Sardinia - Post trip
Discussion
After reviewing North/South earlier in the year in other threads I decided on the South.
Flights into Cagliari from LGW were ok, 2.5 hours, we needed a stay over as the flight was a red eye out at an eye watering 530, we did the Premier inn which was ok but rooms very small and knowhere to put that essential thing you take on holiday…luggage!
?Gatwick was surprisingly full to the brim in the morning, Wetherspoons for breakfast was a 10 minute queue at 4am, ridiculous. They do serve you quickly though and have a lot of staff (you pay for of course) on so fair play.
I do wonder why Greggs don’t open up in Terminals, they’d make a packet.
Arrival in Cagliari at 930 was a good feeling as we’d get the full day ahead, I chose a car hire firm on discover cars called Moventur, they throw all the hire firms outside the terminal so that was chaotic finding the booth, then going back twice to work out where Moventur hid the cars so if you use them they were right at the rear of the car park behind every other firm…!
Id booked a Vauxhall Mokka but got a VW Troc which was ok and a mini version cockpit wise as my Passat so great, although felt like a diesel but when filling up was actually a Petrol. It was useful to have the higher suspension a few times thats for sure.
They did have a notice about the car being returned clean as collected or they’d charge between £20-£150 so beware, I seem to have had no issues.
So onto the place for our two weeks in our abode for the two weeks in a small village outside Pula “Fox E Sali”
This was slightly off the main road from Pula to Chia so ideal for going into Pula for food and Chia beaches, Nora was right next to Pula and the ancient Romain town, this has a lovely lagoon and a few decent restaurants, so while not knowing what the area was like I felt we’d done ok on guessing. Pula had a few supermarkets for us, CRAI especially good on selection and pastries and astoundingly open 8am till 11pm DAILY!
I was very surprised how much they open shops and restaurants, but god, do they eat late, this was a bit of an issue as I thought with my nearly 4 year old son, but we managed to find a few establishments in Pula that started dinner at 6pm onwards, and we did a few late meals. It was a struggle after the long days out, however we only ate out about 6 odd nights of the 14 which isn’t an issue for us as the property had a fantastic facility to chuck large amounts of decent meat on!
Oh and as you can see an outdoor shower! Such a great experience.
Beaches in the mornings were the main activities, without doubt the best beaches I’ve been to including the carribean, the Snorkelling was good, and showed how protecting the beaches can pay dividends. ??Parking for beaches was an original concern but didn’t end up being too much aggro, you’ll pay 5-8 euro for all day to park, which even going for 2/3 hours was good value. The beach clubs I thought were very well run operations compared to other countries we’ve been on holiday to, you basically choose if you wish to have a sun bed, go treat yourself type of affair, along with the food offered, exceptionally good based on where the beaches were. ??Beaches slobbed on with a few pics.??Di Sa Colonia/Monte Cogoni
Most Expensive Parking (8 euro) but very few on the beach and had toilets (said a charge but wasn’t anyone there).
We caught some flamingos on a lagoon behind this beach.
Snorkelling good as well.
Su Giudeu
About the same for people as The last one, bit of a walk to parking at 5 euros.
Di Cala Coppola
No facilities on this one, so pack a lunch, without doubt the favourite for us, and had a cove next to it im sure idiots jump off in peak season.
Good snorkelling again here.
Tuerredda
Nice beach but my god far too busy even in late September. We got there at about 930/10 and by 11 it was head to toe, just far too busy for us, which was a shame.
Coast road from Tuerredda to The Tramatzu beach was absolutely brilliant and such a fantastic driving road even in the T-brick.
Unfortunately we pulled a boo boo with this beach and it didn’t break cloud enough. ??One of the issues with Sardinia we found was finding a predictable source for weather forecast so bear that in mind, cloudy may mean partial clouding etc.
Took a drive one morning over to Porto Pino, not seeing the better beach but it was nice to get out.
One thing perfectly harmless and like an irritating fly was the African/Indians market stall workers walking up and down on the beach, some of the poor sods really had it hard, a “No thank you” was enough to deter but I felt very Quilty for some of them, especially H Samuel Italy!
A day in Cagliari
Well not much in cag, we had a bit of breakfast and walk about up to the Botanical gardens then back and was done in about 4 hours.
Fantastic views at the Palazzo of the city and bay.
Worth the trip though if you go. It was relatively safe, although it was a city so you noticed a few potential pick pocketers etc.
Oh one other bit of entertainment was a morning drive upto Sardegna Avventura Park, a great little place with dinosaurs for my boy to see, bleeding huge things.
One thing we did find was lack of kids entertainment for things to do like the adventure park but we coped well enough, in peak im sure water parks would be available etc.
Sardinia is a very big island when you compare to say Majorca, the roads were brilliant, not a sole on some of them during the day, I think they’ve built a lot of new road on our stretch between Pula/Cagliari and are still building.
Driving wise, it was quite variable on speed limits on motorways, Cameras were signed but not prewared on exact location, I had one potential near miss from one that was a older gatso and I noticed on the road out the back of Cagliari a few cameras that looked to be speed cameras, speed limits in the car were pointless so im hoping I’ll be fine.
?We did have one brush in with the law in Pula, it involved a parking ticket! A lovely recipet on the wiper after dinner one night, it was 29 euros and I was bang to rights so just bloody paid it, there was also about 4 other tourists caught out. One day later and we were fine.
Parking machines were a pain by the way, sometimes they took NFC payment sometimes not, you need to enter the number plate etc, all for 1/2 euros an hour which I wonder now if was out of season pricing but seemed a right pita sometimes.
The coppers who had done us were walking round the town and we found them, In our defence it was rather confusing as they seem to have peak periods for paying for a spot and periods were you couldn’t park after X time etc, a nightmare for a very small town.
I’m sure we will be going back next year without a doubt, not sure if we’ll do the south but found everything decent value for money, paying 90-130 euros for meals for the three of us (and me).
Last of all the Sardinias were very nice and accommodating, even the coppers I challenged about my parking ticket!
Flights into Cagliari from LGW were ok, 2.5 hours, we needed a stay over as the flight was a red eye out at an eye watering 530, we did the Premier inn which was ok but rooms very small and knowhere to put that essential thing you take on holiday…luggage!
?Gatwick was surprisingly full to the brim in the morning, Wetherspoons for breakfast was a 10 minute queue at 4am, ridiculous. They do serve you quickly though and have a lot of staff (you pay for of course) on so fair play.
I do wonder why Greggs don’t open up in Terminals, they’d make a packet.
Arrival in Cagliari at 930 was a good feeling as we’d get the full day ahead, I chose a car hire firm on discover cars called Moventur, they throw all the hire firms outside the terminal so that was chaotic finding the booth, then going back twice to work out where Moventur hid the cars so if you use them they were right at the rear of the car park behind every other firm…!
Id booked a Vauxhall Mokka but got a VW Troc which was ok and a mini version cockpit wise as my Passat so great, although felt like a diesel but when filling up was actually a Petrol. It was useful to have the higher suspension a few times thats for sure.
They did have a notice about the car being returned clean as collected or they’d charge between £20-£150 so beware, I seem to have had no issues.
So onto the place for our two weeks in our abode for the two weeks in a small village outside Pula “Fox E Sali”
This was slightly off the main road from Pula to Chia so ideal for going into Pula for food and Chia beaches, Nora was right next to Pula and the ancient Romain town, this has a lovely lagoon and a few decent restaurants, so while not knowing what the area was like I felt we’d done ok on guessing. Pula had a few supermarkets for us, CRAI especially good on selection and pastries and astoundingly open 8am till 11pm DAILY!
I was very surprised how much they open shops and restaurants, but god, do they eat late, this was a bit of an issue as I thought with my nearly 4 year old son, but we managed to find a few establishments in Pula that started dinner at 6pm onwards, and we did a few late meals. It was a struggle after the long days out, however we only ate out about 6 odd nights of the 14 which isn’t an issue for us as the property had a fantastic facility to chuck large amounts of decent meat on!
Oh and as you can see an outdoor shower! Such a great experience.
Beaches in the mornings were the main activities, without doubt the best beaches I’ve been to including the carribean, the Snorkelling was good, and showed how protecting the beaches can pay dividends. ??Parking for beaches was an original concern but didn’t end up being too much aggro, you’ll pay 5-8 euro for all day to park, which even going for 2/3 hours was good value. The beach clubs I thought were very well run operations compared to other countries we’ve been on holiday to, you basically choose if you wish to have a sun bed, go treat yourself type of affair, along with the food offered, exceptionally good based on where the beaches were. ??Beaches slobbed on with a few pics.??Di Sa Colonia/Monte Cogoni
Most Expensive Parking (8 euro) but very few on the beach and had toilets (said a charge but wasn’t anyone there).
We caught some flamingos on a lagoon behind this beach.
Snorkelling good as well.
Su Giudeu
About the same for people as The last one, bit of a walk to parking at 5 euros.
Di Cala Coppola
No facilities on this one, so pack a lunch, without doubt the favourite for us, and had a cove next to it im sure idiots jump off in peak season.
Good snorkelling again here.
Tuerredda
Nice beach but my god far too busy even in late September. We got there at about 930/10 and by 11 it was head to toe, just far too busy for us, which was a shame.
Coast road from Tuerredda to The Tramatzu beach was absolutely brilliant and such a fantastic driving road even in the T-brick.
Unfortunately we pulled a boo boo with this beach and it didn’t break cloud enough. ??One of the issues with Sardinia we found was finding a predictable source for weather forecast so bear that in mind, cloudy may mean partial clouding etc.
Took a drive one morning over to Porto Pino, not seeing the better beach but it was nice to get out.
One thing perfectly harmless and like an irritating fly was the African/Indians market stall workers walking up and down on the beach, some of the poor sods really had it hard, a “No thank you” was enough to deter but I felt very Quilty for some of them, especially H Samuel Italy!
A day in Cagliari
Well not much in cag, we had a bit of breakfast and walk about up to the Botanical gardens then back and was done in about 4 hours.
Fantastic views at the Palazzo of the city and bay.
Worth the trip though if you go. It was relatively safe, although it was a city so you noticed a few potential pick pocketers etc.
Oh one other bit of entertainment was a morning drive upto Sardegna Avventura Park, a great little place with dinosaurs for my boy to see, bleeding huge things.
One thing we did find was lack of kids entertainment for things to do like the adventure park but we coped well enough, in peak im sure water parks would be available etc.
Sardinia is a very big island when you compare to say Majorca, the roads were brilliant, not a sole on some of them during the day, I think they’ve built a lot of new road on our stretch between Pula/Cagliari and are still building.
Driving wise, it was quite variable on speed limits on motorways, Cameras were signed but not prewared on exact location, I had one potential near miss from one that was a older gatso and I noticed on the road out the back of Cagliari a few cameras that looked to be speed cameras, speed limits in the car were pointless so im hoping I’ll be fine.
?We did have one brush in with the law in Pula, it involved a parking ticket! A lovely recipet on the wiper after dinner one night, it was 29 euros and I was bang to rights so just bloody paid it, there was also about 4 other tourists caught out. One day later and we were fine.
Parking machines were a pain by the way, sometimes they took NFC payment sometimes not, you need to enter the number plate etc, all for 1/2 euros an hour which I wonder now if was out of season pricing but seemed a right pita sometimes.
The coppers who had done us were walking round the town and we found them, In our defence it was rather confusing as they seem to have peak periods for paying for a spot and periods were you couldn’t park after X time etc, a nightmare for a very small town.
I’m sure we will be going back next year without a doubt, not sure if we’ll do the south but found everything decent value for money, paying 90-130 euros for meals for the three of us (and me).
Last of all the Sardinias were very nice and accommodating, even the coppers I challenged about my parking ticket!
Glad you enjoyed your trip. Nice beaches for sure.
We are currently sat in Cagliari waiting to go off to the airport.
Had a week here. Got it very cheap. Nice apartment etc. Good weather till today
However, won’t be rushing back. Cagliari is a city and doesn’t disguise it. Lots of graffiti and some dilapidated buildings. Loads of restaurants of course but we seemed to keep finding ones that were only average.
Can’t really single out one thing but just generally underwhelmed. Was really looking forward to it too
Oh well. Back to work Monday lol
We are currently sat in Cagliari waiting to go off to the airport.
Had a week here. Got it very cheap. Nice apartment etc. Good weather till today
However, won’t be rushing back. Cagliari is a city and doesn’t disguise it. Lots of graffiti and some dilapidated buildings. Loads of restaurants of course but we seemed to keep finding ones that were only average.
Can’t really single out one thing but just generally underwhelmed. Was really looking forward to it too
Oh well. Back to work Monday lol
milu said:
Glad you enjoyed your trip. Nice beaches for sure.
We are currently sat in Cagliari waiting to go off to the airport.
Had a week here. Got it very cheap. Nice apartment etc. Good weather till today
However, won’t be rushing back. Cagliari is a city and doesn’t disguise it. Lots of graffiti and some dilapidated buildings. Loads of restaurants of course but we seemed to keep finding ones that were only average.
Can’t really single out one thing but just generally underwhelmed. Was really looking forward to it too
Oh well. Back to work Monday lol
We did about 4 hours of walking around and a lunch in cagliari, it wouldn't be a city break option tbh based on it being more of a port town. The Botanical gardens were nice enough but nowt else there. We are currently sat in Cagliari waiting to go off to the airport.
Had a week here. Got it very cheap. Nice apartment etc. Good weather till today
However, won’t be rushing back. Cagliari is a city and doesn’t disguise it. Lots of graffiti and some dilapidated buildings. Loads of restaurants of course but we seemed to keep finding ones that were only average.
Can’t really single out one thing but just generally underwhelmed. Was really looking forward to it too
Oh well. Back to work Monday lol
It had a southampton feel to it with the port attachment.
20 mins down the road is where it's at!
We did go to Villasimius. Great twisty scenic road there( on a bus!)
But from the village a 2-3 mile walk to beach. We just struggled to get into it. We enjoyed our time on Poetto beach once the ride out was sussed.
Enjoyed breakfasts/coffees for not much cost too. Just the evening time didn’t click.
Today unfortunately it was raining so a bit lost whilst waiting to set off home.
On a positive note. All our interactions with public transport were great. Just got the train to airport instead of taxi ‘cos we weren’t in a rush. Super easy,pleasant and cheap.
But from the village a 2-3 mile walk to beach. We just struggled to get into it. We enjoyed our time on Poetto beach once the ride out was sussed.
Enjoyed breakfasts/coffees for not much cost too. Just the evening time didn’t click.
Today unfortunately it was raining so a bit lost whilst waiting to set off home.
On a positive note. All our interactions with public transport were great. Just got the train to airport instead of taxi ‘cos we weren’t in a rush. Super easy,pleasant and cheap.
milu said:
We did go to Villasimius. Great twisty scenic road there( on a bus!)
But from the village a 2-3 mile walk to beach. We just struggled to get into it. We enjoyed our time on Poetto beach once the ride out was sussed.
Enjoyed breakfasts/coffees for not much cost too. Just the evening time didn’t click.
Today unfortunately it was raining so a bit lost whilst waiting to set off home.
On a positive note. All our interactions with public transport were great. Just got the train to airport instead of taxi ‘cos we weren’t in a rush. Super easy,pleasant and cheap.
Yes, evenings were a tad slower than other Med destinations. Other challenge was any entertainment for the son in the day but TBH at night with a four year old we were always never out later than 8pm anyway. But from the village a 2-3 mile walk to beach. We just struggled to get into it. We enjoyed our time on Poetto beach once the ride out was sussed.
Enjoyed breakfasts/coffees for not much cost too. Just the evening time didn’t click.
Today unfortunately it was raining so a bit lost whilst waiting to set off home.
On a positive note. All our interactions with public transport were great. Just got the train to airport instead of taxi ‘cos we weren’t in a rush. Super easy,pleasant and cheap.
I loved the different feel to the morning coffee/pastry compared to France, seemed to be more communal and generally welcoming in the local cafes.
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