Olbia to Maddalena Archipelago
The center of Sardinia’s Gallura region is Olbia, arrival point for most visitors and the place where visitors first come to know this region.
The recommended itinerary runs along the coast.  First of all, you can admire the island of Tavolara, peculiar for its rocky structure that rises as much as 600m above sea level, then you continue north, following the intricate coastline.
The landscape is characterized by a crystal clear sea embellished by granite rock formations of the most various shapes and sizes, smooth and round, molded by the forces of nature, or else shattered and hollowed out, creating images that local imagination has christened with names of animals.  In the far north the itinerary ends with the beautiful islands of the Maddalena Archipelago.

The major tourist attractions are the landscapes and natural beauty.  The important Neolithic and Neuragic monuments are unforgettable; and Olbia houses significant traces of its importance during the Middle Ages.  Maddalena’s urban centers offer a pleasant and harmonious 18th-century ambiance.
Olbia is located deep inside a sheltered cove, used as a maritime landing site since antiquity.  Originally founded with the same name (which means rich, happy) during the troubled times between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, it is unknown whether by Phoenicians or Greeks.  The first city of Sardinia to be conquered by the Romans in 259 BCE, it developed during the following centuries.  For a short visit, the itinerary begins with the seafront by the port.

From the port of Olbia take the road towards Golfo Aranci.  Half-way there you’ll find Sa Testa Holy Well; one of the better preserved holy wells associated with a water cult of the Nuragic age.  Coming back from Golfo Aranci go right for the Costa Smeralda.  At the next intersection, take another right for Porto Rotondo.  It’s the first town of particular tourist and recreational fame that you’ll come to on this coast.  We recommend driving across the entire peninsula to Volpe point to get a full picture of this rocky landscape, characterized by maquis shrublands.

Heading north you can see residences immersed in the Gallurese coastal landscape, rich with granite rock and the deep green of the junipers and mastics, just a short walk’s distance from the dazzling colors of the sea, dotted with rocky islets.  This stretch marks the beginning of our most renown coastline: the Smeralda Coast.  The main center of the Smeralda Coast is the cove of Porto Cervo, with hotels, shops, and small piazzas surrounding the large marina.  After Porto Cervo, continue on towards the beautiful beaches of the Maddalena Archipelago.  The road continues south along the gulf of Arzachena, at the Cannigione-Baja Sardinia junction you can see the Albucciu nuraghe to your left, next to a large rock formation.  Continue on to visit the wonderful town of Baja Sardinia, that overlooks a gulf of the same name, with shops, hotels and splendid beaches perfect for passing an unforgettable vacation.  Having left Baja Sardinia, turn around towards Arzachena, and after a few kilometers the road leads to the large giants’ tomb of Lu Coddu Vecchiu and to the Capichera nuraghe.  Further on you can find more remarkable prehistoric monuments: the necropolis of Li Muri, the dolmens and the giants’ tombs of Li Longhi.
From Arzachena the road takes you to Palau after 15km.  On the way back take a different road, through Cannigione.  On the coast you’ll find nice beaches and the tourist resorts of Laconia and Isuledda, and the island of Caprera straight ahead.  One of the highest elevated observation points is the capo d’Orso (“Bear Cape”); an excellent example of the fantastic forms that the forces of nature have created over the centuries.

Always worth a visit is the Maddalena Archipelago, made up of numerous isles, including the four largest islands: Santo Stefano, Caprera, La Maddalena and Spargi.  Of particular interest is Caprera, where Garibaldi’s house is located.  Garibaldi bought half of the island in 1855 and passed many years of his life there.  The road back leads from Palau to Olbia through Arzachena, running about 40km.  Heading towards Santa Teresa di Gallura you approach the Tempio Pausania and Gallura itinerary.

A journey to the deep of history and the sea
It’s one of the most famous parts of Sardinia, a zone that is always worth a visit.  That is, of course the island of La Maddalena and the stretch of Sardinian coast that faces it, where beautiful Palau is situated.  This region is renown for its paradisiacal natural beauty and its vicinity to the most frequented tourist destinations of Sardinia: Santa Teresa di Gallura to the east, and Porto Cervo, Porto Rotondo and Golfo Aranci to the west.  Not to mention the “sisters,” that is to say the other six major islands that, together with La Maddalena, make up the archipelago (Caprera, Santo Stefano, Spargi, Razzoli, Budelli and Santa Maria), since time immemorial considered a heaven-sent landing in one of the most tempestuous parts of the Mediterranean Sea.
The most enjoyable aspect of this coast are the splendid beaches, the countless little bays that make the inlets idyllic, and bathing in the sea that laps against them.  But Sardinia is also a land of ancient history, and bears the evidence of the vestiges of her first inhabitants: it’s not hard to find oneself before prominent pieces of historical and archaeological significance.  From Palau all it takes is a short trip to the interior to find locations made remarkable for their ancient origins, emblematically revealed by their ancient names.  Such as Arzachena, a small urban center located just four kilometers from the gulf of the same name, that dates to before the Roman conquest.

La Maddalena
Two excellent starting points for excursions to the Smeralda Coast and the other islands of the archipelago, the island of La Maddalena and mirroring Palau offer countless attractions for the visitor who chooses to stay here.  First and foremost, the natural wonders that only a region like this one can offer, sheltered in a protected area: the Parco Nazionale dell’Arcipelago della Maddalena.
The sea surrounding the Maddalena isles, and that laps against Palau’s coast is still virtually untouched and hosts a rich variety of marine flora and fauna: splendid explorations of the seabed are available for enthusiasts as well as the simply curious.  The sea around the archipelago also offers fishing of all the species of the Mediterranean, for which you can take advantage of local traditional methods, and even get around on a traditional handmade fishing boat.
La Maddalena has an area of 20 km2 and is all pleasantly accessible by foot, thanks to a packed itinerary that dots the entire island.  Don’t miss an excursion to one of the most beautiful seashores of the entire Archipelago, that of Bassa Trinità, adorned with fine, white sand.  Another must is Cala d’Inferno, one of the windiest inlets, that must be reached by a particularly wild path that winds through a high shrubland.

Palau
The village of Palau can also be visited according to a planned itinerary, including the region’s numerous archaeological finds.  As a matter of fact, Palau’s history is marked by disembarkations and migrations of various peoples and nations, at least since 4000 BCE.  The traces left behind by the ancient Nuragic civilization, for example, which dates to the second millennium, including some imposing megalithic funerary monuments: the Giants’ Grave (“Li Mizzani”), near Palau, or another tomb, located near the town of Sajacciu, not far below.
Don’t miss a chance to visit Capo d’Orso (“Bear Cape”), where one of the world’s most famous natural sights is located, renowned for its unique beauty: a granite rock formation peaking above the sea that the forces of water and wind, since time immemorial, have forged to the point of rendering the image of an enormous rock bear.  Well known to the Greek and Roman navigators, it has been included in every nautical map since the height of the middle ages.
Another interesting itinerary around the Archipelago and the neighboring coastline could be a guided tour of the defensive structures, excellent examples of military art constructed by the Savoy during the end of the 18th century, and then by the Italian government at the beginning of this century and after the first world war.  One of the best preserved is that of Monte Altura, near Palau, while on La Maddalena the entire fortress system that runs from Nido d’Aquila to Punta Tegge is of particular interest.

ARZACHENA
Located about 25km from Olbia, the name of this town, perhaps dating to its pre-Roman background, gives an idea of the antiquity of its urban center, inhabited since the prehistoric ages.  Today Arzachena includes the hamlet of Cannigione and is an important tourist destination, both for its natural beauty and its historical and archaeological treasures: here the Nuragic civilization has left numerous traces, to whom archaeologists attribute the so-called “grave circles” of Arzachena.  There are various nuraghes, such as La Pisciona and that of Albucciu, a site where a giants’ tomb can be found, the Tomba Moro.

Tempio Pausania and the region of Gallura

We recommend two, distinct itineraries: one that runs from Olbia along the Smeralda Coast to Arzachena and the Maddalena Archipelago.
The second, that although not failing to visit the coastal towns, takes you inland through the mountains and plateaus of granite rock, allowing you to visit the most important sites of Gallura’s interior.  Mt. Limbara, the second highest of the island, with its wild beauty embodies everything that Gallura’s natural environment has to offer.  The western coastline of Gallura is equally captivating: from the splendid coves and gray rock of Capo Testa you proceed on to sandy beaches and the beautiful reddish rocks of Costa Paradiso and the island of Rossa (lit. known as “red island”).

Tempio Pausania
Tempio can be reached from Sassari through 67km of open road that avoids urban centers and from Olbia through 45km of magnificent landscape.  Tempio is the most important town of Gallura’s interior. Vermentino and Moscato are sought-after products of the plateau’s vineyards.  The most important monuments are concentrated around Piazza Gallura.

Monte Limbara 
Leave Tempio Pausania heading south, on the highway for Oschiri, and after 7km turn left through the forests at the foot of Mt. Limbara. The mountains are covered with reforestation of firs and pines, and the original junipers and other typical Mediterranean flora. After a few kilometres a panorama of the plateau opens up, revealing Tempio Pausania, Aggius, and Calangianus to the right, against the reddish backdrop of Mt.s Petreddu and Tundu.  From up here the eye reaches most of northern Sardinia.

Calangianus and Luras
A pleasant road through the hills takes you from Tempio to Calangianus, on the road to Olbia. This small town is characterized by a flourishing handicrafts industry, that uses the bark of a tree typical to Gallura: the cork oak.  Important neolithic dolmens can be found in the nearby village of Luras, the tombs constructed with slabs of stone driven into the soil and covered with a flat rock.

Aggius
Aggius is located in a beautiful spot, sheltered from the north winds by a crown of splendid granite rock mountains. The village offers a pleasant environment, with narrow, paved streets and quaint houses made from gray granite.  The parish house, which dates to 1700, is always worth a visit.  A scenic road to the left provides an opportunity for a brief excursion on the mountainside.  The forests and maquis shrubs offer thrilling scenery.  The granite masses emerge from the bare plain, strewn over the terrain like meteorites rained down from space.

Trinità D’Agultu and Isola Rossa (“The Red Island”)
Coasting through the provincial road you can see Gallura’s interior, where cork forests alternate with bare pastureland.  Continuing on, the sea can be seen in the distance, with the Red Island and the nearby coastline ahead.

Costa Paradiso and Vignola
From the Isola Rossa junction take the state road to the right for Santa Teresa di Gallura and procede through steep shrub-covered hills and isolated viewpoints.  A large sign leads to the Costa Paradiso detour.  A splendid view unfolds, with red rocks overhanging and emerging from the sea.

Santa Teresa di Gallura
After Vignola the road runs not far from the sea; the beautiful high rocks of Capo Testa appear ahead.  Santa Teresa is one of Gallura’s friendliest and most pleasant localities.  Not many traces of its ancient history are preserved, but the Roman city of Tibula,  once stood on the isthmus of Capo Testa, marking the end of a consular road.  The protection that the sheltered inlets and granite caves offered to ships favored settlement in this area.

Capo Testa
Once you’ve left Santa Teresa Gallura, procede up through the shrubs and granite rocks and tourist resorts.  The promontory of Capo Testa is connected to Sardinia by an isthmus on whose sides lie the beautiful inlets of Santa Reparata and la Colba.  Along the promontory you can find granite rock, smooth or bent into the most fantastic shapes, and little coves with sand beaches.  Stop before reaching the lighthouse and continue on foot on paths leading to the different sides of the cape.  On the beach you can see the granite caves, made by the Romans with huge blocks cut out and columns already rounded, resembling those of the Pantheon in Rome and the Sardinian temples.

Luogosanto
The itinerary continues on the road for Palau.  On the way you’ll notice the inlet of Porto Pozzo, the place where, according to tradition, Odysseus met the Laestrygonians, a race giant cannibal shepherds.  Further ahead you’ll cut inland to a beautiful landscape of maquis shrubs and the occasional granite rock.  Luogosanto is located on a rise 2km from the state road.  Inhabited by hermits during the height of the Middle Ages, it preserves ancient churches and crumbling castles.

Return: the state road 133 leads directly back to Tempio Pausania.