So it kinda worked!
If you read my last post you’ll know I was suffering from a case of ‘I can’t be arsed with blogging’ (hence my hiatus) but I was hoping to kick-start a bit of motivation by just banging out a post and well here I am, blogging again.
So while I’m on a roll I thought I’d share a bit more about my trip to Sardinia in June.
Here we go…
I mentioned in my post on Alghero that the beach there wasn’t that good. In fact it kinda sucked. The water wasn’t clear. It had a ‘funny’ (read: stinky) smell at one end and swathes of seaweed to contend with. It really wasn’t doing it for us. So we hired some wheels and went exploring.
I’d read that the best beach in, wait for it, ITALY (yeah, the whole of Italy) was in Stintino – Northern Sardinia.
Erm, I don’t know about you but that made me quite keen to check it out. So off we went to Stintino and more specifically La Pelosa – the most beautiful beach in Italy.
First though we had to get those wheels I mentioned.
Alghero has loads of bike & car rental shops but this guy ^^^ was sat outside one right on the seafront and therefore we hired our scooter from there. I mean OBVS. It was 35 euros for the day (or something like that) and we got some really cool helmets to go with it.
However, in hindsight the moped was a mistake.
The drive to Stintino took just over an hour and we arrived; splatted with bugs, hard of hearing, utterly wind-swept and totally rigid from clinging on for dear life. It was just that little bit too far to be bearable and my first thought on arrival at La Pelosa was “oh my god we’ve got to drive all the way back”.
We kept the bike for two days before we traded her in for 4 wheels, a roof and doors. Aircon and no bugs for breakfast.
Anyway, once we’d recovered from the traumatic bike journey it was time to pay for parking.
We wandered over to the ticket machine with about 15 other people, who all tried in turn to work out how much to pay for the day (almost all the signs are Italian). Bikes were cheaper than cars but it was still pricey at around 2 euros an hour (I think, I mean my Italian is a little rusty / non-existent). So make sure you hang onto all your change!
First impressions of Stintino and La Pelosa were that it was indeed very pretty. Lots of nice pavements lined with bushes and flowers. It reminded me very much of Sandbanks in Dorset, if you’ve ever been. Except better because it’s not in the UK and therefore the guaranteed sunshine made it all the more beautiful.
We headed down onto one relatively quiet beach and decided to walk along the seafront up towards the tip of the island. As we headed round the corner we were met with a sea of people and a beach blocked out with sun loungers.
The water was beautifully clear and the sand soft and white but it was way too crowded. Kids screamed and yelled as they splashed about in the sea and the din of noise was just a bit much for me.
There was even a stall in the sea!
So we retreated back to the first beach and onto a set of sun loungers away from any over-excited bambinos.
I love the bold sun-lounger colours on Italian beaches. They always seem to be bright yellow or orange.
On that first day we managed to get away with not paying for sunloungers which turned out to be a bit of a win.
Unlike most beaches I’ve been to overseas (where you sit down and someone comes over to tell you how much to pay up) at Pelosa beach you need to check in at the beach hut and then they allocate you a set of loungers based on whether you want to ‘frow’ it up (loungers right on the water-line are 25 euros a set) or hide in the back (they drop a euro per row so they’re a, ahem, cheap and cheerful 20 euros).
Between this and the pricey parking it’s not exactly a cheap day out – 45 euros just to get there and lie down.
But for us it was totally worth it. The beach really is so beautiful and the water is incredible. It was a bit nippy in June but so refreshing and clear. Ideal for snorkelling and we really loved spending the day there.
When all the effort of sunbathing, snorkelling and reading left us hungry we made a beeline for the nearest beach bar & restaurant Il Gabbiano Ristorante where the pizzas filled every Italian dream we’d ever had and the wine flowed a bit too freely which in turn lead to an snore-y afternoon nap back on the lounger.
Prices are reasonable, service is good – although not all the staff speak English so there were a couple of mistakes with our order based purely on miscommunication (not that I’m complaining about a carafe of wine as opposed to a beer for the boyfriend) and it’s a good place to fill lunchtime holes. They also do takeaway.
We decided to leave around 6pm on the three days we spent at La Pelosa meaning we arrived back in Alghero just after 7pm. Luckily the one way system of the beach road out of La Pelosa means you’re treated to the most wonderful view from the top as you head home.
I think if I came back to Sardinia and this side of the island I’d be tempted to stay in Stintino. I mean you’d save on parking for one. It’s even quieter than Alghero in terms of nightlife but it would be super relaxing that’s for sure.
If you’re in Sardinia, I’d say it’s an absolute must to visit La Pelosa and Stintino. There are hundreds of other little beaches in and around this area too that I’d been keen to explore.
On another day (we were in Sardinia for 5 in total) we ventured a little closer to Alghero and found Mugoni beach.
I’d read online that it was another lovely beach and at this point in the trip we still had the moped so didn’t want to spend too long on the road. Unfortunately it took us twice as long as it should have done as we drove past the entrance to Mugoni about 3 or 4 times. It’s not overly easy to find and we ended up having to rely on google maps to find it. God bless technology.
The drive itself, although windy and bug-splattered again was a little bit more lovely than to Stintino as much of it was right along the coast and there was lots of beautiful scenery to look down on.
Sadly when we finally made it onto Mugoni the weather had taken a turn for the worst (Umm, Sardinia, this is not what I signed up for!). The skies were overcast and it was really quite nippy.
Still, us Brits persevered. We pitched up on the sand, huddling together in the wind.
Then we thought about going for a swim (or at least a paddle. OK maybe just a dip of our toes in the water) except these guys had other ideas.
Jellyfish.
Hundreds and hundreds of jellyfish.
All over the sand and floating in the shallows.
I definitely didn’t sign up for this.
At this point we decided to leave which I was really disappointed about. I’m sure in the sun and minus those little purple stingers, Mugoni is a really lovely beach.
So we drove back to Alghero before deciding to go back to La Pelosa the next day – which was a great choice.
It was lovely to hire a bike & car and see some of the island and I think if you go to Sardinia it’s an absolute must. I think if we went again we’d organise it before we left as I think this way you can often get a better deal.
Thanks for reading,
Harry x
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