Sardinia
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About the Destination
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean, set well off the Italian mainland with a character all its own, shaped as much by its rugged granite interior and Bronze Age history as by the sea around it. The coastline is the draw for most visitors, and it is a remarkable one: white sand, granite headlands and water that shades from turquoise to deep blue, backed by the low, aromatic scrub of the Mediterranean maquis.
The most famous stretch is the Costa Smeralda, the Emerald Coast, in the northeast, developed from the 1960s under the Aga Khan into one of the Mediterranean’s most exclusive resort areas. Its hub, Porto Cervo, wraps a yacht-filled marina in low, pastel, purpose-built architecture, and the coves nearby, among them Cala di Volpe and the beaches of the Costa Smeralda, are the summer address of choice for a certain crowd. Beyond it the island opens out: the pink-tinged sand and clear shallows of the Maddalena archipelago to the north, the long beaches of the south around Chia and Villasimius, the pale sweep of La Pelosa near Stintino in the northwest, and the lively capital of Cagliari on the southern coast. Inland, the mountainous Barbagia keeps the old shepherd culture alive, and the mysterious stone towers known as nuraghi, left by a Bronze Age civilisation and numbering in the thousands, dot the whole island.
High season is July and August, when the Costa Smeralda is at its most glamorous and the beaches at their busiest and warmest. June and September are the sweet spot for many, with the same warm sea and clear light but far more room, while spring and autumn suit walking the coastal paths and exploring the interior. The island rewards those who mix beach days with boat trips out to the offshore islands, dives on the clear reefs and drives into the granite hills of the interior.
For families and groups who want privacy, a pool and their own stretch of coast, luxury villa rentals in Sardinia gather along the Costa Smeralda and the northeastern coast, most within easy reach of both a marina and a beach.
