Hi, I'm off to Alghero next week for 1 week. I would really appreciate any tips on things to do, and see, beaches, restaurants, day trips etc... we will be relying on public transport but may rent bicycles at some stage. thanks!

hi f- <BR> <BR>we spent a week in alghero in july. i would strongly recommend renting a car. <BR>we met others at our hotel who had forgotten their driver's license and they were really bored. furthermore, unless you are planning to take every meal at your hotel, you will want a car to drive to restaurants outside the center of town as those are kind of mediocre and high priced. Our favorite beach in the area was one that we discovered on our own, just south of alghero, called villa monteleone, it was really quiet and lovely. we also spent a day in stintino, one hour's drive north of alghero-this was really nice but a very vast beach with lots of people, but also several water sports. another day we drove across to the east to costa smeralda which was fun-the beaches are tiny, more like little grottos. i suppose if we didn't have the car we would have taken a day tour, but again we really were thankful for the car. the best restaurant we found was recommended by locals and it is a casual place that does pizza by the meter, as well as other pasta dishes. we tried going to other places but found the food disappointing and the prices high, and as we spoke with other tourists, they felt the same. the place we fell in love with is called les arenas and it is sort of diagonal to the main beach just past the city centre. the address is via lido ang. via delle. one of the partners is a thin guy who speaks great english and loves americans. if you go, mention that americans who were there in june/july referred you-we ate there three times. if you need any more specific info i will try to answer any questions you may have.

thanks amy, for all your advice, unfortunitely, neither of us can drive so we will pretty much be reliant on public transport. From reading up on the area i have made a list of things i would like to do , ie , neptunes grotto, the local archelogical ruins, Sella e Mosca - the local wine museum, and a couple of day trips to nearby towns. Bikes will come in handy for some of these trips. At the moment im trying to scope out which day trips to make...sassari or Stintino (thanks amy for you info on here!)or Castelsardo, or any other suggestions would be great!!! <BR>

f- <BR>one more thing that i forgot about-on our last day we were told that there is a great olive oil grove/company in alghero which gives tours. we would have liked to have done this, and perhaps your hotel could arrange for this, if it interests you. i would also imagine that if you are both confident bikers you could get to the villa monteleone beach as well as the les arenas restaurant fairly easily-the beach is in the opposite direction of town-and i'd assume your hotel will know where it is. also, there is a lovely open air market along the water, near the city center every night, after dark. it's nice just to look around and we enjoyed the fact that the shops are open late, not that we wanted to buy so much, but just to see all the liveliness and people about. they also had snorkeling and diving tours available, but after spending a lot on the car we didn't feel like blowing more on the boat-however you may feel differently since you will have the bikes. sorry i can't shed light on sassari-we simply drove through-seemed like a big city-but we didn't notice anything special. no clue about castelsardo. have a great time!

thanks Amy. all your advise is making me more and more excited about our upcoming trip! the olive grove tour sounds like a great idea! much appreciated!

I spent five days in Alghero in July and loved it. Used public transportation to reach Capo Caccia, Porto Conte and Fertilia. Took a day sightseeing tour to Bosa and a Sardinian farm in the hinterland (complete with rustic lunch and entertainment). The city of Alghero and its old town can be seen on foot. Restaurants are generally good and not greatly overpriced, at least in my opinion. Bicycle or scooter rental is possible. A day trip to Castelsardo is worth considering. This requires a bus change in Sassari and at least four hours on the bus, not counting transit time in Sassari. The countryside from Sassari to Castelsardo is quite pretty, much nicer than from Alghero to Sassari. The day trip to Bosa is your best bet. You can do this by public transport, or by the weekly tour. If you do go to Bosa by public transport, take the coastal route southbound, and then the return bus which goes inland (rather than along the coast), since this will take you to the top of the mountain from where you will have a magnificent view of Alghero in the distance. Schedules and other tourist information can be found at: www.infoalghero.it Closer to the city, I strongly recommend the boat excursion to the Grotta di Nettuno, located at the very tip of Capo Caccia. The grotto is spectacular and the boat trip very scenic. Also recommended is the nuraghe Palmavera, which is on the road to Porto Conte a few kilometers west of Fertilia, and which can easily be reached by bus from Alghero in 30 minutes (there are roughly 8 buses per day).

How are you getting to Sardinia, ferry or plane? We are going Oct 3-10 to Costa Smelda and are having a tough time deciding on which method is better after hearing about Meridiana airlines delays. The people at the ferry company said I do not need reservations but that makes me nervous also, any advice?

ciao f <BR> <BR>yeeees alghero!! we have a house at capo caccia and i love alghero. the pizza by meter what was mentioned is the local place "poco loco" they ineed do have very good pizzas! very cheap as well. then you could try "il vecchio mulino" in a small sidestreet in the storic center, ask people where it is, quite hidden. try there spaghetti al vecchio mulino. then there is a newer one "il bargello" or something like that, it's on the harbour wall (the one circling whole alghero). quite good, a bit expensive for what they serve you. rent a scooter or car, it's fun. bosa is very nice. on a bad day you could go and visit "grotte di nettuno" even on a good day, then take one of the boats and have fun in the bigest bay "capo caccia". try to go to the beach "porto ferro" no ones't there and it's a great location. particularly if you would like to take sunbathes nude. it's possible on this beach only. <BR> <BR>for the others: if you have a car and want to take it with you, go by ferrie. prefer eather sardenia ferries or grimaldi. avoid!!! tirrenia. moby isn't bad. if not, you have to take alitalia or mediterrania and fly from wherever to oblia. it's the next airport to the costa smeralda. cost's quite a lot. but as you stay at costa smeralda, you should have no problems with your money. costa smeralda cost a lot because all the jet set is there. <BR> <BR>i'm leaving in 2 weeks to spend finally my holidays there! make sure you speak at least some italian, sardenians are very very nice and friendly but not the english talking ones (excl. costa smeralda). <BR> <BR>have fun! <BR> <BR>christina

Barbara, I would be surprised if you needed a reservation to go by ferry to Olbia on October 3rd (unless perhaps you were requesting a special cabin accommodation). The high season ends at the middle of September, and relatively fewer people will be travelling towards the island in October. By air, you are pretty much stuck with Meridiana, since Alitalia doesn't fly to Olbia (only to Cagliari and Alghero).

wow, i must been tired while writing my text. gino, thanks: it's meridiana not mediterrana..... shame on me. i didn't know that alitalia doesn't fly to olbia, but good to know. i never fly alitalia, maybe that's why. and i allways take my car with me so i know more about ferries. <BR> <BR>to check availability of ferries (sardeniaferries) go to www.corsicaferries.com there you choose your language and choose "continente - sardegna" you can see, prices, schedule and availability. <BR> <BR>have a nice day <BR> <BR>christina <BR> <BR>p.s. it depends when you want to take the ferrie, there are still some days when you could have problems find place on a ferrie. not only tourist are going to sardegna, even sardic people....or italians living in sardegna for weekends.

Barbara, <BR>We're flying into Alghero with Ryanair, unfortunitely from Dublin there are no direct flights so we're plane hopping at stanstad(london). http://www.ryanair.ie/ - the prices change day to day and luckily we got a pretty good deal for all the flights, i think the prices have gone up again since(they have a mailing list to let you know of their deals). thank you all for all your advice!!! Roll on next week!!!