After six months and all our money spent in Europe, we said we were not going back for at least a year. Then we were back, for Sardinia.
Before we went, Abbey asked on our stories where you would go if you had been. More than eighty of you replied, and she read every single DM. The answers mostly agreed: the north is bougie and expensive, the south is laid back and authentic, and about 70% of you told us that if we stayed anywhere, it should be Cala Gonone.
So we drove the lot to find out for ourselves. Four days in the south and we were obsessed, so naturally we assumed the north would be insane. Here is what actually happened.
Five things that caught us out
1We booked La Pelosa like a concert ticket, then the wind won
Some of Sardinia's famous beaches cap their numbers and have to be booked. La Pelosa in the north lets in 1,500 people a day. Some spots can be booked well ahead, and the rest open two days before at 9am, for about three euro each. We booked at 9am, and by 9:03 there were only 300 left. It honestly felt like buying a concert ticket.
Then the morning came and it was windy and overcast. Our Airbnb host told us that when the wind comes from the north, the water at La Pelosa is just not as blue. No app told us that. Always ask the locals.
Plan B was the ferry from Palau to the La Maddalena islands, 47 euro there and back for the car and the two of us. It was grey there too, and so busy we could not even park. We turned around and caught the ferry straight home. You take the wins and you take the losses.
2The glamorous north was a retirement village
We drove up to Porto Cervo with big expectations: super yachts, designer stores, celebrity sightings, the famous beach clubs. We had the general feeling that we had absolutely no business being there.
It appeared we had stumbled into a retirement village, which is not the first time we have done that. To be fair, it was five o'clock on a windy Wednesday, and we are sure those clubs go off on the right night. We tried Ichnusa, the local beer, and the unfiltered one is the one to get.
3The wind cancelled our boat, and it was still our best day
Our big day in Cala Gonone was meant to be a self-drive boat along the Orosei coast to the beaches you can only reach by boat. At five the night before, the hire company messaged to cancel. Too windy on the water.
We jumped online and found a hop on hop off boat, around 30 euro each, that drops you at one beach and picks you up later. Then at the port we found out the most famous beach on the coast, Cala Luna, was closed to boats. The two towns that own half of it each want to stop over-tourism and cap it at 900 people a day. You can still hike in, two hours each way.
We went to Cala Sisine instead, with rolls we had made from the supermarket, mozzarella, ham, mortadella and pesto, about 10 euro all up. We forgot water. Tijs walked ten minutes in the heat to a little shop and came back with a Calippo, a Coke Zero and sparkling water, and saved the day. Somehow it was the best day of our whole trip.
4You do not walk out of an agriturismo, you roll
An agriturismo is a farm to table feast. You book a time slot and pay a flat price, usually 40 to 50 euro a person, for all the food and unlimited wine. At our first, Agriturismo Baccu Cardu, half an hour inland from Cagliari, it was 40 euro each. We booked for 1pm and rolled out at 5pm.
Nobody tells you how it works. The plates stack up, and after every few dishes they clear one and you move on to the next course. We worked out the pace by watching the Italian families around us, and only later learned that the carafe we thought was olive oil was the unlimited wine. Tijs did not pace himself, and he was full for days.
You will probably only need one. We did a second to compare, Agriturismo Codula Fuili near Cala Gonone, 45 euro each, and it was our favourite, right on the cliff with the best views, better paced, and the freshest cheese we have ever had.
5Sardinia is far bigger than it looks
Top to bottom is around five to six hours of driving, so you need a car. Ours came through Discover Cars at about 40 euro a day in June 2026. It was a manual, and you drive on the other side of the road, but the roads are great.
Split the trip into bases and move up the island, or the whole holiday turns into a road trip. Returning the car where you picked it up saves a lot of money. We had about ten days on the road and it was not enough to see the whole island.
The bits we would keep exactly the same
Cala Gonone as the base. It is a little mountain beach town on the east coast, and we were genuinely obsessed with it. Locals live there and it has not been swallowed by tourism. The beaches along this coast are almost only reachable by boat or on foot, the water looks almost fake, and you are far enough from the north that your wallet does not start crying. Our one bedroom Airbnb had a balcony we ate breakfast on every day.
San Pantaleo. The north's best trick. We only went because we saw a restaurant on TikTok, and it turned out to be the most beautiful town we found in Sardinia. It is inland, so not beachy, but it is full of artists and cool restaurants, and we wish we had stayed there. That restaurant was Casa Bohème Bistro, and you absolutely have to eat there.
The dumplings. Culurgiones, little dumplings filled with potato, pecorino and mint, at Sa Domu Sarda in Cagliari, were the single best thing we ate in Sardinia. The locals come at 8 or 8.30pm, so get there when it opens at 7.30 and you will get in.
The coffee chaos. Our standing order in Italy is a macchiato doppio. Sometimes it wins, sometimes it turns up as a latte. We are never going to get it right, and the coffee is always banging anyway.
So, north or south?
Honestly, the north is much more beautiful, and the southern beaches are not anywhere close. You understand why the famous people go there. But the south feels way more local and rustic, and early in June it was not busy and the people were so nice. The middle has the best beaches and the most to do.
If you want bougie, go north to Porto Cervo. If you want local, spend time around Cagliari. Either way, give Cala Gonone the most nights. Accommodation is the one thing in Sardinia that is genuinely expensive, more than Greece, so book it early. Supermarkets, car hire and eating out were standard euro prices.
Abbey & Tijs