Panoramic Tour of La Maddalena Island
You will meet your guide and the bus and enjoy a panoramic drive crossing San Pantaleo and Arzachena until you arrive at Palau, a seaside resort located on the northern Sardinian coast where a ferry boat service connects it to the island of La Maddalena in 15 minutes.
La Maddalena is part of what it is considered the most beautiful archipelago in the world.
The islands of the Archipelago lie in one of the most seducing seas in the world. Luxuriant Mediterranean vegetation and rare essences. Moreover, beaches, inlets, small bays, gorges, and very white or pink sands; granitic rocks shaped and dug by the raging and purifying wind of a sea where dolphins and big fishes swim.
La Maddalena archipelago is known all over the world as a territory of rare beauty and of naturalistic, historic and cultural value.
You will enjoy a panoramic tour by bus of La Maddalena, the largest island of the archipelago. It has a triangular shape, a surface of 20 square km, nearly 45 km of generally high and jagged coasts and a rich vegetation of berry trees, myrtles and cysts. The diffused reddish colour of the rocks and the soil together with the limpid water create a continuous and fascinating contrast of colours. The highest point of the island is Monte Guardia Vecchia (156 m) where you will enjoy excellent views over the rest of the island and of Corsica as well.
You will then enjoy the centre of La Maddalena where you will have some free time to do some shopping. You will get to the main square of the resort named after Garibaldi, also called the “Red Square” for the reddish colour of the old paving.
You will then take the ferry again to Palau and drive back to Olbia.
The Emerald Coast: Baia Sardinia and Porto Cervo
You will meet your guide and coach at Olbia landing place and begin your tour of the magnificent Emerald Coast which is now a well established elite tourist destination, but owes its transformation as playground of the rich and famous to Prince Aga Khan Karim who, on March 14th 1962 together with a few associate business men and owners of some 3000 hectares of land, founded the Consortium of the Emerald Coast.
Some of the world’s finest architects were entrusted with the task of designing luxurious hotels and resorts that are not only amazingly beautiful, but that also blend sympathetically into their surroundings.
After a panoramic drive, you will reach Baia Sardinia.
Baja Sardinia is a well-known beach resort on the Gulf of Arzachena, near the famed Emerald Coast or Costa Smeralda, on Sardinia’s northeastern coast. It is a relatively small resort, home to mere hundreds of residents.
Bays, coves and beaches are home to crystal clear, blue waters and clean white sand.
The village’s size has grown as the popularity of the Emerald Coast developed. In line with the regional growth, Baia Sardinia is composed of hotels and villa complexes alongside shops, bars, and restaurants, all centered around a small square close to the beach and bay.
Afterwards you will continue to Porto Cervo.
Porto Cervo is considered the “capital” of the Emerald Coast and its tidy pastel-colored architecture becomes almost surreal.
Michele Busiri Vici in 1968 created the grotto-like shopping arcade in Porto Cervo’s centre.
At the heart of this warren of paths and passages you will find the piazzetta, the place where to have a good cocktail at your leisure and some shopping.
Nuraghe and Taste of Sardinia
Leaving Olbia your tour heads to visit one of the best preserved Nuraghe of Sardinia: La Prisgiona. Nuraghi are the main type of megalithic edifice found in Sardinia and the use of these beehive-like buildings still remain a mystery. La Prisgiona, has recently re-opened to visitors after new excavations and with its false dome cover is rather unusual. The monument has a central tower and two side towers incorporated into a bastion. The central tower has an entrance marked by a massive lintel of 3.2m. The central chamber, covered with a false dome, is more than 6m high and has three niches placed as a cross. A deep well can still can be seen in the courtyard and it is still active today. The greater portion of the village is yet to be excavated.
Following your visit you then head to a local winery in Balajana. The winery offers an unforgettable experience for the senses, combining a passion for wine with the scenic beauty of the Gallura region, in an inviting atmosphere of rare beauty. Here, you will be given a fascinating guided tour of the winery and vineyards and a tasting of three excellent wines together with a Sardinian snack (sausages, pecorino cheese and bread).
The Archeological Site of Arzachena
Santa Teresa di Gallura
Old Time Train to Gallura
Sardinian Wines