olbia via Santa Teresa Gallura and La Maddalena Not staying in Olbia, just flying back from there). Thinking of using bus only between places, hiring bikes instead.

enricoh

Hire a vespa, great craic, roads will be getting quiet as tourist season winds down.