The 15 best beaches in North Sardinia (a complete local guide)

There are people who will tell you Sardinia has the best beaches in the Mediterranean. They're not wrong. But "Sardinia" is the size of Wales, and the difference between a beach in the south and a beach in the north is the difference between Florida and Maine — same country, different planet.

This guide covers only the north: the Gallura coast from Stintino in the west to the Costa Smeralda in the east, plus the islands of the Maddalena Archipelago and Asinara. Fifteen beaches, ranked by nothing — because the best beach for a family with a toddler is not the best beach for someone who wants to read undisturbed, and the best beach in late May is not the same as the best beach in mid-August.

We've grouped them loosely by what they're for. Use the table of contents to skip to what you're after.

In a hurry? Pick by what you want

• The iconic postcard ones → La Pelosa, Spiaggia del Principe, Cala Coticcio
• Quieter than they should be → Le Saline, Vignola Mare, Li Cossi
• Family-friendly with shallow water → Baia delle Mimose, Capriccioli, Rena Bianca
• Surf and wind → La Marinedda, Capo Testa
• Boat-only or hike-in → Cala Coticcio, Cala Corsara, Cala Sabina, Li Cossi
• Right next to Beach Base → Li Junchi, Baia delle Mimose, La Marinedda

For more on the seven beaches reachable in under an hour from us, the companion piece is The 7 best beaches near Badesi (a local's honest guide).

1. La Pelosa, Stintino — the postcard

If you've seen one photograph of Sardinia, it was probably this one. Powdery white sand, water so shallow and clear it looks artificial, and the 16th-century Aragonese tower on the headland that every guidebook in the Mediterranean has used for its cover.

It's worth the drive once. After that you'll either fall in love and come back annually, or quietly decide you prefer the wilder beaches an hour east.

2. Le Saline, Stintino — the locals' alternative

A long, wide stretch of sand on the Stintino peninsula, ten minutes' drive from La Pelosa and zero permits required. The water doesn't have quite the cinematic blue of its more famous neighbour but it's calm, shallow, and the beach has plenty of room — which on a Saturday in August matters more than you think.

There's a beach bar, sunbed rentals, and a free parking area off the SP34 road. It's the beach Sardinians actually bring their kids to when La Pelosa is full.

3. Rena Bianca, Santa Teresa di Gallura — the walk-from-town one

The closest thing North Sardinia has to a "town beach". Rena Bianca sits at the foot of Santa Teresa di Gallura, walkable from the main square in about ten minutes via a stepped path that delivers you straight onto white sand and clear water with Corsica visible across the strait on a clear day.

Because you can park once and combine the beach with lunch, an aperitivo on the ramparts, and a stroll through Santa Teresa's old town, it works better as an "active beach day" than a horizontal one. Lunch tip: anywhere along Via XX Settembre.

4. Capo Testa, Santa Teresa di Gallura — the moonscape

Twenty minutes west of Santa Teresa, the road ends at a granite headland the wind has spent ten thousand years sculpting into something between a Henry Moore exhibition and a moon-base set. Between the boulders are a handful of small swimming coves linked by short footpaths, with water that goes straight from sand to deep clear blue.

It's not one beach — it's a chain of half a dozen, each different. Cala Spinosa is the easiest to reach and gets crowded; the unnamed coves further west are wilder and quieter. Bring water shoes; the entry from the rocks is sharp.

5. Cala Sarraina, Costa Paradiso — pink granite into blue

This is where Sardinia stops looking like the south of France and starts looking like nowhere else on earth. The Costa Paradiso is a coastline of pink-tinged granite cliffs dropping straight into water so clear that boats appear to float in air. Cala Sarraina itself is a small sandy crescent, but the real reward is the snorkelling around the rocks at either end.

It's about 30 minutes from Beach Base. There's a small parking area at the top, then a stepped path down to the cove — about ten minutes, easy enough but there are no facilities once you're at the beach, so bring water and food.

6. Spiaggia di Li Cossi — the hidden one

Five minutes' drive from Costa Paradiso, then 30 minutes on foot down a marked path through Mediterranean scrub. The reward is a perfect crescent of golden sand at the mouth of a small valley, hemmed in by the same pink granite as Cala Sarraina but completely undeveloped — no bar, no rentals, no lifeguard, no signal.

It's a beach you have to want. In return you usually get something close to silence, and a spot that on a weekday in June feels like you've found a private cove.

7. La Marinedda, Isola Rossa — the surf beach

A white-sand cove framed by pink granite headlands, just outside Isola Rossa. In the morning it's a calm swimming beach. By around 2pm the maestrale picks up, the surfers and kitesurfers come out, and the whole vibe of the beach changes from "Italian family lunch" to "wetsuited twenty-somethings".

That dual personality is what makes it. There's a beach bar at the far end with proper pizza and decent gelato, and a surf school in Isola Rossa itself, ten minutes' walk back along the coast path.

8. Li Junchi di Badesi — the long one

Eight kilometres of pale gold sand backed by juniper dunes, with the Bandiera Blu (Blue Flag) for water quality every year for as long as anyone can remember. Li Junchi is the beach we walk to from Beach Base — seven minutes by car or thirty by bike along a coastal track.

What's good about it: the sheer length means you can always find empty space. The far ends, towards Li Mindi to the east and Baia delle Mimose to the west, are quiet even in mid-August. There are beach bars in the middle for an aperitivo with your feet in the sand, and a proper restaurant scene developing around the village of Badesi 5 minutes inland.

9. Baia delle Mimose, Badesi — the family-friendly cove

Twelve minutes east of Beach Base, reached via a short footbridge through the dunes. Baia delle Mimose is the most "developed" of the Badesi-area beaches — sunbed rentals, watersports, a proper beach bar (the Calypso Lounge) that turns into a champagne-and-DJ spot at sunset.

Long shallow turquoise water makes it our top pick if you've got small kids. The bar food is fine if uninspired; you come for the easy parking and the aperitivo-with-feet-in-sand routine.

10. Vignola Mare, Aglientu — the long sleepy one

About 25 minutes east of Beach Base, between Trinità d'Agultu and Santa Teresa, Vignola Mare is a long arc of fine white sand that for some reason has stayed surprisingly under-the-radar despite being objectively beautiful. There's a small village behind it with a few restaurants and a tower (the Torre di Vignola, a 16th-century Spanish watchtower) at the western end.

The water is shallow and clear, the crowds are manageable even in August, and if you want to walk for an hour without stepping over anyone, you can.

11. Cala Corsara, Spargi (La Maddalena) — the boat-day beach

The standard La Maddalena boat tour from Palau spends most of its day shuttling between three beaches on the uninhabited island of Spargi, and Cala Corsara is the one you'll remember. Three small coves of fine white sand separated by granite outcrops, with the sort of turquoise water that has launched a thousand magazine covers.

You can't drive here. The only way is by boat — either organised tour (most operators run from Palau, ~€55–75/person including lunch) or your own rental. A day trip from Beach Base is genuinely a full day: an hour each way to Palau, full day on the boat, plus you're back in time for dinner.

12. Cala Coticcio "Tahiti", Caprera — the most photographed cove

If Cala Corsara is the standard boat-tour beach, Cala Coticcio is the one people walk to. On the island of Caprera (driveable from Palau via a bridge to La Maddalena and then another to Caprera), the path to "Tahiti" — as it's universally nicknamed for the colour of the water — is now a regulated trail.

You must book ahead through parcodellamaddalena.it and go with a guide; this is to protect the fragile environment after years of trampling. The hike is around 45 minutes each way, mostly easy with a couple of scrambly bits. The cove itself is small enough that the daily visitor cap matters.

13. Spiaggia del Principe, Costa Smeralda — the Aga Khan beach

Halfway down the Costa Smeralda, between Porto Cervo and Romazzino, sits the beach the Aga Khan reportedly chose as his favourite when he developed this stretch of coast in the 1960s. He had a good eye. A perfect curve of white-pink sand, granite headlands at both ends, water that grades from clear to deep blue.

It's a 15-minute walk from the parking area through the Mediterranean scrub, which is enough to filter out the truly committed-to-comfort. There are no bars, no rentals — bring your own everything.

14. Spiaggia di Capriccioli — the family-friendly Costa Smeralda

Just south of Porto Cervo, Capriccioli is the Costa Smeralda for people who don't own a yacht. Two small coves of white sand divided by a granite outcrop you can walk over, with the islands of Soffi and Camere as a backdrop and water shallow enough that small children can wade out for fifty metres.

There's a paid parking lot, a beach bar, and rental sunbeds. It's busier than the wilder beaches but that's part of the charm — Italian family beach culture in full effect.

15. Cala Sabina, Asinara — the prison-island beach

Asinara was a maximum-security prison until 1998. Now it's a national park, and Cala Sabina is the cleanest, clearest, emptiest beach we've ever swum at — the upside of a hundred years of being officially off-limits to humans.

You get there by ferry from Stintino or Porto Torres (about 45 min crossing), then either rent an eBike, take the park bus, or join a 4x4 tour. The beach itself is fine white sand, water in three shades of blue, and you'll likely share it with a small herd of albino donkeys the previous prison wardens left behind. About a full day from Beach Base, but easily one of the most memorable beach days you'll have anywhere.

So which one should you actually go to?

Honest answers, by trip type:

• First trip to Sardinia, one beach day: La Pelosa (book the permit) — go for the icon.
• Family with toddlers: Baia delle Mimose, Capriccioli, Le Saline.
• Looking for empty beach feeling: Li Cossi (hike), Vignola Mare, Capo Testa coves.
• Surf or wind: La Marinedda after lunch.
• Boat day: Cala Corsara via tour, Cala Coticcio if you'll book ahead.
• One memorable big-day-trip: Asinara → Cala Sabina.
• Beach + civilisation: Rena Bianca (Santa Teresa).
• Costa Smeralda without the Costa Smeralda prices: Spiaggia del Principe.

If you're staying with us at Beach Base, six of the fifteen are reachable for breakfast back home (the seven covered in our local guide, plus Vignola Mare). The rest are full or half day trips — but in a region this small, "day trip" still means home in time for sunset on the terrace.

The beach we've gone back to most often, year after year? Li Junchi at sunset, in late September, with no plan and no parasol. Sometimes the best beach is the easy one.

Photo credits: most images on this page are licensed from Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons (CC BY / CC BY-SA / CC0). Photographers credited: Cristian85, Or kriminal, Gianni Careddu, Carlo Pelagalli, gpatgn, Ökologix, Martina Shalipour Jafari, Marek Ślusarczyk. We're in the process of replacing these with our own photography.