North-eastern Sardinia: beyond Costa Smeralda luxury.

Gallura is a north-eastern region in Sardinia with a primary role thanks to the tourism presences and to the quality of the territory and services. Several airlines and shipping companies connect frequently Olbia with the rest of Europe. Thanks to this feature Gallura is the best connected area of the whole Sardinian territory and for that reason suitable for short stays and breaks.

Gallura, originally a part of the Sassari province, has recently obtained the power to administer directly its own territories with the institution of the Olbia and Tempio province.

The regional tourism was born in this area with the Costa Smeralda resort and Sardinia has become internationally famous as a charming destination for its gorgeous coastline, emerald green sea, Mediterranean nature and also for the luxury hotels and villas.

Over the years brand new resorts were born and the target of the incoming tourism has changed: today Sardinia offers not only exclusive holidays but also a wide range of possibilities to the middle-class customers.

Now, thanks to the regional laws protecting the environment, Gallura has reached a fair balance between buildings and nature to make possible a tourism respecting the territory.

Accommodations such as hotels, holiday homes, villas, aparthotels and bed&breakfasts have medium-high quality and are available with different rates to fulfill needs and wishes of different customers.

The culture, the high level enogastronomic traditions (thanks to quality food and wines) are other good reasons to visit this part of Sardinia also during spring and autumn months.

International motor competitions such as Sardinian rally, one of the main races of the world championship, or activities such as sailing, sport fishing, diving, golf, windsurfing and kite surfing make Gallura an ideal destination to practice or support sports in nature.

The main happening of the whole year 2009 will be for sure the G8, the meeting of the representatives of the most industrialized countries to the world, that will take place in La Maddalena municipality. Thanks to this international meeting new roads will be realized and existing ones will be repaired upgrading the quality of the services.

Gallura intends to be also for 2009 one of the most wished tourist destinations to the world, renovating its offer and keeping in step with high demanding market and customers.

Luca Frau

Discovering Sardinia and the charm of Costa Verde and Piscinas.

Sardinia offers, in addition to more notes tourist locations, fascinating places still wild or not completely explored. The Costa Verde area, which belongs to the Arbus municipality, is one of them and surely deserves more consideration.

Costa Verde preserves still now its wild beauty thanks to the fact that is not very well connected to the rest of Sardinia. The roads are small, not comfortable, full of blends and sometimes still unpaved. However the travel difficulties are offset by the beauty of the places.

The main features of the Costa Verde are panaromas and landscapes of yearning beauty. A lush nature changing its appearance according to the seasons faces a unique coastline that alternates big cliffs with sandy areas characterized by high dunes modelled by the wind.

Piscinas stands out for the beauty between the sandy beaches of the whole area. It has been declared by the UNESCO world heritage site and its landscape cannot be altered in any way. Reach Piscinas means crossing not comfortable unpaved roads. The main road crosses what remains of the old Ingurtosu mines, a true example of industrial archaeology, that create the impression of a land abandoned by the humans. This aspect makes even more fascinating the journey necessary to achieve this place.

After 12 kilometres we find a gorgeous natural scenery where the only building is the one of Hotel Le Dune obtained by the old warehouses of Ingurtosu mines. This high quality small and charming accommodation allows to the few and privileged guests to enjoy 8 kilometres of wonderful sandy dunes.

A stay in this place is the ideal solution to escape from noises, stress and bothers of big city life. It is not random that this destination is appreciated from long time by managers, writers, politicians that love Sardinia but not its cool places full of people and gossip journalists.

Luca Frau

Photo by Tiziana Pala