andy

We will be in Sardinia Oct.31..wondered if ANY of the shops will be open as I know it will be too cold for the beaches..

We would llike a private guide to pick us up at the ship and give us a tour of the island along with a NON-touristy restaurant and some time to shop IF the shops are open.

If all else fails, someone please post a great restaurant with a water view (if possible)...

We might be 6 people and 2 of us have walking problems due to knee surgery. FORGOT TO SAY= we will be on the Oceania REGATTA .

Help!

Read more: http://www.frommers.com/community/fo...#ixzz0zuRz5ABe

yanumpty

Andy

Which port do you go into : usually it's Olbia or cagliari?

Tour of the island.

The island is huge and takes around 2 days to drive round at least. You should be able to take a taxi from one of the the ports, once I know where you dock I can help.

We have visited 5 times and the latest was the last week in October, two years ago. It was fairly comfortable to be on the beach (around mid 70s) and the sea was fairly warm. However, on our last day it poured down and the temps were down to the low 60s. You just need to be lucky.

The island is very geared towards August beach holidays and can be very, very high end. Some resorts are amongst the most expensive in Europe.

Again I can give you some help when I know where you land.

andy

Yanumpty-According to another source., we dock at Porto Cervo.

We do want to see the island, but I also want to shop. Will any of the resort shops still be open on Oct.31?

Also need some good restaurants to both sides of the island..Little LOCAL places that the LOCALS go to..

Many thanks and I will await ur reply

Andy

yanumpty

That's unusual, you cruise boat is either small or they will transfer you by launch. Porto Cervo is tight and doesn't take large cruise ships.

Porto Cervo is quite simply one of the most chic and expensive resorts in Europe. I have paid 12 euros for a coffee at one of its posher cafes. On compensation for the cost of the coffee was the star spotting, we saw Denziel Washington but October is not prime time.

Full meals can run into 100s euros per head. The shops are nearly all the highest end big name couture houses. Gucci, D&G, Armani, Rolex, LV etc all have boutiques and other than that there is little else. It really is 1000 euro handbag or nothing. I have never been to a more exclusive shopping area in all our travels.

It does avoid the problem of being dropped off in Olbia which is quite simply awful.

I am not sure how much you know about the island. I have travelled most of the coastline of the Med and Sardinia offers some of the most beautiful seascapes around. If you have time I would try and go north up to Palau and then get a ferry across to the Maddalena Islands. The small main town has a sleepy harbour side front and has some good fish restaurants. From here it is a short trip over to Garabaldi's house which is interesting.

There is a stunningly good restaurant in Palau where is celebrated my 40th : La Gritta lost it's michelin star but was still very good. Da Frana is also good and novel, they served shrimp risotto with a glass of champagne in the middle, they put sugar in the glass and the champagne fizzed out into the risotto.

I know what you are getting at by talking about "local restaurants". They are thin on the ground as most of the eating out on the coast is done by tourists. As most of the tourists are high income, many of the restaurants are pretty good and offer local meat and fish dishes.

How long is your stay and so how far could you travel?

Peter_in_Sardinia

I don't agree with the comments on this thread and they are unrepresentative of other discussions about Sardinia on this Fodor's forum. "Local restaurants are thin on the ground as most of the eating out on the coast is done by tourists." This simply isn't true.

The Costa Smeralda in the NE corner of Sardinia, at the heart of which is Porto Cervo, is completely untypical of Sardinia. No locals would be there since it's a purpose-built place for rich tourists. If you want to go where locals go, this really is the LAST place to choose. It also shuts down in "winter". In other parts of the island, you can eat excellent local food with locals, all year round. Yesterday we had excellent starters (home-made cheeses, vegetables pickled by the owners), roast goat, salad, red wine and mirto for €18 a head at Sant'Efisio http://www.hotel-santefisio.com/en/ 4 km from where we live.

There are some very good restaurants in Alghero, Oliena we could recommend where you will also find locals.

Have a look at this video made by the Sardinia Regional government to present the island http://www.sardegnadigitallibrary.it...4460&id=303714 or the regional tourism site (in English) http://www.sardegnaturismo.it/en/index.html

cheers Peter

yanumpty

Peter

If you bothered to read my post you would appreciate that I was talking of the NE being touristy and local places being thin on the ground there.

Driving from Porto Cervo to Alghero to what is probably going to be a one day stopover would be insane. Is this what you are suggesting? It's probably a 6 hour round trip.

If the poster is coming into Porto Cervo for a short stopover (as most ships do stop either for one or two days) staying in the NE would make sense as it is the most beautiful part of Sardinia. Which is why the money heads there in the first place.

Course there are "local type places" on the coast of the island generally, one of the best we have ever encountered in the world was just outside Cagliari. There just aren't many in the NE which is where the poster will end up.

You would also be hard pushed to dispute the fact that most of the development on the coastline of the whole island isn't tourist based. Outside Oristano,Bosa, Alghero and Cagliari most of the development on the island is tourist based.

We haven't been to the lower east corner but have driven in full from Villasimius to Olbia.

Tourism dominates.

The idea that you have to go to "local places for good food" is also strange". We had some of the best seafood that we have ever had at the Hotel Capriccioli

http://www.hotelcapriccioli.it/capriccioli/index.php

Which does happen to be on one of the most expensive stretches of coastline on Europe but was reasonable.

yanumpty

There you go the boat is at Porto Cervo for the day :

http://www.oceaniacruises.com/findcr...4/default.aspx

Peter would you like to reconsider you advice?

Andy, I would concentrate planning a trip in the NE area which is the most beautiful area of the island anyway.

yanumpty

Actually, I would revise the above.

I would simply hire a taxi and head for Cala Di Volpe which IMHO are the best in Europe.

Have lunch at the Hotel Capriccioli then head back for your departure.

If you do want to experience a more local environment head for Arzachena which is inland but it would be a shame to miss the beauty of the Costa Smeralda coast.

andy

I feel like i am in the middle of a ping pong game...u all have totally confused me.

We are on the Oceania Regatta ( 600 pass. ship- so yes,small compared to the floating cities that are on the seas now)...We love small ships..

Anyway, I was told we docked in Porto Cervo ( although Olbia is also on the paperwork..)

We r only in port 1 day from 9 am-6pm..which , in essence , means I need to be back to the ship by 5pm.

BIG question both of u knowledgable people- ARE the shops and restaurants open in both Port Cervo AND Maddalena Island.
Are the Garibaldi Sq shops and restaurants still OPEN on OCT.31. Also are the shops on Porto Cervo also OPEN or have both areas closed since it is OFF season???

There is also a tour on a vintage train to Gallura and Tempio Pausania. Are the restaurants and shops still open in this town????

Please advise..I have a bad knee and cannot do hills and hiking....

Thanks for ur help , both of u !!1! UR GREAT GUIDES!!

andy

How far ( driving hrs and time) is Aritzo, in the heart of Barbagia? I read there is a chestnut festival the end of Oct.

Have either of u ever been? is it worth the drive from Porto Cervo?

thanks again...Andy

yanumpty

Sorry for the game of table tennis, I do get pretty annoyed with some of the snotty follow-ups when I spend the time to offer thoughts.

In short, I cannot answer your direct question definitively.

Two years ago we stayed on Cala Di Volpe during the middle week of October. The weather was good, we smam every day and the shops of Porto Cervo were open.

It was very quiet, other the the cruise parties coming in. Which I would have thought would be the bread and butter of those shops. I would be suprised if they closed whilst the cruises are still coming in. Indeed, I wouldn't be suprised if your cruise had an arrangement with the resort to ensure they you are shipped into the resort for shopping.

We have a small child who "lives" on the beach and we haven;t ventured in land. I agree with the other poster in that the island is agressively promoting the quality of it's produce and culture.

We have intended to also go up to Barbagia next year.

Pvoyageuse

"ARE the shops and restaurants open in both Port Cervo AND Maddalena Island."
Casa Bianca, Garibaldi's house" is on Caprera, one of the islands of the Maddalena archipelago. There is a regular boat service between Palau and La Maddalena (the only inhabited island of the archipelago). There is a bridge between La Maddalena and Caprera. In other words you have to walk at least half a mile to get to Casa Bianca. It is open every day between 9 am and 1.30 pm.
The town of La Maddalena is small but there are restaurants open all year round. As far as shopping is concerned, it all depends what you want to shop for.
The Maddalena Archipelago is best visited by boat. There are day cruises from Palau but I fear they won't be operating at the end of October.

"There is also a tour on a vintage train to Gallura and Tempio Pausania. Are the restaurants and shops still open in this town???? "

I suppose it is the vintage train from Palau to Tempio Pausania that your cruise has chartered since it usually does not run off season. The journey takes about an hour.
Shops will definitely be open in Tempio which is a charming and working little town off the beaten track. I recommend the restaurant "La Gallurese di Mamma Rosa", Via Novara. Do not expect high end shopping though.

Aritzo is quite a distance from Olbia (170 km)and not doable in a day if you have to be back to the ship by 5 pm.

stevelyon

I had never considered going to Sardinia until BBC 1's Saturday Kitchen featured Rick Stein with Franco Zola's father in a restaurant where he lives .... the surroundings looked amazing .... a long shot, but does anyone know where that would be?

Peter_in_Sardinia

Gianfranco Zola comes from Oliena, there are two very good restaurants there which are highly-rated: Su Gologone http://www.sugologone.it/ e http://www.masiloghi.it/ Yanumpty, lots of people who stay in expensive Porto cervo also go to Su Gologone, it's also a hotel. If you are going to Barbagia you could check it out.

If I had 1 day from 9 am-6pm which, in essence , means I need to be back to the ship by 5pm:-
(a) I can't comment on Porto Cervo, we don't live there and have only cycled there (lots). I will let people judge for themselves whether the "NE coast is the most beautiful part of the island". When we cycled toured there 20 years ago, we were put-off by the very exclusive way the place has been developed, that there are lots of places closed in winter on the Costs Smeralda, that it's a tourist development where no towns existed before... (these are facts, as are the existence of many very high quality hotels and restaurants).
(b) La Maddalena is nicer IMHO, Garibaldi's house on Caprera is worth seeing, as someone else suggested
(c) The Sardegna government is working hard to explain to people that the island isn't just the NE coast, eg see this promotional video http://www.sardegnadigitallibrary.it...4460&id=303714 The stretch of coastline just north of where we live is frequently described as one of Europe's "last wildernesses"; Here's a NYT article about it http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/02/22...2explorer.html The whole island has planning laws which prevent building on the coast making this beautiful island end up like Spain or other places in Italy.

My wife has bad knees, too. She goes sea kayaking instead of walking. You can see loads of photos of beautiful coastline where she goes at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sardegn...ak/5026494683/ including yesterday with her 75-year old Mum.

cheers Peter

Peter_in_Sardinia

Yanumpty, Barbagia is inland, no beach. If you want top-end hotels by the beach, try the Lanthia in Santa Maria Navarrese. cheers Peter

yanumpty

Peter

I think we are going to charter next June. We are struggling to fing trans-atlantic flights for less than £800 and it just isn't worth it when we normally pay £400.

We will probably get a boat out of Portisco. Thanks for the pictures you posted of the east of the island.trawling round southern Europe. We only discovered Sardinia 6 years ago. Believe me, if you go you will wonder why you ever went to Spain and Greece in the first place.



Steve

I like you have spent much of my life

yanumpty

Apologies for the "crap" Sony keyboard : not what they used to be!

Peter

I think we are going to charter next June. We are struggling to fing trans-atlantic flights for less than £800 and it just isn't worth it when we normally pay £400.

We will probably get a boat out of Portisco. Thanks for the pictures you posted of the east of the island.

Steve

I like you have spent much of my life trawling round southern Europe. We only discovered Sardinia 6 years ago. Believe me, if you go you will wonder why you ever went to Spain and Greece in the first place.

Peter_in_Sardinia

Here is a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeqAmDCDSiQ my friend made yesterday at Punta Giradili where we were climbing. That's me with the glasses. While I appreciate that most readers of this forum may not want to go climbing, the video does give you a very good idea of the rugged coastline and beautiful sea. We were climbing above the first stage of the "Selvaggio Blu" trek which starts from Pedra Longa (labelled in the video). Santa Maria Navarrese has a nice marina for those who go sailing.

"I like you have spent much of my life trawling round southern Europe. We only discovered Sardinia 6 years ago. Believe me, if you go you will wonder why you ever went to Spain and Greece in the first place." We had been coming to southern Italy cycling for 20 years, first came to this part of Sardinia in 2002, bought a hoilday flat here 2003, and since 2006/7 have lived here full time. Fantastic place for outdoor sports, with mountains rising to over 4000 feet within 15 miles of sea. As someone said on this forum, “The only area of Europe that has beaches which comes close to the Caribbean are those on Sardinia… Other places have better architecture, food, history and a diverse “feel” but, if you are looking for the best coastlines in Europe, head for Sardinia.”

Have a great time Peter

yanumpty

"“The only area of Europe that has beaches which comes close to the Caribbean are those on Sardinia"

That was me Peter. The only European Med coastline I haven't is being chipped down each year. We have covered around 75% of the whole coast (including many of the Greek islands). Sardinia is a long way ahead of the rest. Good knows what all the fuss is about Amalfi, other than the fact that lots of other people go!

The beaches on Sardinia are good but you have got to The Bahamas to find the best.

https://images.marinas.com/med_res_id/71405

stevelyon

Thanks for the information - slow to reply as I have been in Corfu. Peter/Yanumpty, how can it beat Greece?!