THE TOP 10 BEACHES IN SARDINIA

1 SPIAGGIA ROSA – BUDELLI

Prepare to be amazed by the colours of this place – pale blue sea and white and pink beach. That’s right, pink. Small fragments of Miniacina Miniacea shells have deposited on this particular beach thereby giving it this amazing hue.

Although you cannot walk on the sand and bathe in front of the beach since 1994 – the year the National Park of La Maddalena came into existence – you can walk on a special path on the east side of the beach.

If you are a movie lover, you might recognize the place as the set for a memorable scene in Michelangelo Antonioni’s Red Desert, winner of the Golden Lion in Venice in 1964.

Click here to tour other movie locations in Sardinia.

2 CALA COTICCIO – CAPRERA

You’re not in Seychelles, you’re still in Sardinia. And you got the proof that small isn’t necessarily bad. A white jewel of a beach is nestled between granite stones overlooking a bay of crystal clear pale blue. You’re not in a swimming pool either but the water sure looks like it.

3 SPIAGGIA DEL PRINCIPE – COSTA SMERALDA

The Prince referred to in the name of this wonderful beach is HH Prince Aga Khan. Legend has it, this is the place that made him fall in love with Sardinia and moved him to create Costa Smeralda.

Be careful, it’s easy to fall in love with this place even if you’re not a prince.

4 BRANDINCHI

Imagine a marsh populated with pink flamingos and egrets, a white sandy beach slowly entering the Mediterranean sea in a protected bay. That’s Brandinchi.

More than a beach, it’s a natural oasis within the Marine Protected Area of Tavolara and Capo Coda Cavallo, which includes other stunning places you only believed existed on postcards.

5 CALA MARIOLU

High white cliffs covered in thyme, wild rosemary and strawberry trees scenically hug a strip of tiny white round pebbles and pinkish sand kissing a turquoise water so clear you’ll see every fish for tenths of meters around you. You’ll be in awe for days.

6 PORTO GIUNCO – VILLASIMIUS

A large white beach opens up to a pale blue sea next to Villasimius. If you climb up to the nearby cliff that closes the bay with its Spanish Tower, you’ll be fooled into thinking there are three seas meeting up in front of you.

In reality, the water surface shimmering under the sun between two opposite beaches is the Notteri swamp, home to large flocks of pink flamingos. Worry not, there’s plenty of room for you too on this beach in the beautiful Natural Reserve of Capo Carbonara.

7 CHIA

Huge sand dunes in Sardinia? You’ll find them on this beautiful pool of huge beaches on the very South of the island.

At Su Giudeiu beach you’ll be able to reach a small islet by foot at every low tide. Kind of a miniature Mount Saint Michel without Saint Michel (France).

Most days the wind you’ll feel caressing your skin comes directly from the Sahara desert on the opposite coast of the Mediterranean.

8 CALA DOMESTICA

Cala Domestica is one of the few protected beaches of the South West coast of Sardinia.

Huge cliffs hug from left and right a large cove where two distinct rivers used to flow to the sea thousands of years ago.

What remains today are light brownish sand and stones, a cosy living room for a summer on the Mediterranean.

9 IS ARUTAS

If you see some square portions on the coast of Is Arutas and wonder how somebody could come to this place to remove large chunks of building material, well, this somebody were Roman entrepreneurs two thousand years ago.

Nowadays removing anything from this beach is strictly forbidden. Keep it in mind when realizing the true singularity of this beach. Sand in the shape of rice grains made of coloured or white translucent minerals. Is Arutas is literally a treasure of a beach.

10 LA PELOSA

Never has a spit of land been more beautiful than La Pelosa. Find white fine sand and a bay of myriad different blue tones protected by an islet with its defensive Spanish tower that will leave you speechless.

In fact, the sand is so thin that in 2018 the local authority has ruled La Pelosa towel-free zone to restrict the amount of sand inadvertently removed from it.