Getaways from Cagliari: day trips and destinations close by.

Six minutes by train from Elmas

There is a direct flight to Cagliari-Elmas airport (CAG) from Barcelona and from Seville. It is the only city in Sardinia with a direct flight from Seville: Olbia, in the north, has one only from Barcelona, and Alghero has none from Spain.

From the airport to the centre you take the train from Elmas Aeroporto station, in about six minutes and for €1.30. Cagliari is the only base on the island where you do not need a car on the first day; for everything else, the hire car is picked up at the airport or in the city. The times that follow are approximate.

Castello, Poetto and the flamingos on foot and by bus

The city is seen in a day with your legs and one bus line. In the morning you climb to Castello, the Pisans' walled quarter, by the stairway of the Saint Remy bastion to the Umberto I terrace, and continue to the towers of San Pancrazio and the Elephant. It is best to go up early: at midday the stone gives no shade. You eat at the foot of the bastion, at the Antico Caffè, and in the afternoon the PF bus takes you to the old Molentargius salt pans, where the flamingos feed in the shallow water, and from there you cross on foot to the sands of Poetto. This is Cagliari without a car, the plan on this page that works in any month; from mid-October to February the salt-pan park closes at 18:00 and you need to see the flamingos earlier.

Castello has restricted traffic and in summer parking at Poetto is difficult, so for this day the car is surplus. The practical thing is to pick it up the next day.

The SS195 to the south-west, Villasimius to the east

With a car, the two nearby coasts lie in opposite directions. To the south-west, the SS195 towards Pula leads in about 45 minutes to the ruins of Nora, the Phoenician and Roman city between two bays, with its theatre, baths and mosaics. Half an hour further south are the dunes of Su Giudeu, at Chia, with an islet you reach on foot at low tide: Nora and the Chia beaches. It is an April to October plan, with Nora first thing because there is no shade among the ruins.

To the east, the coast leads in a little over an hour to Villasimius and the Capo Carbonara marine area. There the day is at sea: a sailing boat to Isola dei Cavoli, snorkelling and lunch on board, and Porto Giunco on the way back, with the flamingos of the Notteri pond. It is offered by two nights in Cagliari and Villasimius, with a night in the centre for Castello and another beside the beach to set out by boat without an early start. It is a May to September getaway.

Both coasts are part of the Cagliari and the south coast page, where the accommodation and tables for these plans are.

Two and a half hours along the SS131 to the north

The SS131 crosses the island from south to north and the long plans leave along it. About two and a half hours away are Bosa, with Malaspina castle and the boat on the Temo or Bosa Marina and the Malvasia, and the Barbagia, where Mamoiada and Orgosolo are about two hours and three-quarters away (masks, murals and Cannonau) and Tiscali about three (Tiscali and Su Gologone).

They make a very long day, and the sensible thing is to sleep there: two nights in Bosa, between the Ponte Vecchio and Bosa Marina, or two nights in the Barbagia, with the Gennargentu from Fonni and Tiscali with a guide. They are spring and autumn plans; the Mamoiada and Orgosolo day is also good in winter.

Further up, a little over three hours away, is Alghero, with the Grotta di Nettuno by boat in two nights in Alghero, and about three and a half hours away, Stintino and Asinara, only from June to September, better in two nights in Stintino than in a day. For La Maddalena and the Costa Smeralda the base is Olbia, at the other end of the island.