"We kept saying we wished we'd found Sardinia sooner": A couple's seven-night self-drive holiday in Sardinia in June
Andy from our Completely Italy team caught up with Nicky and her partner after they returned from a tailor-made Sardinia holiday, travelling by car through western, central and northern Sardinia. This is what they told him.
"We kept saying to each other: we wish we'd found this place sooner." That was how Nicky summed up the week she and her partner spent travelling through Sardinia in June. When they first got in touch with us, they knew they wanted Italy, and they suspected they wanted Sardinia, but beyond that the brief was fairly open. They wanted a Sardinia itinerary that felt genuinely different from a standard seven-night beach holiday: a self-drive trip with good food, interesting places to explore, and enough variety to feel as though they were seeing the island properly without being on the road all the time.
"We'd talked about travelling to Sardinia for a number of years," Nicky told Andy when they spoke after the trip. "We just never quite got around to it, so we were delighted with the trip you planned for us. It exceeded what we'd imagined."
At a glance
• Duration: seven nights
• Best for: couples, food lovers and self-drive travellers looking for a tailor-made Sardinia holiday with a mix of coast, culture and countryside
• Route: Alghero, Bosa, Su Gologone, Orgosolo, Golfo Aranci and Olbia
• Best time to travel: June or September, when Sardinia holidays are warm, bright and less crowded than peak summer
Travelling in June proved to be one of the best decisions of the whole holiday.
Why a Sardinia holiday in June makes for a more relaxing trip
"June was perfect. The weather was warm but not overwhelming. The beaches weren't packed. Restaurants weren't rushed. You felt like you had space to relax and enjoy the experience and really unwind."
This is something we hear consistently from couples planning Sardinia holidays outside of peak summer. Whilst July and August bring the heat, superyachts, and higher numbers with locals holidaying too, this can also mean higher prices.
Travelling in June offers the same beauty, the same long evenings and the same extraordinary light, but with none of the intensity of peak season. For a luxury Sardinia holiday or a carefully planned self-drive Sardinia itinerary, the island's famous macchia is still in flower, the sea temperature is ideal, and at well-chosen hotels like the ones on this itinerary, service feels attentive and unhurried.
First stop on the Sardinia itinerary: the walled town of Alghero
The Sardinia self-drive holiday began in Alghero on the west coast, where they checked into the Hotel Alma Di Alghero for two nights. The hotel sits just outside the walls of the old town, a leisurely fifteen-minute walk along the promenade, with a rooftop pool looking out along the coastline in both directions. It made a comfortable, well-positioned base.
"We knew Alghero was supposed to be pretty, but nobody had really prepared us for the stunning sunsets. After dinner in the narrow streets of the old town we walked to the bastions above the harbour and the sky just went through this whole sequence of colours. Deep orange first, then this incredible pink and purple as the sun dipped behind the mountains across the bay which were silhouetted against it."
The Catalan architecture, narrow coral-stone lanes, cathedral and excellent restaurants are perfect to explore on a warm day. "It doesn't feel like a typical Italian town at all," Nicky noted. "It's got this completely different character. You forget you're in Italy for a moment."
Alghero has a long stretch of beach along the coastline from the old town, with the walk to Spiaggia Maria Pia dotted with private beach clubs, restaurants and bars. "It was worth every step to not just head to the beach in front of the hotel. The water was this clear turquoise, the kind of colour you expect to see in a brochure, not actually in front of you. And because you had to walk a bit, it was noticeably quieter."
Bosa: an authentic Sardinia stop that became a highlight
On the drive south and then inland towards the mountains, they stopped for lunch in Bosa, a small town on the banks of the River Temo, Sardinia's only navigable river. Its houses are painted in layers of terracotta, yellow and green.
"Bosa was genuinely one of the surprises of the trip," Nicky told Andy. "We hadn't really planned it, just thought we'd stop for lunch. And then we ended up staying most of the afternoon sitting by the river after exploring the colourful streets and old quay."
She described walking up to the Malaspina castle above the town, the views down over the painted rooftops and river below, and the craft workshops tucked into the lanes. "It's a lived-in town that happens to be incredibly beautiful. You can feel that people actually live there; it's not set up only for tourists. We ate at a little place by the river: simple food, really good wine, a terrace in the sun. One of those lunches that goes on far longer than you planned."
Andy notes that Bosa is often overlooked by Sardinia itineraries that focus only on the coast or the more famous northern resorts. For couples with the flexibility of a self-drive holiday in Sardinia, it is one of the island's genuinely unmissable stops.
Su Gologone: a luxury Sardinia hotel "like nothing we've ever stayed in"
From Bosa the road climbs into the heart of the island, through gorges and forests and limestone peaks that bear a startling resemblance to the Dolomites. The destination was Su Gologone, a celebrated hotel near Oliena that sits at the foot of the Supramonte massif, built around the natural spring that gives it its name.
Andy asked Nicky to describe their first impression.
"It's this incredible place with art everywhere, gardens full of herbs and flowers, the mountains right behind it. It doesn't feel like a hotel in any normal sense. It's more like someone has created their own private world and you've been invited in."
They stayed two nights, which Nicky said was the right amount of time. "Long enough to slow down and actually take it in. The first afternoon we just wandered around exploring the art collection and the herb garden, where everything is labelled in Italian, Sardinian and Latin, and then swam in the pool."
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The food at Su Gologone is the reason the hotel is known throughout Italy, and it didn't disappoint. "We had the most extraordinary dinner on our first night. The culurgiones, the pasta parcels with ricotta, and then the porceddu, the spit-roasted suckling pig. Then the seadas for dessert, the fried pastries with honey and pecorino. It was the kind of meal where you just want to sit there for a long time afterwards, taking in the views from the restaurant over the valley below and the mountains around you."
The drive to Orgosolo
From Su Gologone they made a half-day excursion to Orgosolo, the mountain village famous for its extraordinary murals: hundreds of politically charged, vividly coloured frescoes covering the village walls and documenting Sardinian history, resistance and daily life.
"That was something we really hadn't expected," Nicky said. "You drive through this mountain landscape, arrive in what looks like a quiet Sardinian village, and then the walls are just covered in these incredible paintings. Serious ones, funny ones, historical ones. We spent over an hour just walking around reading them. It's completely unlike anything else we've seen anywhere."
She paused and added: "It also felt very real. This isn't a museum or a tourist attraction. It's a village where people live, and the murals are part of how the community tells its own story. That made it much more affecting."
Golfo Aranci: back to the sea and the Costa Smeralda
For the final two nights, the route brought them back to thecoast, specifically to Gabbiano Azzurro Hotel & Suites in GolfoAranci. This small, relaxed town on the northern tip of the island makes anexcellent base for exploring the Costa Smeralda, Gallura and northern Sardinia withoutstaying in the middle of the more frenetic resort areas.
"After the mountains, coming back to the sea felt like the perfect way to end the trip," Nicky said. "Golfo Aranci is lovely — it's got a proper local feel to it, not overly touristy, and the hotel was really well positioned with its own private beach, excellent restaurant and only 10 minutes from the town."
From there they explored in three directions. San Pantaleo, a hilltop village in the hills above the coast, was an immediate favourite.
"That's a special place. It's full of artists and craftspeople, jewellers, ceramicists and you can just wander in and out of their workshops. The market was on when we were there. We bought a piece of jewellery from one of the artisans. It was one of those things where you feel like you're actually connecting with something real rather than just buying a souvenir."
Porto Rotondo provided the glitzy counterpoint, the harbour lined with some of the most impressive yachts either of them had ever seen, while Baia Sardinia offered calmer, crystal-clear water ideal for a final swim.
"Porto Rotondo made us laugh," Nicky admitted. "We're not yacht people, but even we were impressed. It's just so extraordinarily beautiful. We had a coffee on the harbour and watched the boats for a while. Very easy to do."
The final morning in Olbia
With a flight to catch, they had a few hours in Olbia at the end, enough time to walk the historic centre, visit the Basilica di San Simplicio (one of the oldest churches in Sardinia, and largely unvisited by tourists), and sit with a final coffee by the water.
"Olbia gets dismissed as just a ferry port and airport town," Nicky said, "but it's actually worth a couple of hours if you have them. The basilica was beautiful and we practically had it to ourselves. And sitting there with a coffee knowing the trip was ending that was bittersweet. We were already talking about coming back."
Andy's verdict: what makes this Sardinia self-drive itinerary work
When Andy reflects on this Sardinia itinerary, what stands out is the balance. Too many Sardinia holidays focus on one thing — coast, culture or food — and miss the extraordinary variety the island offers within a relatively compact geography.
This route moves through three genuinely distinct landscapes and characters in the space of a week: the Catalan elegance of the west coast, the wild interior of the Barbagia, and the glamorous but still beautiful north. It works especially well for couples because each base offers its own sense of occasion, which keeps the trip feeling alive rather than repetitive.
The June timing amplifies everything. Quieter beaches, unhurried restaurants, long golden evenings. The prices are kinder, the experience richer.
"We came home with a list," Nicky told Andy at the end of their conversation. "Places we want to go back to. Things we want to do that we ran out of time for. That's the best thing you can say about a trip, isn't it? That it gave you more to look forward to."
Is this itinerary right for you?
This itinerary is ideal if you want more than a single beach base. It suits couples who enjoy driving, exploring small towns, eating well and mixing time by the sea with culture and countryside. It is less suited to travellers who want to unpack once and stay in one resort for the whole week, but for those who like variety, it gives a tailor-made Sardinia holiday real depth.
Thinking about a similar trip?
Andy and the Completely Italy team specialise in building tailor-made Sardinia holidays like this one, combining the right hotels, the right pace and the right experiences for couples who want something more personal than a standard package holiday.
If you like the idea of a Sardinia holiday that balances coast, culture, food and time to unwind, Andy and the Completely Italy team can shape a self-drive route around your pace, interests and preferred style of hotel.
Further reading: Five Reasons to Visit Sardinia | A Multi-Centre Self-Drive Itinerary | Food and Wine in Sardinia
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