Bespoke Journeys to Sardinia and Corsica
Enchanting Sardinia For Two
Coral Riviera - Emerald Coast - Barbagia
15 days
This journey shows Sardinia at its most beautiful and its most authentic. You move from the coral waters of Alghero to the bright shores of the Costa Smeralda, through the granite hills of Gallura and into the quieter, older heart of Barbagia, where daily life still follows the land, the table, and the seasons.
Designed for two people who want more than a pretty holiday, it brings together good places to stay, striking scenery, and experiences that feel personal and well considered. You will wander the narrow streets of Castelsardo, look out over the clear water of the La Maddalena Archipelago, and discover Sardinia not just through what you see, but through what you taste, hear, and feel.
You wake to the sound of the sea, take your coffee slowly, and let the day unfold at an easy pace. The beauty of it is in the simplicity: a relaxed rhythm, places chosen with care, and local connections that make the island feel open without ever feeling staged.
This is not about ticking off famous sights. It is about being in the right places, at the right pace, with people who know the island well. A long lunch in the countryside, a cellar visit that feels like you have been expected, a stretch of coast that still feels untouched, a village where daily life carries on as it always has.
Everything is arranged with care, so you can simply arrive and enjoy the island. That is the real luxury here: good planning in the background, and the freedom to spend your time exactly as you want.
Your Sardinian Days, In Four Notes
Where You Stay
Small, characterful properties we know personally—places with real standards, calm service, and the right setting: sea-facing on the coast, or tucked into the countryside where nights are silent and mornings smell like herbs and citrus.
Sea & Shoreline
Sardinia’s water is not a marketing line—it’s the reason people return. Expect clear, turquoise bays, pale sand, and stretches of coast that still feel unspoiled. Time your beach days well, so they feel spacious, not busy.
Food & Wine, with Substance
This isn’t “local cuisine” as a show. It’s the island’s real flavors—simple, precise, seasonal—paired with the bottles that matter. Vermentino and Cannonau, tasted in the right places, with people who actually make them.
Private Experiences
Not one headline moment—several, spaced perfectly through the trip. A winery visit that feels like being welcomed, not processed. A table held for you in the right place, at the right hour. A local guide who knows when to talk—and when to let the landscape do the work. We handle access, timing, and logistics; you simply step into the day and let it unfold.
The Details
High-End Service
The concierge handles the timing, the reservations, the drivers, and the shifting details of the day before you need to think about them. Even sea conditions are accounted for when they matter, so the journey holds together as one continuous thing rather than a series of arrangements.
Private Transfers
You have a private driver throughout the trip, according to the itinerary, from airport arrivals to day trips. There is no waiting for a taxi, no checking schedules, no opening a map at the curb.
Local Expert Guides
These are guides who have spent years on the island, not months. They know which cellar is worth an hour, which beach deserves the detour, and when it is better to let the place speak for itself.
Dining Picks
The restaurants are chosen for what is on the plate and how you are received, not for how often they appear in guidebooks. Some are known; some are not. That is often the point.
Warm Hospitality
The people you meet on this journey know the island, and they know one another. That network changes everything: details move more easily, requests are handled quietly, and the trip begins to feel specific to you.
Day 1 - Welcome to Sardinia
Arrival at Alghero Airport
Your Sardinian adventure begins with a warm welcome as you land at Alghero airport.
Private Transfer
Enjoy a comfortable private transfer to your accommodation with our professional driver.
Check-in at a boutique hotel
Settle into the intimate boutique accommodation, your elegant home for the first nights.
Complimentary Welcome Aperitif
Enjoy a complimentary welcome Sardinian drink from our company to start your vacation in style.
Evening at Leisure & Gourmet Dinner
Relax and unwind after your journey, then enjoy a special reservation at the hotel's restaurant, where stunning sea views complement the elegant service and exquisite gourmet cuisine.
Day 2 - Alghero and the Coral Coast
Medieval Town Exploration
A private guided walk through Alghero's old town. Its Catalan past still lingers in the city's rhythm and architecture, quietly shaping the streets as you move through them. Not a tour of highlights, but a way of reading the city.
Neptune's Caves Boat Tour
A boat connected to the Grotta di Nettuno. Inside, the light turns silver, the silence deepens in 2-million-year-old caves, and the limestone feels older than anything around you.
Dinner
A reserved table in the old town. Local food, a bottle chosen well, the evening unhurried. The old town murmurs softly around you at night, and dinner feels all the better for being easy and unforced.
Day 3: Relax or Explore Alghero & Beyond
Today is completely open, so you can keep things easy or head out and see a bit more of Sardinia. Spend the day however feels best — resting, wandering, or setting off on a low-key adventure.
Leisure & Relaxation
Book a spa treatment, take a slow walk through Alghero's medieval streets and pop into a few local shops, or just settle by the sea for a while. It's an easy day to take things at your own pace.
Optional: La Pelosa Beach
Head north to Stintino if you want a beach day at La Pelosa. It's famous for its bright white sand and clear turquoise water, and it's one of those places that really does live up to the hype.
Optional: Bosa & Malvasia
Take the Alghero-Bosa coastal road for a beautiful drive along the west coast. Stop in the colorful old town of Bosa, then round things out with a tasting of Malvasia di Bosa, the area's well-known sweet wine.
However you spend it, this should be one of those easy, memorable days that lets you enjoy Sardinia your own way4
Day 4 - Castelsardo to Costa Smeralda
Medieval Castelsardo
A 12th-century town built on a promontory above the Asinara Gulf. The castle, the narrow streets, and the particular quality of light from up there. A place built to last, and one that has.
Traditional Crafts
Castelsardo is known for basket weaving, still done by local women in the old streets. The Museum of Mediterranean Weaving keeps the craft in view without turning it into a performance.
Lunch
A table in the old town. Castelsardo has a serious reputation for food as one of the best places on the island—simple or gourmet, all is local, the recipes are unchanged or transformed in culinary masterpieces, and the cooks are not performing for visitors. The view is there if you want it.
Emerald Coast Arrival
The drive south to Costa Smeralda, then check-in at the hotel in Gallura - Costa Smeralda. Pine trees line the road as the water comes into view — that particular shade of green that gives the coast its name.
Day 5 — Costa Smeralda, Seen Well + A Serious Vermentino
Porto Cervo and the Emerald Coast
Begin along the Emerald Coast. Porto Cervo shows the architectural vision that shaped this stretch of Sardinia. The legacy of Prince Karim Aga Khan is still visible in the place itself.
Coddu Vecchiu
Then continue inland to the Giants' Tombs of Coddu Vecchiu. These Bronze Age burial sites are built in stone and set quietly in the countryside. They belong to Sardinia's oldest landscape of ritual and memory.
Nuraghe La Prisgiona
From there, visit Nuraghe La Prisgiona, a UNESCO World Heritage site from the Nuragic age. The stonework is nearly 3,000 years old. The structure still carries the logic of its builders.
Vermentino di Gallura
End the day tour at a charming family vineyard. Taste the iconic Vermentino di Gallura DOCG and sit down with Sardinian food made for the table, not the camera. It is a quiet close to a day shaped by place, age, and local knowledge.
Day 6: La Maddalena Archipelago by Boat
La Maddalena is a national marine park made up of 68 islands and islets, with only 7 inhabited, and it is one of the most beautiful places in Sardinia to spend a full day on the water. The sea here is some of the clearest in the Mediterranean, and the granite rock formations along the coast are unlike anything else on the island. If weather conditions allow, we’ll take the day by boat; if not, we’ll switch to a private tour of La Maddalena by ferry and car, with a visit to Garibaldi’s house on Caprera island.
Private Boat Charter
Spend the day on a private boat through the La Maddalena Archipelago. The waters here are part of a protected national park and are often clear enough to see more than 10 meters down.
Hidden Island Treasures
Stop at quiet beaches and odd-looking granite rocks as you move between the paradise islands and islets. Most of the area stays calm and undeveloped, and the beaches are spectacular.
Tropical Waters
Take time to swim and snorkel in clear water, with Posidonia meadows below and small fish all around. The white sand and blue-green sea give parts of the archipelago a Caribbean feel without leaving Sardinia.
Day 7 — Slow Morning, Sea Time, Gourmet Evening
Morning at leisure
No early starts today. Have breakfast on your terrace, take a slow swim, and let the day arrive gently. If you’re using a rental car, explore the coast.
Beach time
Choose a stretch of Costa Smeralda that matches your mood: soft sand and calm shallows, or a more dramatic cove with granite and deeper water. We’ll point you to the right beach for the conditions and the hour, so it feels spacious and easy.
Evening at a famous gourmet restaurant
As the light turns golden, head to one of the coast’s iconic beach clubs—elegant, lively, and very Sardinia. Expect a good table, a well-made cocktail, and dinner that’s more than “scene.”
Day 8 - Gallura Inland
Rural Countryside & Village Discovery
We bring you inland through Gallura, where cork oak woods, pale granite outcrops, and long empty bends in the road keep changing shape without ever feeling hurried. Stop in small stone villages, where laundry hangs over narrow lanes, old men sit outside the bar, and the church square is usually the busiest place in town. You may pass olive groves, sheepfolds, and roadside memorials with wildflowers at the base, then pause at local museums or small parish collections that were never polished into a tourist show. The whole interior has a stubborn, lived-in quiet to it.
Local Wine & Food Experience
Sit down in a stazzu, the traditional Gallura house, and pour a glass of Vermentino or a red from the hills nearby. Lunch tends to arrive in a steady, practical way: pecorino, bread still warm from the oven, pasta with a sauce that tastes of the kitchen rather than the menu. The people serving it usually know the producers by name, because they are family, neighbors, or someone from the next valley over. It is relaxed, a little rough around the edges, and all the better for it.
Cork Oak Forest & Artisan Stop
Make time for a short stop in a cork oak forest, where the trunks are stripped in warm weather and the bark is stacked in neat piles beside the road. Nearby, a small workshop might be carving cork, weaving baskets, or shaping a shepherd’s knife on a bench that has seen the same work for years. Nothing feels staged. You watch the hands, ask a few questions, and leave with something made for use, not display.
Nuraghe or Prehistoric Stop
If the route allows, pull over for a nuraghe or a prehistoric site tucked into the interior. The stonework is blunt and heavy, sitting low in the grass or on a ridge with a wide view over the hills. There is usually no crowd, just wind, lizards on the rocks, and the sense that people were building and guarding these places long before the villages below had names. It is a good counterpoint to the day’s slower, domestic moments.
Day 9: A Day on the Water — Corsica by Private Boat
Just a short crossing from the Costa Smeralda, Corsica feels like a different world. Today you'll head out on a private boat charter to explore the islands and coastline that straddle the border between Italy and France.
Morning Departure
Set off by boat from the Emerald Coast, heading north through the Strait of Bonifacio. The crossing takes about an hour and the scenery along the way — granite cliffs, hidden coves, open sea — is half the experience.
Lavezzi & Cavallo Islands
Stop at the Lavezzi Islands, a protected nature reserve with some of the clearest water in the Mediterranean. Snorkel, swim, or just float. Nearby Cavallo is a private island with a handful of discreet villas and a small marina — a good spot to anchor and take a dip.
Option A — Bonifacio Old Town
Dock at Bonifacio and spend a couple of hours exploring the old town, perched dramatically on white limestone cliffs above the sea. A private guide will take you through the narrow medieval streets, past the citadel and the ancient churches, with stories that bring the place to life. Lunch at a local restaurant with proper Corsican food — charcuterie, brocciu cheese, slow-cooked stews, local wine.
Option B — Lunch on Cavallo
Skip the town and stay on the water instead. Anchor off Cavallo and head to a waterfront restaurant for a long, relaxed lunch — gourmet food, Corsican rosé, no rush. A quieter, more private way to spend the day.
Afternoon & Return
Head back in the late afternoon, arriving in time for a sunset aperitivo back at the hotel.
Day 10 — Slow Morning, Sea Time, Gourmet Evening
Morning at leisure
No early starts today. Have breakfast on your terrace, take a slow swim, and let the day arrive gently. If you’re using a rental car, explore the coast.
Beach time
Choose a stretch of Costa Smeralda that matches your mood: soft sand and calm shallows, or a more dramatic cove with granite and deeper water. We’ll point you to the right beach for the conditions and the hour, so it feels spacious and easy.
Evening at a famous gourmet restaurant
As the light turns golden, head to one of the coast’s iconic beach clubs—elegant, lively, and very Sardinia. Expect a good table, a well-made cocktail, and dinner that’s more than “scene.”
Day 11: Tavolara Island Boat Charter
Today, head out by private boat for Tavolara, a protected stretch of sea with steep limestone cliffs and water so clear you can see the bottom in the shallows. Locals call it “the smallest kingdom in the world,” and once you see the place, the nickname makes sense.
Coastal Cruise & Arrival
Leave the Costa Smeralda, get on a private boat, and follow the coast north. It’s a relaxed run past small coves, rocky inlets, and that bright blue water Sardinia does so well before Tavolara comes into view.
Marine Protected Area
Spend time in the marine park around the island, where the water stays calm and clear. It’s a great place to snorkel, drift around, and watch the seabed come into focus below you.
Island Exploration & Views
Pull in close and head ashore for a walk around the island’s rocky paths and rough edges. The cliffs are the real show here, and if you’re lucky, you may spot a few of the wild goats that live on the island.
Seaside Lunch
Stop for a lunch at a family-run spot on the beach, or stay on the boat and eat light food out on deck. Either way, keep it simple: fresh food, local wine, and a long lunch with the sea right there beside you.
Molara Island's Natural Pools
On the way back, your captain can take you past Molara Island for a last swim in its shallow, sheltered pools before heading home.
Day 12: Barbagia
The Blue Zone
The Drive Inland
Leave the coast behind and drive inland for two to three hours as the air cools, the silence deepens, and the landscape gives way to older, quieter shepherd country, with the coast already forgotten.
Blue Zone Discovery
This is one of five Blue Zones in the world, where longevity is a measurable fact rather than a wellness concept. Here, living longer is not an aspiration but an everyday reality shaped by habits, family, and place.
Village Encounters
In the villages, older people sit in the doorways, linger in the square, and watch the day pass from the shade of benches and thresholds, fully at home in the life around them.
Dietary Traditions
Local produce arrives with almost no distance behind it, and Cannonau is poured at the right moment — part of a way of eating that comes straight from the land.
Local Table
Lunch at a small family-run agriturismo unfolds without hurry, with Fiore Sardo and crispy bread of shepherds at the center and the kind of table that lets conversation stretch as long as the meal does.
Check-in at a Rural Retreat
By evening, arrive at a renowned artistic retreat nestled among the juniper-covered mountains of Barbagia. This unique hotel showcases original local crafts, traditional Sardinian textiles, and colorful artwork throughout its grounds. The property features natural springs, fragrant gardens, and offers an immersive cultural experience with its exceptional regional cuisine and authentic hospitality.
Day 13: Leisure Day at rural retreat
Wellness SPA Experience
Relax at the hotel's peaceful spa, where therapists offer traditional Sardinian treatments using local herbs and mountain essences. These treatments follow ancient island wellness traditions.
Botteghe d'Arte Workshops
Join the hotel's art workshops where skilled artisans teach traditional Sardinian crafts. Learn techniques for embroidery, textile weaving, and folk painting passed down through generations.
Terrazza dei Desideri
Visit the "Terrace of Desires" with its stunning views of the Supramonte mountains. Enjoy drinks made from local botanicals and fresh herbs grown in the hotel's gardens.
"Bread, Wine and Oil" Experience
Experience Sardinian food culture by learning traditional bread-making, tasting estate olive oils, and sampling Cannonau wines and homemade mirto liqueur in the hotel's cellar.
Day 14: Gulf of Orosei Boat Tour
After a quiet stay up in Barbagia, head down to the coast for a day out on the water, stopping at tucked-away beaches and sea caves along the Gulf of Orosei by private charter.
Scenic Transfer
Start with a drive from your rural retreat down to the Gulf of Orosei, where the road shifts from mountain views to a wide stretch of coast and sea.
Private Charter Departure
Board your boat with a local skipper and set off across the water. It’s a relaxed setup, with the day shaped around where you want to stop and how long you want to stay.
Hidden Coves & Turquoise Waters
Stop at places like Cala Luna, Cala Sisine, and Cala Mariolu. Drop anchor, swim, and spend time on the boat or along the shore in water that stays clear and cool.
Explore Sea Caves
Your skipper can take you into sea caves like Grotta del Bue Marino, which you can only reach by boat. Inside, you’ll see rough stone walls and long formations shaped over time.
Leisurely Lunch Onboard
Have lunch on the boat with Sardinian food, usually simple things made well, while you’re anchored in a quiet cove. A glass of local wine goes nicely with it.
Afternoon Relaxation & Return
Spend the afternoon swimming, snorkeling, or just lying back on deck between stops. By late afternoon, you’ll head back to shore with salt on your skin and a day well spent.
Day 15: Farewell to Sardinia
Final Sardinian Breakfast
Enjoy a leisurely final breakfast at your hotel
Check-out
Complete your check-out process with assistance
Departure
Comfortable transfer to Olbia airport for your flight
Before You Go
This is an itinerary for those who prefer clarity, pace, and time well used. It leaves room for the island to unfold in its own way.
What's Included
- 14 nights in selected 5-star hotels
- Daily buffet breakfast
- Private transportation throughout your journey
- Expert English-speaking guides
- Food tastings and winery visits
- Private yacht charters
- Personal concierge assistance
What's Not Included
- International flights
- Local city tax
- Personal expenses and shopping
- Travel insurance
- Additional activities not specified in the itinerary
- Tips and other gratuities
Important Note on Yacht Charters
Yacht and boat charters are always subject to the weather. If conditions aren't right on the day, we'll do our best to reschedule within the itinerary where possible, or replace it with another suitable tour. We'll keep it practical and make sure you still have a great day.
The itinerary is a starting point. If you want more time on the water, a different pace, if places should change, or if there are particular requests along the way, we adjust.
Special Requirements
Please let us know about any dietary restrictions, food allergies, or other special requirements when you book. We can handle vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and most other diets with advance notice. If you have any dietary needs or preferences, let us know and we will plan accordingly.
Plan Your Journey
Days of Full Immersion
2 weeks, 3 coasts, one island at its best
Distinct Regions
From the coral waters of Alghero to the granite shores of Costa Smeralda to rural Barbagia
Personal Assistance
Your concierge is reachable when it matters — not a call centre, a person who knows the island
VIP Sardinia (by Visit Sadinia) is a high-touch boutique private operator and award-winning destination management company that has worked in Sardinia and Corsica for twenty years. In a place like this, the difference is often in the relationships, and in knowing which doors open quietly, because trust is already there.
VIP Sardinia