Jimbo

My mother wants to visit Sardinia for a week next Easter. She's particularly interested in all things nature-wise and historical, walks and nothing too noisy or over touristy. She'll be flying nice and cheap via Ryanair to Alghero.<BR><BR>Please, please could you tell me the best places for her to visit, suggest a base for her to stay in for good day tripping.<BR><BR>Any suggestions would be very gratefully received.

gac

Alghero is a very pleasant town, albeit a little touristy. It is an excellent base for day trips to the surrounding countryside. If she wants to consider a second base, I would recommend Castelsardo, which is a delightful town on the northern coast. There are several sites of artistic importance in the immediate vicinity (although a rental car would be important here, more so than in Alghero proper). She might also consider taking a bus trip from Sassari to Cagliari and return (the next day). Cagliari has a very beautiful cathedral and an important archeological museum. The Roman ruins of Nora are one hour south along the coast.

Nick

Gac is a fan of Sardinia and seeing another comment he made I think he is very well balanced and knowledgeable fan.<BR>I went to Alghero on Ryanair in Sept. I can whole heartedly recommend you do not stay in the Continental Hotel - a dump. On the way back, we stayed at one of the hotels on the Lido (on beach just outside the old town) which was a lot better - I think it was the San Marco. Alghero is OKish as a town with a very pretty old centre (see in half a day) but beyond that I would not write home about it (and do not bother driving to Fertilia). Sassari is an interesting town - horrible at lunch time as most of the shops shut up and lots of the shutters have graffiti etc and it feels grotty to say the least, but when it opens up it has quite a buzz to it. It is also sensibly priced for food and hotels.It is also very untouristy. Leonardo da Vinci hotel (off the top of my head) looked nice. Castelsardo is interesting but not very big. The best beach scenery in the north is definitely where the tourist resorts have been developed in the north east and we found the drive back from Porto Cervo to Alghero through Tempio Paussania far more interesting than the coast road through Castelsardo. If your mum likes history, then Tempio Pausannia will interest her - full of old alley ways. The north coast's resort areas have beautiful bays and water, but are very expensive and the towns are quite antiseptic as many are primarily purpose built places from the 60s on with little variation - although admittedly well put together. If you like variety, places such as Porto Cervo (especially) and Palau are limited. If you like clean looking, Mediterranean style middle class housing they are great. Some absolutely fantastic villas as well. Of the resort places we saw, Porto Cervo, Porto Rotonda and Capo D'Orso were the nicest, with Capo D'Orso being the best located for some cheaper prices as closer to less pricey Palau- Porto Cervo is extortionate. We stayed at Baia Sardinia (10 mins from PCervo)at a hotel called Grand Smeraldo Beach Hotel. This hotel is fantastically located with 2 small private beaches, 2 medium swimming pools and 2 jacuzzis. Rooms are fine, but service is awful - e.g watered down orange juice at breakfast - when we complained on check out, we were told &quot;I could not comment as I have not had breakfast there&quot;. Down the main road heading south along the bay, there was the one place which I could recommend whole heartedly - 50 metres off the road, just a real local restaurant which as it has no views, tourists do not go to. Otherwise we found Sardinia horribly overpriced for meals (except pizza) with ordinary service frequently the case and despite the beautiful water and the cleanliness of the island which are both superior to the Greek Islands, I would recommend the Greek islands for value for money, the range of food available - not just Greek and the fact that even tourist places have some history in their main - unlike the tourist parts of SArdinia (e.g Porto Cervo's history dates back to the early 60s when Aga Khan started building there). If you love looking at very, very rich people's yachts then PC is for you - as well as one of the most expensive hotels I have ever seen - normal room at Hotel Cala di Volpe (part of Starwood group - a snip at euro 600 + for bed and breakfast off season, a veritable bargain at euro 1500 to include meals - share them with celebs and gangsters!). Problem with Sardinia may be Sassari is not really attractive enough as a base nor is Alghero and the best scenery is dominated by tourist over-priced places. Maybe I am just too fussy - but you get a fan and a disgruntled traveller.

gac

Nick: I really appreciate the compliment. Thanks! <BR><BR>Unfortunately, too many travelers make the mistake of focusing on the Costa Smeralda area, which is LEAST representative of Sardinia. By contrast, there are numerous interesting towns in the hinterland which are worth visiting (e.g. Barumini, Aritzo), lovely medieval basilicas scattered about the lonely countryside of Logudoro (e.g. SS. Trinita' di Saccargia, S. Pietro di Simbranos), as well as beautiful Roman ruins along the coasts (e.g. Tharros, Nora). As far as beaches, those in the south (Santa Margherita di Pula; Chia Laguna) are lovely, much less expensive than Costa Smeralda, and much more &quot;laid back&quot;, unspoiled and genuine. Also, Cagliari is an interesting (and remarkably clean) city well worth a short visit. Another key point is to AVOID Sardinia in July and August, when it is overrun with tourists (and prices double), and go instead in the Spring and autumn.<BR>

Patrick

I spent about 10 days in Sardinia this summer and loved it all EXCEPT the costa Smeralda area. I felt I could have stayed in Florida and revisited Boca Raton, or just stayed in Naples.<BR><BR>I particularly loved La Maddelana. Alghero was fun, and for a larger city, Cagliari was really fun and interesting.