SOUTH SARDINIA
Welcome to southern Sardinia,
where the treasures of the sea, art
and good food will become
your travelling companions.
The real beauty of southern Sardinia is the coast: long dream beaches and
a sea that reminds one of the more remote tropical paradises.
Cagliari
The capital of Sardinia is steeped in Mediterranean atmosphere and offers everything you could want from a vacation: history and art, seashores and parks, comfort and fine cuisine.
Picturesque historical districts with sea views, elegant shopping streets and panoramic terraces, including the bastione di Santa Croce, a great place for a romantic evening after a fiery sunset. Cagliari is Sardinia’s main and most populous city, at the centre of an urban area that counts 430,000 inhabitants (150,000 of them in the capital city alone) as well as the island’s gateway port and main Mediterranean cruise liner hub. The city’s history goes back thousands of years, from pre-historic times to the reign of the Savoy. The Castello quarter sits perched on its highest hill and boasts ancient bastions that today are the heart and soul of nightlife, and picturesque streets lined by grand old homes: Palazzo Regio and Palazzo di Città, as well as the Cathedral of Santa Maria. The medieval towers - dell’Elefante and San Pancrazio - that stand guard at the entrance to the castle are well worth notice. Villanova connects to the Castle quarter via the stairway of the bastione di Saint Remy.
Villasimius
This the best vacation spot in Sardinia’s south-eastern region: crystalline water, white beaches, glamorous lifestyles and fine food to meet your every wish.
The intense colours of the sea, the glimmering crystal-clear water, granite cliffs, enchanting coves, long stretches of beach, lagoons and verdant hills, some of them are the settings of TV ads and all of them are breathtaking. Villasimius is the ‘pearl’ of the south, the kind of tourist resort every vacationer dreams of, with a population of less than 4,000 during winter that blossoms to several tens of thousands in summer. The coastline is graced with a crown of beaches interspersed with inlets and the Capo Carbonara promontory. Along the panoramic road starting at Capo Boi, the southernmost point of the protected Marine Area, are the wonderful beaches of Porto sa Ruxi, Campus and Campulongu, all blessed with gorgeous blue seas and white sandy beaches framed by Mediterranean brush. Not far from town is the unusual spiaggia del Riso beach,
Costa Rei
A tourist resort part of the municipality of Muravera, Costa Rei is located in the south eastern coast of Sardinia, along an exciting scenic route that offers an uninterrupted sequence of beautiful views.
Reaching Costa Rei means visiting one of the most beautiful areas of Sardinia: the Sarrabus. The beauty of this area is enhanced by the profile of the Sette Fratelli mountain range overlooking the Park, a valuable nature reserve and perfect place for relaxing walks. Ensconced between the mountains and lush hills and a many hued blue sea, enchanting spots in Costa Rei are at times hidden from view by luxuriant Mediterranean brush. Such is the case of Cala Pira, a small bay surrounded by dunes covered with fragrant juniper trees made even more beautiful by the austere silhouette of the Aragonese tower overlooking an extremely transparent sea. Enclosed between two small cliffs and protected by a thick pine forest, the white beach of Cala Sinzias is located not far from the town of Costa Rei; an attractive tourist resort over a long stretch of fine white sand bordering an emerald green to deep blue sea.
Santa Margherita di Pula
A gem of tourism in the southwestern part of Sardinia, accompanying you on a journey of discovery of the island's history and culture, combining a crystal clear sea and good food.
If you want the sea all year round, for bathing and getting a suntan in the summer and for the poetic atmosphere in the autumn and winter, Pula is the ideal destination for you. There are over seven thousand inhabitants in the residential area, from the metropolitan city of Cagliari, which is just 35 kilometres away. Pula is a treasure chest of natural, archaeological and cultural wealth without equals on the Island. As well as Pula's summer nightlife, with events and aperitifs in the squares, there are also excursions and sporting activities. For example, you can do some jogging along the tree-lined avenues that lead to the archaeological park of Nora, where you will get to know Pula's origins. Not far from the village, you will find yourself in one of the most well-known sites in Sardinia: Capo Pula contains the ruins of an ancient town, the first Phoenician one in Sardinia (8th century BC), which then became a flourishing Punic town and was later conquered by the Romans, becoming a municipium in 1 AD
Chia
A coastal village in the municipality of Domus de Maria, Chia is located along the scenic road of the south west coast of Sardinia, which can be reached from Cagliari along the (SS) Highway 195.
The ancient village of Chia, an important Phoenician and then Roman centre named Bithia, was in a small cove where today there is one of the many coastal towers built in the seventeenth century by the Spanish crown against the incursions of the Barbary pirates. Among the ruins brought to light following a storm, there are the remains of a Punic Tophetand the ancient road that connected it to the important city of Nora. Today it is the destination for trekking and mountain bike enthusiasts who can travel the dirt road that runs along the old road, enjoying particularly fascinating coastal stretches.
From the tower, overlooking the coast, there is access to a long stretch of sand interspersed with small coves framed by dense vegetation and lapped by an emerald-green sea, a true spectacle of nature that remains forever in the hearts of any visitor.