This is the best day out from the Costa Smeralda, and the one most likely to disappoint you, and the difference between those two outcomes is almost entirely about what you were told before you booked.
So let me get the awkward part out of the way in the first hundred words.
You will not walk on the pink beach. It is protected, landing is prohibited, and every boat pauses offshore so that everyone can photograph it from the water. Roughly half the tour operators’ photography implies otherwise. If that is the whole reason you are booking, do not book.
Now the good part, which is that the water up there is better than the water on the Costa Smeralda, and the Costa Smeralda has the best water in Italy.
What the archipelago is
La Maddalena is a scatter of low granite islands in the strait between Sardinia and Corsica, north of the Costa Smeralda. Seven main ones and a great many smaller. The whole thing is a national park.
Almost none of them are inhabited. What you get, island after island, is bare pink-grey granite worn smooth by wind, low wiry scrub, and between them channels of water over white sand that runs from colourless through to a green that does not photograph accurately.
The islands are not the attraction. The water between them is.
Where the boats leave from
Most day boats go from Palau, which is the closest mainland port to the archipelago and about forty-five minutes’ drive north of Porto Cervo. It has the most operators, the widest choice of boat and the earliest departures, and it is where I would go.
There are also departures from Cannigione and Baja Sardinia, both closer to the Costa Smeralda and therefore a shorter drive, at the cost of a longer sail each way and slightly less time in the water. And there are departures from Porto Cervo itself, which are the most convenient and the most expensive, and which spend a real chunk of the day simply getting north.
If you are staying on the coast proper, the calculation is straightforward: the drive to Palau is longer, and you get more of the day where you actually want to be.
Parking at Palau is metered at around €2 an hour and the machines take coins only. Bring change. This catches people out every single day.
What it costs
A full day on a standard motor boat with twenty or thirty people runs roughly €55 to €65 per person. Smaller operators start a little below that. A catamaran with lunch included goes up to around €185.
On top of that, and this is the one nobody warns you about, there is a national park landing fee paid in cash on the boat: €5 per person from June to August, and €2.50 in May, September and October. It applies from age seven. Bring notes; nobody takes a card halfway to Corsica.
Lunch is either included, sold on board, or your own problem depending on the operator, and this varies more than the price does. Check before you book, because on a boat that does not feed you and does not sell food, a seven-hour day is a long one.
Where the boat stops
A standard full day makes three or four stops of forty minutes to an hour, and one of them is normally somewhere you can swim off the boat in shallow water over pure white sand.
That stop is the point of the trip. The bottom is so pale and the water so clear that the boat appears to be floating in mid-air, and forty minutes in it is worth the whole day and the whole fare.
The islands usually worked into an itinerary are Spargi, Santa Maria and La Maddalena itself, with a run past Budelli. Some tours land on La Maddalena town for an hour, which is fine and slightly beside the point. Some go up as far as the Corsican strait, which is very beautiful and adds sailing time.
Do not choose a tour by its island list. Choose it by boat size and swim time. A smaller boat gets into places a big one cannot, and forty people in the water is a completely different experience from a hundred and forty.
The beach you cannot land on
Spiaggia Rosa on Budelli is the famous one. Its sand is genuinely pink, coloured by the fragments of a shell that lives in the seagrass offshore, and it was stripped for decades by visitors taking handfuls of it home.
It is now closed. Fully. There is a line of buoys, a warden, and no landing under any circumstances. Boats hold offshore, everybody photographs it, and the beach itself sits there empty in a way no other beach in Italy does in August.
I found it a genuinely strange thing to look at, and better for being closed. It is the only beach I saw all week with nobody on it, and the reason it still has pink sand is precisely that nobody is allowed to stand on it.
Take the photograph. Do not be disappointed. The swimming stop twenty minutes later is the better memory anyway.
Doing it yourself
You can hire a small boat without a licence, generally up to 40 horsepower, from Palau, Cannigione and Baja Sardinia, and take yourself out for the day. It costs more than a seat on a tour, usually a few hundred euros for the day plus fuel, but split between four or five people it is comparable and you go where you like.
Two warnings. The park has rules about where you may anchor and where you may not, and they are enforced, so read the chart the hire company gives you rather than assuming. And the wind here gets up in the afternoon with very little notice, so if you are not confident in a small boat in a chop, take the tour.
Making the day work
Book the day before if you can, rather than weeks ahead. The weather decides whether this trip is glorious or grim, and a day with any real wind in it turns a swim stop into a rolling, cold, faintly miserable hour.
Take more water than you think, a hat, and a long-sleeved shirt. There is no shade on a granite island and very little on most boats, and a full day on the water in September burns people who thought they were being careful.
Take cash for the park fee.
And if the forecast is bad, swap the day out. The bays down on the coast are sheltered by their own headlands and stay swimmable when the strait is unpleasant. Which one to pick is in the best beaches on the Costa Smeralda.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a La Maddalena boat tour cost?
Reckon on €55 to €65 a head for the shared day boat out of Palau, and up to about €185 for a catamaran with lunch thrown in. The national park then takes a landing fee in cash once you are aboard, €5 each in high summer and €2.50 in May, September and October, charged from age seven.
Can you visit the pink beach at Budelli?
No. Spiaggia Rosa is protected and landing is prohibited. Boats stop offshore so passengers can see and photograph it from the water, and swimming stops happen elsewhere in the archipelago. Any tour suggesting you will walk on the pink sand is misrepresenting the day.
Which port is best for the La Maddalena boat trip?
Palau, which is closest to the archipelago and has the most operators and the earliest departures, about forty-five minutes north of Porto Cervo. Cannigione and Baja Sardinia are shorter drives but longer sails. Departures from Porto Cervo itself are the most convenient and spend the most time getting there.
Do you need to book a La Maddalena tour in advance?
Booking a day or two ahead is usually enough outside the first weeks of August, and it lets you choose your weather, which matters more than availability. A windy day makes the swim stops cold and rolling. In peak August, book a few days out.
Can you hire your own boat in the La Maddalena archipelago?
Yes. Small boats up to 40 horsepower can be hired without a licence from Palau, Cannigione and Baja Sardinia for a few hundred euros a day plus fuel, which works out reasonably split between four or five. The national park restricts anchoring in places and enforces it, and the afternoon wind gets up quickly, so it suits confident boat handlers.
Read also: The Best Beaches on the Costa Smeralda | The Best Day Trips from the Costa Smeralda | The Complete Guide to the Costa Smeralda
