Sardegna in Sept/Oct - please help!
 

We are planning our first trip to Sardinia in September/October. We have 18 days altogether and will have a car for 15 of them picking up in Olbia and dropping it off in Cagliari. We've travelled a lot, most recently in Greece, Sicily and southern Italy and Portugal.

We like our food and wine and prefer to stay for 3 or 4 days in each place, and try to have access to a kitchen so we can find the local markets and eat local food.

We like local culture and food and interesting historical sites - not looking for resorts and night life. We're 60-ish and not so into hiking.

Here is our very initial plan. We'd love some comments from those more experienced. We're feeling a little overwhelmed right now. Sardinia seems particularly hard to plan for...

Arrive 25th Sept in Olbia (from Venice)

stay 2 days possibly Palau or Olbia or somewhere reasonable in the area.

27th Castelsardo (have booked a night at Baga Baga)

28th - 2nd Alghero (there is supposedly a festival 28th/29th - and we were thinking to do day trips north and down to Bosa

2nd - 6th - probably Cala Ganone - we like the look of La Favorita on the water there.

Then 6th/7th- back to the western side to Oristani or near there (??)

8th/9th slowly down to Cagliari.

10th - 13th Cagliari without a car

13th we fly to Trapani and stay a few days in Palermo before flying back to the mainland...

Sometimes it seems like a long time - 18 days - when I write it out like this it is pretty short.

A more specific question as well?
We arrive in Olbia on 25th and have a booking in Castelsardo on 27th - we'd like to stay somewhere for two nights and explore the beautiful area north of Olbia. Should we stay in Palau or Santa Teresa di Gallura or somewhere else between?? We'd like somewhere moderate around $100 if possible.

Olbia isn't very attractive. It's mainly an industrial town.

In the north we stayed at Agriturismo Tenuta Pilastru in Arzachena, in the countryside at 7 kms from the sea (Cannigione) and 14 kms from Palau. Do visit Capo Testa.
http://www.tenutapilastru.it/

When in Cala Gonone, make sure to visit the murals in Orgosolo.

Thank you so much. That looks beautiful but may be a little over our budget (we are travelling for a longer time, not just Sardinia). I am starting to suspect (from other posts) that the coast along here may be a string of expensive resorts which is not really our cup of tea. Is that true? Would we be better to cross from Olbia to Castelsardo through the inland route, rather than follow the coast?

We found all the accomodations to be pretty expensive. Anyway, much more expensive than in Sicily. Especially Porto Cervo, Porto Rotondo are for the 'rich & famous'.

That would be a shame, to miss the northern coast of Sardinia. It's so beautiful! Check out some rental sites like www.homeaway.co.uk or www.holidaylettings.com.

Olbia is a nice small town with a pedestrian zoine in the city center. Tje stunning beaches of Costa Smeralda as well as those up to San Teodoro can easily be visited in day trips from Olbia. Distances aren't that big.

In the case you should be interested in Sardinian cultue and History, don't miss to visit the Nuraghe of Barumini, Isili and Torralba, the phoenician sites of Pula and Tharros, the archeological museums of Sassari and Cagliari and the ethnographic museum of Nuoro.