Seven days in Sardinia, beaches booked first

Seven days, three bases, and four beaches that have to be reserved before departure: Cala Goloritze holds 250⁴ people a day, La Pelosa 1,500⁶, Tuerredda 1,100⁷ and Cala Mariolu 700⁵ sea arrivals.

The bookings that open three days out, not three months

Cala Goloritze, in the Baunei council area, admits 250⁴ people at a time with compulsory booking on the Heart of Sardinia platform, which opens three days ahead at midnight. The ticket is €7, free for under 5s and Baunei residents, in two windows, 7:30 am to 5:00 pm and 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

La Pelosa at Stintino runs from May 15 to October 15, 2026 with 1,500⁶ places a day at €3.50, booked only through spiaggialapelosa.it, with 500⁴ places open all season and 1,000⁶ released two days ahead at 9:00 am. Under 12s neither book nor pay, a maximum of 4 places goes per booking, and the QR code is checked between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm.

Tuerredda, in the Teulada area, takes 1,100⁷ a day from June 2 to October 15, 2026 at €3, with bookings opening at 8:00 am the previous day. Cala Mariolu allows 700⁵ sea arrivals a day from May 1 to October 20, at €2 for one cove and €3 for a multi cove itinerary, booked by 7:00 am on the day.

Note what changes with the arrival method: at Cala Mariolu the charge applies only if you land from a boat. Prices given here are in euros.

Arriving: two airports, five passenger ports

Olbia Costa Smeralda handled 4,161,572¹ passengers in 2025, up 7.2%, with strongly seasonal traffic; Cagliari Elmas handled 5,254,433², up 1.8%. Between them they cover the two ends of this route.

By sea, the Sardinia port system authority runs Cagliari, Olbia, Golfo Aranci, Porto Torres, Oristano, Portovesme, Arbatax and Santa Teresa Gallura, and the main passenger gateways to the mainland are Olbia, Golfo Aranci, Porto Torres, Cagliari and Arbatax.

Golfo Aranci is the closest Sardinian port to the peninsula, roughly 30 minutes of sea from Olbia. Santa Teresa Gallura connects to Corsica, and Portovesme to the island of San Pietro.

Days 1 and 2: the north, and a beach with 1,500 places

La Pelosa is the reason to spend 2 nights near Olbia, and it works only on a day you have already booked. Beyond the cap, the beach bans towels laid without a mat underneath, smoking, dogs, detergents and removing sand or shells.

The official portal warns that fraudulent sites resell access. There is one authorized address and it is spiaggialapelosa.it.

The 1,000⁶ places released two days ahead at 9:00 am are the realistic route in for anyone whose dates are already fixed.

Days 3 to 5: Ogliastra, and the only way into Goloritze

Cala Goloritze is reached on foot alone: 3.6 km of path with 500⁴ m of height loss, about 1 hour 30 minutes down and 2 hours back up, and landing on the beach from a boat is prohibited.

That return climb is the real content of the day. Start early, carry water, and treat the 5:00 pm end of the window as the moment you should already be walking.

Cala Mariolu sits on the same coast under a different rule, 700⁵ sea arrivals a day between May 1 and October 20, €2 for a single cove and €3 for several, booked by 7:00 am. Arriving overland, where that is permitted, costs nothing. The same system covers Cala Luna, Cala Biriola, Cala dei Gabbiani and Su Sirboni.

Day 6: Su Nuraxi, guided or not at all

Su Nuraxi at Barumini, listed in 1997, can only be visited with a guide: departures every 30 minutes, about an hour underground and above, in Italian, English or French. The same ticket covers the Casa Zapata museum complex, which contains the Su Nuraxi 'e Cresia nuraghe, and the Centro Giovanni Lilliu, each with a 30 minute guided visit.

All three sites open every day of the year, but the archaeological area can close for bad weather or extreme heat. The foundation publishes its prices and seasonal hours only in downloadable files we could not open, so no fare is quoted here.

The wider prehistoric story got a second listing in July 2025, when the domus de janas were inscribed as Italy's 61st World Heritage property: 17 sites out of 26 proposed, across fourteen council areas, with Alghero leading the nomination.

Day 7: Cagliari, and the cheapest transfer on the island

Cagliari Elmas has its own station linked to the terminal by a covered walkway, and the regional train reaches the city center in under 10 minutes for €1.30, roughly every 20 minutes on weekdays. First departure from the airport is 6:03 am and the last is 11:07 pm, with Tap and Tap contactless accepted.

That is the contrast with most Italian island airports, where the equivalent information simply is not published. Keep the last morning here rather than driving back north.

For the island as a whole, see Sardegna.

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