The second largest island in Italy and the Mediterranean after Sicily, one of the 20 regions.
In the Mediterranean Sea, west of the peninsula of Italy and north of Tunisia and just south of Corsica. It’s one of the five Italian regions with some degree of autonomy. They speak both Sardinian and Italian. Sardinian being very different than Italian. Coast of the island is about 1800 km or 1100 miles long.
The beaches are the best I have seen, water the clearest… I think if you want a beach vacation you go to Sardegna, if you want beach and history ie city visits, you go to Sicily. But Sicily also has amazing beaches.
The island is green and lush and has mountains and beaches. Truly beautiful.
We have been twice. First time we stayed in the town Tertenia, it was bit remote, but we travelled to great beaches around like Foxy Manna. We also had a beach about a 2 minute walk from our house, which was great for evening swims.
Then at the end of our trip we spent a few days in Costa Smeralda in the north, which is different from the rest of our experience in Sardegna. It is a very posh, expensive, fancy part of the island. We took a boat tour which was amazing. The water was perfectly clear and there were tons of fish to see when snorkeling…
We took a more casual kind of trip on our second time. We went to Cagliari, which is in the south and the largest city in Sardegna. We rented a house that was walkable to the beach and then visited other beaches by car. We swam at our beach at night and explored others during the day.
We also highly recommend a jeep tour that we took that took us to 5 hidden beaches you normally can’t get to by car. Really great guide and beautiful spots. Probably a highlight for the trip.
Food:
Pane carasau – wafer thin bread, almost like a cracker that is crispy and usually eaten as a starter
Malloreddus – shape of pasta like a little bowl or seashell
Fregola – Small balls of pasta
Bottarga – Salted and dried mullet eggs that are added to pastas and salads
Seafood – in general…
Pecorino Sardo – sheeps milk, hard and grainy in texture
Drinks:
Liquors are Mirto – made from the berries of the myrtle plant and limoncello.
Wine – its Vermentino – the classic white and Cannonau is the red which is generally very drinkable with low acidity and a bit higher alcohol.
Kids:
Several beaches have water parks where you can buy a hour or half day and they can climb and jump around on the inflatables in the sea. There are boat rentals, and the sea is calm so swimming Is easy.
Dogs:
We found dog friendly beaches on both trips so the dogs would come for swim with us after dinner each evening. Like most of Italy, restaurants tend to be dog friendly as well. You just must be careful with the heat as the ground gets very warm in summer…
You can read about all our favorite beaches here.
