Costa Smeralda & Olbia

Emerald bays in northeast Sardinia, with luxury yachts at Porto Cervo and the pink sands of the La Maddalena archipelago — Italy's most exclusive summer coast.

The Costa Smeralda lies in the Gallura area of northeastern Sardinia, Italy. It is an exclusive seaside resort developed in the 1960s by investors including the Aga Khan IV, centred on some 55 km of coastline between Porto Cervo and Capriccioli and famed for its granite headlands, white sand and emerald water. Olbia is the gateway to the area, with an airport and ferry port; to the north is La Maddalena Archipelago National Park, made up of islands including La Maddalena, Caprera, Spargi and Budelli; to the south are San Teodoro and Tavolara Island. The climate is Mediterranean, with hot, dry summers and a frequent northwesterly wind, the mistral. The best season is Jun–Sep, when the sea is warmest; August is Italy's peak holiday month, when accommodation prices double and beaches and roads are crowded; May and October are quieter, but some facilities are not yet or no longer open. Getting there: Olbia Airport has flights from across Italy and Europe, and ferries arrive from Genoa, Civitavecchia and Livorno. Local public transport is limited, so a car is the most convenient option; for the La Maddalena archipelago, the ferry from Palau takes about 20 minutes, and most island-hopping boat tours leave from Palau and La Maddalena. Allow 5–7 days: 2 days for the Costa Smeralda beaches, 1–2 days for the La Maddalena archipelago, 1 day for San Teodoro and Tavolara, and 1 day for the inland nuraghe sites and Capo Testa at the northern tip. Tips: taking sand, pebbles or shells from beaches is prohibited and heavily fined; beaches such as Cala Coticcio and Cala Brandinchi have capped numbers with advance booking in summer; landing on Budelli's pink beach is forbidden.

Top sights

• Porto Cervo – A luxury harbor town created by the Aga Khan in the 1960s. The white-walled, arcaded 'little square', designer boutiques and a marina crowd…
• Spiaggia del Principe – Said to be the beach Prince Aga Khan loved most, a crescent of white sand framed by granite and Mediterranean scrub, with crystal-clear, tu…
• La Maddalena Town – The main island town of the Maddalena Archipelago, with colorful houses, a harbor and a pedestrian street. It is the starting point for arc…
• Tavolara Island – A limestone 'table mountain' over 500 meters high rising straight out of the sea. The marine protected area has clear water, and legend has…
• Cala Brandinchi – A shallow, white-sand bay known as 'Little Tahiti', backed by pine woods and facing Tavolara Island. It is the most famous beach in San Teo…
• Stella Maris Church – A white church on the hillside above Porto Cervo harbor, with sculpted curved walls and a bell tower overlooking the bay; it houses a paint…
• Capriccioli Beach – Several small coves on either side of a headland, where granite boulders and turquoise shallows alternate; good for family swimming and sno…
• Liscia Ruja Beach – One of the longest beaches on the Costa Smeralda, with about 1 km of fine white sand and shallow water; well equipped, and calm on still da…
• Pevero Beach – A twin bay south of Porto Cervo; the Grande and Piccola Pevero beaches have fine white sand and sit right beside the famous Pevero Golf Clu…
• Cala di Volpe – The 'Fox Cove' in the middle of the Costa Smeralda, famous for its fairy-tale castle-like hotel and calm bay, and used as a filming locatio…
• Porto Rotondo – A yacht resort town built in the 1960s, with a granite-paved square, an open-air amphitheater and a sculpture-filled church; quieter than P…
• San Pantaleo – A granite hill village inland from the Costa Smeralda, home to artists and craft shops; the Thursday market is the liveliest event in town.
• Caprera & Garibaldi Compendium – A pine-covered island where Garibaldi, hero of Italian unification, spent his later years; his house museum and tomb are well preserved, an…
• Cala Coticcio – A secluded bay on Caprera known as 'Tahiti,' where pinkish-white granite encircles clear water; one of the most beautiful bays in the archi…
• Spiaggia Rosa (Budelli) – A legendary beach whose sand is pale pink from fragments of red foraminifera; to protect the ecosystem, landing is banned, and it can only…
• Spargi Island – An uninhabited granite island where Cala Corsara and other coves have Caribbean-like turquoise shallows; a must-stop on archipelago cruises.
• Roccia dell'Orso – A wind-eroded granite rock on the headland east of Palau, shaped like a giant bear; from its platform you can look out over the La Maddalen…
• Isola dei Gabbiani & Porto Pollo – A small island linked to mainland Sardinia by a sandbar; winds on one side and calm water on the other make it a famous European spot for w…
• Coddu Vecchju Giants' Tomb – A Nuragic giants' tomb in Sardinia, where a 4-meter-high arched stone stele stands in front of a semicircular wall; one of the island's mos…
• Nuraghe La Prisgiona – A nuraghe and village site on the outskirts of Arzachena, with the remains of more than 90 stone houses and a deep well; one of the most im…
• Olbia Old Town & Corso Umberto – The pedestrian main street of Olbia, the gateway city of northeastern Sardinia, lined with cafés, gelato shops and small squares; a favorit…
• Basilica of San Simplicio – A Romanesque granite church from the 11th–12th centuries, the most important medieval building in the Gallura region, dedicated to Olbia's…
• Archaeological Museum of Olbia – A modern building on a small island in the harbor, displaying an ancient Roman shipwreck and Punic and Roman artifacts; free admission.
• Lu Impostu Beach – A long white-sand beach on the south side of Brandinchi Bay, with turquoise water on one side and a flamingo-visited lagoon on the other; w…
• San Teodoro & La Cinta Beach – A roughly 5 km sandbar beach beside the town of San Teodoro, separating the sea from a lagoon, with views of Tavolara Island; a summer dest…
• Capo Testa & Valle della Luna – A granite peninsula near Sardinia's northern tip, with wind-eroded rock formations, Roman-era quarry remains and the Valle della Luna, wher…
• Santa Teresa Gallura – A seaside town at Sardinia's northern tip, where Rena Bianca beach and a Spanish tower look across the Strait of Bonifacio to the white cli…
• Palau – A harbor town on Gallura's northern coast, the departure point for ferries and boat tours to the La Maddalena Archipelago, with a lively se…

Where to eat

• Il Fuoco Sacro – A one-Michelin-star restaurant tucked into a hillside resort near San Pantaleo. Created with chef Enrico Bartolini, it…
• Dulchemente – A Michelin Guide-listed seafood restaurant in Olbia's old town that reinterprets Sardinian flavors with modern techniqu…
• Stazzu Li Paladini – A traditional Gallura farm on the outskirts of Olbia, serving a fixed-price menu with Gallura bread soup and roast suck…
• Essenza Bistrot – A stone-walled bistro in Olbia's old town run by former Michelin-starred chef Max Villani, with seasonal Mediterranean…
• Bacchus Restaurant – A Michelin Guide restaurant inside the Jazz Hotel, serving Sardinian and Mediterranean land-and-sea dishes at dinner. I…
• La Lanterna – An old-school restaurant in Olbia's old town, open since 1980, serving good-value Sardinian home cooking and seafood th…

Itineraries

• Corsica & Sardinia Two-Island Self-Drive – Drive south from Bastia across Corsica, cross the sea to northeast Sardinia, and travel via the Emerald Coast to the Gu…
• Sardinia Grand Loop Road Trip – Fly into Cagliari and out of Olbia, journeying from the Nuragic ruins to La Maddalena and the Gulf of Orosei.