After almost three months in Italy and more than three years since a proper beach-bum vacation, we organized ourselves for a one-week stay on the beautiful and nearby island of Sardinia.
It had been so long since we took a vacation and with the pandemic still ongoing and now a baby in tow, our planning skills had become quite rusty. Based on a few recommendations from locals and after reviewing a handful of blogs, we decided to stick to the south coast of Sardinia, an island with over 2000 kms of coastline and seemingly endless options for beautiful silky beaches and turquoise waves.
We started our 8 night trip flying into Cagliari, the largest city on the south coast of Sardinia. The flight was less than an hour from Rome and again, thankfully, Aleksander managed the metro, train and plane ride with little fuss.
Our first accommodation was modest but located just steps away from the 6km long Poetto beach in Cagliari, a perfect jumping off spot to get our tans from zero to light lobster level.
We spent a glorious first day at the Lido Beach Club in Cagliari, alternating Aleksander between the cool sea water and shady umbrella and beach chairs. The heat was intense and much more than anything we had experienced since visiting Greece in 2018 so our complexions paid a bit of a price but there’s nothing like just going for it!
Our second day in Cagliari we spent walking around the city. Most people had undersold it as a destination in and of itself but we found it very charming, historic and peacefully empty. We happened upon an amazing lunch just below the famous 13th century Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta e Santa Cecilia and casually strolled the city streets, gelato in hand.
From Cagliari, we really engaged the full beachness of a Sardinian escape by heading to Villasimius, a typical vacation town on the south-east corner of the island. Here we found an abundance of beaches to choose from, the early signs of other European travellers returning and the kind of seafood you write home about. If we did another trip to Sardinia, I think I’d be keen on making Villasimius our headquarters for longer than just a few days. It’s the perfect place from which to comfortably explore the many amazing things this part of Sardinia has to offer.
Our final two days were spent back on the other side of Cagliari, in a fancier hotel near the town of Santa Margherita di Pula. The roasting weather finally let up, giving us some time to relax from dedicated beaching but still enjoy the fabulous infinity pool at the Hotel Costa dei Fiori and wonderful breakfasts and dinners.
We strolled the grounds, took loads of pictures of bushes in full beautiful bloom and took advantage of our comfortable room and bed for some final rest before returning to the outside world.
Overall, our trip to Sardinia was as much as we could have hoped for. Restful, beautiful, satisfying. We didn’t really know how much we needed a vacation (says everyone on Earth these days…) but we flew back to Rome grateful, re-energized and excited for our first summer in the Italian capital, with an eye already towards our next vacation – Sicily in September!
Dad In The World 