GREAT ESCAPES
SARDINIA
NATGEOTRAVEL.COM
an incredibly pristine
landscape,” says Michele
Barbiero, a guide with
outfitter Dolomite
Mountains, which offers
excursions along these
shores. Another admirer
of the Mediterranean’s
second-largest island (after
Sicily) was the British writer
D.H. Lawrence. “This land
resembles no other place,”
he remarked. It’s “like
liberty itself.”
In a time of overcrowded
destinations, Sardinia’s
eastern shores and north-
ern archipelago remain a
place where you can get
wonderfully lost. Here are
three ways to begin.
—Jill K. RobinsonWith its limestone bluffs,
sun-kissed beaches, and
grottoes studded with
stalactites and stalagmites,
the eastern coast of Italy’s
isle of Sardinia is a place
of rugged, elemental
beauty bordered by the
intensely azure Tyrrhenian
Sea. Another water-limned
treasure lies to the north:
the 60 or so islands of the
Maddalena Archipelago, a
national park that protects
many endemic species.
As a bastion of wilder-
ness in the Mediterranean
Basin, this region calls to
adventurous travelers who
want to play castaway in
coves and on cliffs where
they may not see another
person all day.
“Sardinia is pure nature,
with clear waters andItalian
Adventures