Hello,
We are a US couple in our late 50s and trying to develop an 8-10 days itinerary in Sardinia in September. We want to have two base lodging locations and do day trips from them as needed. We will rent a car.
We are up to dramatic coastal and mountain views, explore mideaval villages and towns, spend couple days on a beach, maybe do a boat trip to an island, enjoy great food, do easy hiking for 2-3 hours at a time, and avoid a rush.
It looks like we want to have Aldhero as one of our base locations and are debating how to set the rest of itinerary. We do not mind driving for a couple of hours all together during a day to see something unique or beautiful.
We want to avoid Costa Smeralda resort area that look like, as we heard, Florida.
Our budget for nightly rate at a hotel or B&B is up to about $150 /night.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Dimitry.

We did something similar in Sardinia, staying in Santa Teresa Gallura and Alghero. We had around 10 days and flew into Olbia, out of Alghero. We did a wonderful ferry ride to Bonifacio, on Corsica, the scenery is spectacular. The trip was easy but don't forget to take passports.

There's an area called Capo Testa which is worth exploring. We stayed at a family run hotel in Santa Teresa, it wouldn't have been expensive, and was an easy walk to places to eat, the beach etc.

Thanks a lot Kay! Do you remember by chance the names of the hotels that you stayed at?

ALGHERO isi the only medieval city worth to visit in Sardinia. There are sandy beaches nearby, one of the best of them is Lido Bombarde with the beach Hotel dei Pini.

COSTA SMERALDA has not only incredibly expensive resort towns like Porto Cervo. Even there - however - you couldn't find high rise buildings.
Typical Italian hotels like Capriccioli or Colonna Beach Hotel Marinella have reasonable prices.
Portisco has tons of airbnb. Residence Costa Ruia nearby isn't bad either. Both ae close to the sandy beaches of Rena Bianca and Liscia Ruja where you can rent beds and umbrellas.

If you prefer red porphyr rocks and sandy bveaches, check CALA GONONE and Arbatax. Arbatax can be reached by ferry from Civitavecchia (port of Rome).

Some of the most popular sandy beaches are in and around VILLASIMIUS (south-eastern edge of the Island). There you might find he warmest air and seawater in September.

The most popular sights are the nuraghus, a kind of defense towers built by the local people some 2000 years ago. You find good explanations of Nuraghus culture (with many excavated artefacts) in the museums of Cagliari and Sassari.
The most famous Nuraghus settlements are BARUMINI (with small museum), Isili and Torralba.
Remains of a Phoenician city (Tharros) can be found West of Oristano.

At CARBONIA, you can visit a mining museum (abandoned coal mines).
Carbania is the starting point for the visit of:
the Island of San Pietro with the capital Carloforte (a real gem built by Ligurians many centuries ago) and some beaches,
the Island of Sant' Antioco (some beaches),
the dune beaches of Porto Pino,
the dune beach of Porto Zafferano.

The whole of Sardinia has fabulous beaches and splendid landscapes but since you have already chosen Alghero as one of your bases there's maybe not much point driving all the way to the south of Sardinia when there is so much to see still in the North.
Basing in Alghero you can visit Alghero itself, Stintino (you have to book the beach), Costa Argentiera (https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspo...ero-porto.html), Capo Caccia cliffs and views, Castelsardo (I liked Sassari but most people wouldn't include it), Bosa.
A second base in Santa Teresa di Gallura could be nice for Capo Testa, or otherwise for more spectacular beaches maybe base the other nights in San Teodoro - see the first days of this itinerary:
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspo...ero-porto.html
South of Sardinia and lovely places mentioned by neckervd deserve a separate and possibly longer trip!

Thanks a lot for the answers.
I wonder if we should include Cagliari in our itinerary, together with Aldhero. We are not really planning to spend half of the trip on the beaches

I checked and it was Hotel Marinaro in Santa Teresa Gallura. Fairly plain but clean and well situated. In Alghero we stayed at a pensione type place, no staff at all, and didn't like it.