Where to stay in Cagliari comes down to one decision made four ways, because the historic centre is four quarters and they are genuinely different places to wake up. Castello is on top of the ridge and involves stairs. Marina…
Supporting Guide
The Best Things to Do in Cagliari
The best things to do in Cagliari divide into three groups that have almost nothing to do with each other: a medieval upper town on a limestone ridge, an eight kilometre beach with a flamingo colony behind it, and one…
The Perfect Cagliari Itinerary: 2 to 3 Days
Two days is enough to see Cagliari properly. Three is enough to see it and get out to one of the archaeological sites without spending the whole day looking at your watch. This is how I would spend them, in…
A Costa Smeralda Itinerary: 3 to 5 Days
Three days is the minimum that works here, five is the sweet spot, and a fortnight is a lot unless lying still is the whole point of the holiday, which is a perfectly respectable position. The reason three is the…
What the Costa Smeralda Actually Costs
Every guide to this coast tells you it is expensive and then declines to say how expensive, which is not much use to somebody trying to work out whether they can come. So here are numbers. They are for a…
The Nuraghi and Tombs of the Giants at Arzachena
Ten minutes inland from a coast where a hotel room can cost four thousand euros a night, there is a stone tower that was already ancient when Rome was a collection of huts, and on the morning I went there…
The Best Day Trips from the Costa Smeralda
Everybody comes here for the coast and then discovers, around day three, that they have run out of beach. That is not a criticism of the beaches. It is arithmetic. The bays are small, they fill by mid-morning, and after…
Costa Smeralda Nightlife, and What It Really Costs
The nightlife here has a reputation, and the reputation is accurate, and it is also only half the story. There are clubs on this coast where a table costs more than a week’s accommodation somewhere sensible. That is real and…
The Best Time to Visit the Costa Smeralda
September. That is the answer, and I will spend the rest of this explaining why, and what the alternatives cost you. The short version is that the Mediterranean is slow to warm and slow to cool, so the sea reaches…
How to Get to the Costa Smeralda
Olbia is the airport, forty minutes of granite hills is the drive, and a hire car is not a preference here. It is the infrastructure. That last point is the one that catches people, so it gets a section of…
Where to Eat on the Costa Smeralda
There are two entirely different dinners available here and they are about ten minutes’ drive apart. One is on the water at Porto Cervo, with lit yachts behind you, excellent fish, and a bill that will make a particular impression….
Where to Stay on the Costa Smeralda
There is one fact that decides this question and almost every guide buries it under a list of hotels. The beaches are public. Every one of them, including the beaches directly in front of the most expensive hotels on the…
