Sardinian Hotel & Beach Help
by Sandra
(Newport Beach, Ca)
Dear Andrew,
I've enjoyed and signed up with your website. The beaches you recommend are alluring. But it appears most of them are only reached by boat or hiking.
We are looking for a nice location/hotel; a nice beach, the ability to drive to other beautiful beaches, a nice town reachable by car or vespa, and not a family hotel.
We are a couple in our early 60's and willing to pay for a 4 star hotel. Nascar sounded really nice but apparently on a busy road.
What is your opinion on vespa vs a car on the island?
Thank you,
Sandra
Andrew's reply: Although the beaches around
Cala Gonone, on the east coast of the island, are my favorite they are a little more difficult to get to if you are travelling by car. Many of them, as you correctly state, are best reached by boat.
Don't worry though as there are hundreds more beaches that are simply wonderful and easily reached by car.
I'd suggest two areas of the island that may be exactly what you need. The first is the Costa Smeralda (The Emerald Coast) and I'd really recommend the area around Palau. The beaches are beautiful, there are lots of lovely towns along the coast to explore and nearly everything can be reached by car.
You can read about it under the Cala Capra
section of my Costa Smeralda guide here. You'll see I recommend a couple of hotels there too which are very much the sort of hotels I think you are looking for.
My next suggestion would be the beaches around the
Bay of Chia (you can read more about the beaches here). This area is in the south of the island and not far from the island's loveliest city - Cagliari. Cagliari is a fascinating city, filled with centuries of history. It makes a great day trip for a rainy day or simply as a break from the beaches.
Whichever of the two you choose you are assured of beautiful beaches and an amazing vacation.
Remember to try and book via the
HotelsCombined.com links on the website if you can as they help us to keep going. Actually whenever you book a vacation anywhere you can use them - Maria and I would be ever so grateful and it won't cost you a cent more.
Nearly forgot, you asked about hiring a vespa versus a car rental? Well a vespa can be fun - if you are only doing very short distances - however I would go with the car rental as it will allow you to explore more.
P.S. I've attached a photo of the Costa Smeralda to get you into the vacation spirit :-)