Pure nature on Sardinia's beaches – my insider tips

The environmental organisation Legambiente regularly publishes a study on the quality of bathing beaches in Italy. Sardinian beaches are always among the top ten. The municipality of Posada, with La Caletta and San Giovanni, is regularly included.

Every year, the environmental organisation presents this award in collaboration with the Touring Club Italiano (TCI), a respected public institution for all matters relating to travel in Italy. The Guida Blu publishes an annual list of the most beautiful and cleanest beaches in Italy. Not only are water quality and high environmental standards evaluated, but also attractive cultural offerings in the respective locations and useful services for holidaymakers. Legambiente deliberately does not evaluate Sardinia's beautiful natural beaches, but only beaches with tourist facilities. Natural beaches should remain ‘natural’, and therefore it is better to promote them as little as possible.

I like that, because I don't want to see any ‘Stabilimenti Balneari’ on my favourite beaches in the future either. Or at least I want to have the opportunity to do my own thing undisturbed. I can do that particularly well in Capo Comino. There are no hotels here, and the number of holiday homes is manageable. Instead, there are many kilometres of pine forest that stretch right down to the sea, but as a nature reserve, you can only enter with permission. In the middle of it all lies the gently sloping, fine-grained sandy beach of Capo Comino with its impressive dune landscape. When I don't want to have anything to do with anything or anyone, I disappear into the dunes. This is pure nature; here, I see no sign of civilisation. No houses, no roads, not even a power line disturbs the view. No car noise, no radio chatter, nothing that reminds me of people. A few hours of meditation in this idyllic setting, and I feel light and relaxed. Ready for emails, my computer and my fellow human beings.

Please don't think I'm a misanthrope because of this. Try it out. Then you'll understand me. When I'm in the mood for action, however, I treat myself to a special kind of pleasure. I take a boat to the cliffs south of Orosei. There are no dunes, no pine forests, but there are rock faces rising vertically out of the water, which belong to the high mountains of the Gennargentu. This coastal formation is also worth seeing. It adorns the covers of pretty much all Sardinia guidebooks, especially because of the sandy beaches there, such as Cala Luna. These can only be reached by sea, which is why I took the boat! It is also possible to walk there, but this involves a hike of several hours. However, the route leads through a picturesque gorge, the ‘Gola su Goroppu’, which is said to be the narrowest and highest in Europe. I don't want to question that here. The fact is that this hike is unforgettable for everyone who has done it.

I enjoyed reaching Cala Luna in comfort to see what was going on there. I was lucky. There were free climbers on the rocks again, and I even saw a genuine sea eagle. On the way back, I stop at Isola dei Pedrami. It is located near my ‘home port’ Baia S'Anna near Budoni and is not an island at all, but rather just a reef. But it is one that has a lot to offer. It was only a few years ago that an Italian coast guard speedboat lost its battle with the rocks here. I marvelled at the badly damaged ship in the port of Ottiolu. Several thousand years ago, however, one or more galleys ran aground here; when I first visited 30 years ago, the seabed around the island was literally littered with Roman amphora shards. I also found the anchor of a galley in the very shallow water at the reef. Today, not much of it remains. Nevertheless, I enjoy snorkelling here because I still find a few beautiful shards. However, I limit myself to looking because I don't need souvenirs of this kind.

With a Sardinian ‘Adiosu’, I bid you farewell for today.

Joachim Waßmann

Google photo: Capo Comino