traveling Sardenga
It’s been ages since I had a beach vacation, at least if you say a vacation has to be longer than one week. This year we have been visiting the south of Sardenga, or Sardinia, as it is called in English. It’s a really nice island and the Costa Rei has a beach that has fine white sand and crystal clear water. Even though it must be a tourist magnet in the high season, the off-season is very calm.
We decided to take the bus, on the one hand you can save a lot of money, you can avoid driving the streets of Sardenga by yourself and most importantly you can focus on the landscape.
On using the bus in Sardinia
The main intercity bus line in Sardinia is ARST, those buses seem to be going throughout the whole year, only changing their schedule once the high season is over. Going from Cagliari to Monte Nai, which is one of the biggest tourist villages there, costs you 5.50€. This is for two and a half hours traveling time, on a beautiful landscape, tiny roads and pretty aggressive other drivers.
In the low season this bus line is merged with the local school bus system, without a place to store your luggage, but you can take it inside the bus and place it on the seats…
Overall I can only recommend those buses, as there are only very few people using them in the low season. We didn’t have more than 8 passengers, not counting the school bus, where there was a busload of pupils, nevertheless we had 4 seats for us and our luggage.
The south of Sardinia
The south, especially the Costa Rei is very touristic. There are a lot of vacation resorts, and if you decide to go during the low season, you can make some nice bargains on the accommodations. It’s great for holidays on a budget. The beaches range from nice to awesome and there are some laws that make sure everyone is allowed to the beaches.
Overall we were surprised as the south of Sardinia was rather badly developed and we did not expect that at all. Sure you can get everything, but somehow it does not feel like lot of the money (that the tourists bring in for sure) stays on the island. Many places and streets are run down, if there are real streets at all and not some dust road. The most annoying thing was the pavement as it was wide enough for one person while anyone else had to go on the street.
The public transports were a shame, the intercity busing was great, but it was annoying that a lot of places are not accessible via bus once the high season is over. Not even once or twice per day. You are seriously dependent on other means of transportation if you want to access certain points such as a car, bike or scooter.
It’s a lovely country, and if you move outside the tourist routes the people are very nice and kind, always trying to help. There are a lot of people who have traveled and worked throughout Europe and who approach you when you are lost. It’s a great island!
In places where there are a lot of tourists the people are still nice, but it very often feels like the people are expecting you to give them the money. A lot of adventures you can have (boat trips, sports, cost quite a lot money and the guides/sales persons do not even seem to be that interested in selling you their items. It’s more like we have people who want this, there is no need to work hard for it. I might be mistaken here, but I am not going to throw my money at people simply because they are there. I have traveled quite a bit, and this simply felt like arrogance. The next time we visit Sardinia we will check out the north, the south still is a great place for cheap beach holidays in the low season, unless you want to use services or rentals that are offered there. Accommodation, bus & food is affordable.
The weather
The September is mild, and we had above 25 degrees throughout our vacation until around the 20’st, which was when we flew home. For us this was the perfect time, a mild climate, warm but not too hot. Even the nights were very mild and we only needed a pullover twice when you went to the beach. We didn’t need long pants the whole time.
Island pricing
I guess there are a lot of things you can get cheap, but most of the food, especially fresh food, is not cheap. First of Cheese, Milk & Meat are really expensive, you can easily pay up to 30€ for a single Kilo of meat or cheese. Fruits are not that expensive, but you have to watch out to get some fresh ones as in every small supermarket there is some service who weights the fruits for you. Sweets are expensive, especially chocolate. Bread is mostly some white bread, which is priced OK.
Overall Sardinia has some hefty prices on the food, especially if you are dependent on local stores and don’t have a car to hit up the big french supermarkets in the outskirts. We thought it’s a fair trade to save a few hundred bucks on a car and therefor spend a bit more on food. Even though you can probably hook up with other people who are there who can take you to a shop if they go there themselves. You are forcing yourself to social interactions if you are dependent on public transport and local markets, which was a lot fun not being able to speak more than 10 Italian words.
Adventures, such a guided trips, sports or rentals are fairly expensive and can bust a small budget very fast.
The Costa Rei
The beach on this coast has white sands and crystal clear water and is about 10 km long. You can see this illustrated in the following google maps screenshot. Most towns are tourist towns during the summer months and there are not many people left once the holiday season is over.
