Sardinia (Sardegna) - An Island to Rival the Caribbean Islands

​Ciao!!  We are a water family. When we lived in Pensacola, we could be found at the beach, boating, or in the pool about 3-4 days/ week during the warm weather months.  In Pensacola, those months lasted from March – October.  We also frequented the Caribbean islands on vacation to soak up even MORE sun!  After living in Naples, Italy for about two months, we started to get a bit stir crazy for the water. We had yet to actually go to any beaches in our local area, those we would discover later, but we wanted to travel somewhere with great beaches.
 
The way that we find cheap tickets is an actual process....we start with the website Skyscanner.  We plug in our departure location (usually Naples International) and for our destination, we put ‘everywhere,’ then we plug in the dates we want to go. This method provides a list of countries and destinations by price. In Europe, doing this can yield very inexpensive tickets. Sometimes, going to the actual airline website, for the cheapest fare found from Skyscanner, can yield a better price by shifting the date.  So, for example, let’s say the lowest fare is €50 per person, round trip on RyanAir. I’ll pop over to the RyanAir website and play around with the flight until I get it just the way I want it for the price I want it. 
 
***Insider tip:  Be flexible with leaving early or arriving late for the best price. It’s a vacation, so there will be time to nap. Our family has flown three different times around 6:00 am and arrived after 10:00 pm, even on a school night. However, it can save us around €100 per person (maybe more, maybe less), that’s €500 for our whole family!  That’s nearly $570.  Saving money for 5 people is a big deal when we want to travel as much as possible!

How we travel on weekend trips ~ with backpacks!

The clarity of the water absolutely rivals the Caribbean sea!

Crystal clear water at La Cinta Beach

We found tickets to the island of Sardinia for €71 per person, round trip, that’s $81.42.  I started researching the island and got very excited about this trip!! Sardinia is about 130 miles (210 km) long and 68 miles (110 km) wide. All of the pictures I found showed clear, blue water, beaches, gorgeous mountains.  This is a rather large island and I was overwhelmed when deciding where in the coast
line we should stay, so I received a recommendation by a fellow military spouse to stay at a town called San Teodoro (Saint Theodore). Milspouses are a font of information, especially spouses living in Europe.  One of the spouses in nearly every crowd will have already traveled to your future destination.....we constantly pump each other for travel info!
 
We flew into the northern portion of the island into Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport with only backpacks full of our weekend clothes.  The bus stop to get to San Teodoro was right outside of the airport. We decided not to rent a car because we wanted to relax in San Teodoro and unwind rather than try to tackle the entire island.  It took about an hour and a half for the bus to arrive. During this time, we stocked up on water and snacks and filled up our backpack cooler.  The bus ride took about 40 minutes and costs our family of 5 less than €15 because our youngest son was free.  Once we arrived, we had about a 20 minute walk to our reserved hotel room at Hotel La Rose.....having backpacks for this type of travel is ideal. It’s difficult to tote around a rolling luggage when crossing streets and walking along sidewalks.
 

One of the many child play areas at Hotel Le Rose

The pool at the hotel with a portion of the stage all the way on the left

​As a side plug for Hotel La Rose ....the location is PRIME.  We were within walking distance to the whole of San Teodoro’s shopping, restaurants, and a 10 minute walk from the beach. However, the hotel does not have the best reviews and we read them intently. We had already decided not to rent a car, so we kept that in mind when commencing the hotel search. The hotels with better reviews that we could find within our budget were not in close proximity to public transportation and once we discovered that we wanted to stay in San Teodoro, our options were limited even further.  We really did not want to stay at an Airbnb....we wanted the kids to be able to enjoy the pool and possibly make some friends. So, we knew going in that the lodging wasn’t going to be perfect, but we’re not hard to please. The air conditioning was cool, but not cold.  The refrigerator barely kept our food cold and the beds were uncomfortable. However, in all honesty, the hotel made up for this in atmosphere. There was a stage in front of the pool area and during the day, they had an entertainment show for kids, and every night they had a comedy show for adults.  These types of shows are translated to ‘Animation’ from Italian to English...I say this because if you ever travel to Italy and see that there is ‘animation,’ you will know that it’s some sort of entertainment show. There was a kids club during the day, the breakfast buffet was perfect, the hotel pool was the perfect temperature, and there were little playgrounds throughout the resort for the kids to play.  To top it all off, we had our own outdoor table, chairs, and stand for hanging our beach clothes and towels after the beach. Our teenager, Julian, even joined a group of teens and accompanied them to the beach. Julian had the time of his life, as did we all, but this has been his favorite location to date. He hung out at the resort or the beach with those teens for most of the weekend!!  

Me & Mi Amor at Bal Harbor

Julian

Gabriel & Roman

My amazing Mojito

Aperitivo:
Now, before I go further.....I must tell you, one of my most FAVORITE things about Italy is the concept of Aperitivo.  Spain has their own version of this, as well, but the concept of aperitivo is genius!  So, before dinner, roughly between 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm, is aperitivo time in Italy. Restaurants serve pre-dinner drinks to open your palate and give you a chance to socialize and relax. Having aperitivos in Italy is a wonderful cultural experience where you order a cocktail, a spritz, a glass of prosecco, beer or wine and it comes with little appetizers for free.  You heard that right....the snacks come with the drinks at no extra cost!!  The snacks can comprise of bruschetta, peanuts, chips, fried bread, and even more elaborate depending on the restaurant or bar.  Each restaurant varies.

​***The Aperitivo game in Sardinia is strong, my friends!!  We received marketing materials inviting us to aperitivo, dinner, and events at a place called Bal Harbour, among other places.  On our second day, we headed over around 6:00 pm, which is a bit early for Italy.  However, we all got dressed up and went with the kids, the time was ideal for us.
 
Bal Harbour is an excellent establishment. They played low, classy techno.  The bartender took his time with each drink and made them with love.....he even put a straw in and tested each drink to ensure it was perfecto.  My mojito was absolutely perfect. There is a large pool, tables, and plush couches for sitting.  The whole vibe of the place made us feel super fancy, so we took a bunch of pictures and it put us in a very relaxing mood to kick off the evening. It was expensive, but worth it, truly.  We did not eat dinner there, but I would recommend others to do so.  They make a Brazilian steak that comes on kabob sticks, wrapped in bacon, and they take a torch to the bacon on the outside of the steak to make it crispy.  It looked divine, but we already had reservations elsewhere!  

Relaxing kid-free at Ambra Day

Our snacks, minus a bruschetta...sorry! ha!

​Ambra Day is also an excellent place for aperitivos. Let me set the scenery for you.....quiet techno music, delicious cocktails with a plate of free appetizers, AND an entire section of the outdoor restaurant dedicated to kids with bounce houses, child caretakers, and tons of fun! Haha  It was €8 for a half hour for each of our kids, but they had an absolute blast and we got the chance to relax, kid free!!

Pane Carasau

San Teodoro at night

​Pana Carasau
**Restaurants on the island of Sardinia serve a local specialty with lunch and dinner. It’s a type of bread called Pane Carasau.  This bread looks like a piece of paper and typically comes in a basket. It was different than typical Italian bread served at the dinner table and we enjoyed it! 
 
San Teodoro
**San Teodoro is classy. The crowd of people, the restaurants, the nighttime open market, and the shops are all very clean and beautiful. The town is small and very safe and is ideal for a relaxing family vacation. We discovered a restaurant called Sherdan Street Food, one night. The food was delish, prices were reasonable, and there was a gentlemen playing a Cuban bongo drum and singing in Spanish.  His singing wasn’t perfect, but we enjoyed the food and the show.  My mojito was 'okay.'  The service was excellent.  I recommend this restaurant for having something other than Italian food in San Teodoro.

Ferry to Tavolara Island
The ferry system in Porto San Paolo is inexpensive and the perfect way to tour Tavolara island. On our last day, our flight was not until evening, so we decided to take the public bus to Porto San Paolo and take a ferry across to tour the island of Tavolara. Porto San Paolo was on the way to the airport, so this worked out perfectly for us. After looking over all of the tours offered online and by our resort, we experienced some serious sticker shock.  Just to take a scheduled boat tour over to the island was €26 per person and didn’t include lunch, so we looked up the local ferry schedule and paid €16 per adult and €8 per child, round trip.  It was a comfortable and smooth 20 minute ride, each way.

Once we got off the bus and headed to the port, we got to see the town of Porto San Paolo, which is larger than San Teodoro. We thought it was a nice town and wouldn’t mind staying there on another trip, but San Teodoro really captured our hearts.

There are beautiful mountains and trails on the island. I highly recommend hiking around and relaxing at the beach. If I had it to do over again, I would have brought a cooler with lunch and drinks.  The prices at the two restaurants on the island are astronomical. They even charged me €4 for a small can of soda....robbery, I tell you!  
We also rented chairs and an umbrella for the day, since we didn’t have our hotel towels.  I don’t recall the price, but in Italy it’s typically €8 per chair and €8 per umbrella.  
​
Final Thoughts
**Insider tip:  Try to do what you can to avoid visiting this location in August. August is Ferragosto for Italians, essentially it’s a month where all Italians go on vacation to the beach or the mountains.  August 15 is the actual Ferragosto holiday, but the entire month is a holiday for locals. The crowds will be insane if you travel here in August. June or July would be perfecto.
 
We finished out the trip with dark tans and were blissfully spent. Sardinia is a must see if you ever venture to Italy in the summer.  We would also stay at Hotel Le Rose again for entertainment, location, and ease.  It is our hope that they make some small changes or renovations to make the hotel a perfect stay before we return. We shall see! The memories of this place keep me warm as I write this post in November. We are so very blessed in this life......to be able to experience these things and see these places.  It is my honor to share it with you!  Until next time..

Next Blog Post:  Our Life in Italia....Beach, Boating, Downtown, Cooking, and More!