Some links in this guide are affiliate links. If you book through one, this site may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. How this works.
Alghero sits in the best-placed corner of Sardinia for getting out of town, and one of the trips is genuinely among the great drives in the Mediterranean.
Here they are in the order I would do them, with honest timings, because the most common mistake here is trying to fit two of them into one day.
Bosa, and the coast road south
This is the one. If you have a single day and a car, spend it here.
Bosa is about sixty kilometres south, and the road that gets you there, the SP105, runs along the top of a cliff coast with essentially nothing on it: no towns, no houses, no fences, just scrub, rock and the sea a long way down on your right.
It takes around ninety minutes each way without stopping, which nobody does, because there are pull-ins every few kilometres and each one is a view. Reckon on three to five hours for the whole thing done properly, which is most of a day.
The road is narrow, constantly turning and has drops without much barrier. It is not difficult driving, but it is not a road to hurry on, and it is a poor choice at the end of a long day or in the dark.
Bosa itself is a town of pastel houses stacked in tiers up a hillside under a ruined castle, on a river rather than the sea, with the old tanneries along the far bank. It is small, it is extremely photogenic, and an hour or two is enough unless you eat.
The castle is a climb and the view from it is worth the effort. The riverfront is where you want lunch.
Do this trip in the afternoon if you can. The light on the coast road going north, coming back, is the better half of the drive.
And do not combine it with Neptune’s Grotto. Both want a morning. Doing them together means rushing the cave, which is timed and queued, and driving the coast road tired. That is the single most common way people spoil this day, and it is covered in Neptune’s Grotto and Capo Caccia.
There is no useful public transport along this road. It is a car or an organised minibus tour, and the tours are around four and a half hours.
Stopping on the coast road
The pull-ins on the SP105 are the trip, not an interruption to it, and a few are worth naming.
The first proper viewpoint comes about fifteen minutes out of Alghero, where the road climbs and you can look back at the whole bay with Capo Caccia closing it off at the far end. That is the picture of this coast.
Roughly halfway there is a stretch where the road runs almost at sea level through a gap in the cliffs, and then climbs hard. Stop at the top. On a clear day you can see a very long way down the coast toward Bosa, and there is usually nobody else there.
Watch for griffon vultures. There is a colony along this coast and they use the updraught off the cliff face, so they come past at eye level or below you, which is not an angle you get on a bird that size very often.
Take water and fuel up before you leave Alghero. There is one small town on the whole route and very little else.
Sassari
Forty minutes north, and almost entirely un-touristed.
Sassari is Sardinia’s second city, a real working place with a university, a good archaeological museum and a dense old quarter that sees very few visitors. It is not pretty in the way Alghero is pretty. It is interesting in a way Alghero is not.
Go for the Museo Sanna if you have any interest at all in the nuraghic material, because it holds the good bronzes and it explains what you are looking at out at the sites. Go for the cathedral facade, which is extraordinary and slightly mad. Go for lunch somewhere with no English menu.
It is served by both bus and a slow train, so this is the day trip that needs no car. Half a day is plenty.
The nuraghi and the necropolis
Twenty minutes inland rather than a day out, but it belongs on this list because most people never get there.
Nuraghe Palmavera and the Anghelu Ruju necropolis are Bronze Age and older, cheap, uncrowded, and on a combined ticket. Late afternoon is the time: long light, no groups, and the sites are small enough to do both in about two hours including the driving between them.
What they are and how to reach them is in the nuraghi near Alghero.
Porto Ferro and the north coast
Half an hour north, and the trip for a day when you want the coast empty.
Porto Ferro is a long orange-sand beach between two Aragonese watchtowers, with dunes and juniper behind it and real surf when the wind is up. There are almost no facilities, which is the point. Nearby is Lake Baratz, the only natural freshwater lake in Sardinia, with walking trails around it and horseback riding through the pines and down onto the beach, which is one of the better things to book here.
Needs a car.
The wine country
Inland from Alghero is flat farmland of vines and old olives, and the estate worth visiting is Sella & Mosca, a few kilometres out, founded in 1899.
It runs tours of the historic cellars and the estate at fixed times, generally late morning and mid afternoon, with a tasting at the end. Book roughly a week ahead in season. The thing to try is Torbato, a white grape grown essentially nowhere else on earth, which they brought back from near-extinction.
Half a day, and somebody has to drive. More on the wine in where to eat in Alghero.
What not to attempt
Cagliari. Three hours each way. It is a separate leg of a Sardinian trip, not a day out.
The Costa Smeralda. Around two hours each way to look at a marina. If you want that coast, stay on it.
Bosa and the Grotto together. Said twice on purpose.
What to book before you come
You can do all of these on your own with a car. These are the versions worth paying for, because somebody else drives and somebody else knows where to stop.
- Market day in Bosa. The coast road down is the point as much as the town is, and on market day Bosa is doing something rather than being looked at.
- The inland country by jeep. Olive groves, vines and the empty middle of this corner of Sardinia, which almost nobody driving the coast ever sees.
- A winery with a tasting. This is Torbato and Cannonau country and the good bottles do not leave the island.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best day trip from Alghero?
Bosa, along the SP105 coast road south. It is around sixty kilometres of empty cliff road above the sea, roughly ninety minutes each way without stops, ending at a town of pastel houses stacked under a castle. Allow three to five hours in total.
Can you get to Bosa from Alghero without a car?
Not usefully by public transport. The realistic options are hiring a car or taking an organised minibus tour along the coast road, which typically runs around four and a half hours.
How far is Sassari from Alghero?
About forty minutes north, and reachable by both bus and a slow train, which makes it the one day trip here that needs no car. Half a day is enough, and the archaeological museum is the reason to go.
Can you visit a winery near Alghero?
Yes. Sella & Mosca is a few kilometres inland and runs cellar and estate tours at fixed times with a tasting, usually late morning and mid afternoon. Book about a week ahead in season, and arrange a driver.
Should you do Bosa and Neptune’s Grotto on the same day?
No. Both want a morning, the Grotto is timed and queued, and the coast road to Bosa is not a drive to do in a hurry or when tired. Split them across two days.
Read also: Neptune’s Grotto and Capo Caccia | The Nuraghi Near Alghero | Victoria’s Complete Guide to Alghero
