Asinara by sailing boat in a day: Cala d'Oliva, Cala Reale and a Sardinian dinner

The plan

The day at a glance

Any part can be swapped for another without spoiling the day.

06:45
Leave Olbia 2 h by car
To Stintino; estimated time, without stops. It is sensible to sleep there the night before
09:10 1
Asinara on a vintage sailing ship from Stintino, with lunch on board and four stops
Gite Asinara · boarding at Piazzale Guardia Costiera 20 min before 9:30 · from €95 with lunch, drink and tax

+39 340 053 6931

Boat With Gite Asinara (BluMare Service) From €95 per person
Book
6 min on foot
18:00 2
Stintino Tonnara Museum (MuT), the tuna fishing that founded the town
from June to September until 20:30, last entry at 20:00 · closed on Monday
7 min by car2,4 km
20:15 3
Agriturismo Depalmas
Sardinian inland dinner with a fixed menu; booking compulsory; closed on Sunday

Località Preddu Nieddu, 07040 Stintino · +39 388 045 3479

Restaurant €€€
Book
22:30
Back home
To Olbia or Cagliari, or to your hotel in Stintino

Approximate cost About €130–160 per person

Adds up the activities and meals in the plan at their published prices; travel and accommodation not included.

The route

Asinara on a vintage sailing ship from Stintino, with lunch on board and four stops

For over a century Asinara was a forbidden island: a quarantine station, a penal colony and, from 1975, a maximum-security prison. Today it is a national park and is visited by boat. This plan tours it on a classic sailing boat that leaves from Stintino, stops at the island's two villages and lets you swim in coves with no road, with lunch served on board. On the way back, the Tonnara Museum tells how the families expelled from Asinara founded Stintino, and dinner is inland fare, at a farm stay in the countryside.

Getting there from Spain

Fly to Olbia (OLB), with a direct flight from Barcelona, or to Cagliari (CAG), from Barcelona and Seville. Alghero is about 50 km from Stintino, but has no direct flight from Spain. By car, from Olbia it is about two hours and from Cagliari about three and a half hours, estimated times. The boat leaves at 9:30: the sensible thing is to sleep in Stintino the night before.

The day, hour by hour

9:10 · Boarding. At Piazzale Guardia Costiera in Stintino harbour, twenty minutes before sailing. With Gite Asinara, from €95 in June and September, with lunch, drinks and the €5 landing tax included.

9:30 · Cala d'Oliva. The white-houses village of the old penal colony and the Diramazione Centrale, seen from outside. Two beaches for the first swim.

Midday · Cala del Bianco. A swim and lunch on board: a first course with prawn sauce, wine, coffee and Sardinian liqueurs.

Afternoon · Cala Reale. The old quarantine station, a Roman wreck and the white donkeys. The park's Sea Centre costs €4. A last swim at Li Graniti or Punta degli Inglesi, depending on the wind.

17:30 · Back to Stintino. In a strong grecale the skipper changes route and goes via Fornelli and its prison.

18:00 · Tonnara Museum. A few minutes' walk from the harbour. €5, free for under-15s.

20:15 · Dinner at Agriturismo Depalmas. 2 km from the village, in the countryside. A fixed menu of Sardinian inland cooking: the house pecorino and cured meats, ricotta ravioli, suckling pig with myrtle and seadas. Booking compulsory.

Time8 h

The quay and the buildings of the old lazaretto at Cala Reale, on Asinara

Alexkom000 · CC BY 4.0

Change the route

With young children, if it rains or if you fancy something else: another stop that fits the same day.

The white houses of Cala d'Oliva beside the sea on Asinara

If you get seasick or prefer land: 4x4 van from 9:15 to 17:30, from €60 plus boat and tax: Asinara overland by 4x4 from Stintino: the Cala d'Oliva prison, the white donkeys and Cala Sabina4x4 tour · 9:15 to 17:30 · From €60 plus boat and tax · May to October

The bay of Cala Reale, where the Porto Torres ferry docks

On your own and out of season: ferry from Porto Torres to Cala Reale, €15 return, and a bike: Asinara on your own: the ferry from Porto Torres to Cala Reale and a bike along the park tracksFerry and bike · Full day · Ferry from €15 · All year, in winter Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Octopus with potatoes, one of the house starters

On Sunday, when Depalmas is closed: pizza or fish on the promenade: Il PorticoRestaurant, pizzeria and cocktail bar on the Stintino promenade, opposite the harbour. Wood-fired pizza, fried seafood, bluefin tuna and Stintino gilthead bream at mid-range prices.

Room with a terrace and a view of Stintino's new harbour

To sleep the night before less than 2 km from boarding, with breakfast included: 103 Stintino Boutique HotelSmall hotel on the Stintino promenade, opposite the new harbour, with 25 m² rooms, breakfast included and the Asinara departures less than 2 km away.

Where to eat

Where to eat?

Lunch is half the plan: book before you set off.

The farm stay's dining room, with check tablecloths and large windows onto the countryside

Agriturismo Depalmas

Restaurant · Stintino · €€€€

What to order: the Sardinian dinner menu, with no choosing: house cured meats and pecorino, ricotta ravioli, oven-roasted suckling pig with myrtle and seadas

Land-based cooking only, no fish. Set menu, the same for the whole table; booking compulsory. Closed on Sunday.

Il Portico

Restaurant · Stintino · €€€€

What to order: a wood-fired pizza or the grilled bluefin tuna; to share, the octopus with potatoes or the mussel zuppetta

Open every day in season, at lunchtime and in the evening. The full menu with prices is on an external website that could not be read.

The restaurant and its small harbour beside the beach at sunset, with the Gulf of Asinara

L'Ancora Porticciolo

Restaurant · Stintino · €€€€

What to order: the linguine alla falconiera with clams, bottarga and tomato, or the fregola ai frutti di mare; for a main course, the grilled fish of the gulf, charged by weight

Open from 8:30 until late; lunches from 12:30 to 15:00. Cover charge €3 in the dining room and €2 in the bar. Animals accepted.

Map

The stops, in order

With where to park at each one.

What to do Eat 88 €Stay Services

Getting there

By car or without one?

By car

To get to Stintino and for dinner in the countryside. The sailing boat leaves from the village harbour.

Without a car

If you sleep in the centre, the boarding point and the museum are within walking distance; for Depalmas, swap it for Il Portico, on the promenade.

When to go

When to go to Stintino and Asinara Island

From June to September, when the sailing boat runs; best in June and September, which are cheaper. Depalmas is closed on Sunday and the museum on Monday: do it from Tuesday to Saturday.

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Best timeGood timeLow season

Tips

Worth knowing first

1
Sleep in Stintino the night before
The sailing boat leaves at 9:30 and from Olbia it is two hours.
2
Bring a snorkelling mask
Hire on board costs €4.
3
Choose a day from Tuesday to Saturday
The museum is closed on Monday and Depalmas on Sunday.