Sardinia - Jewel of the Mediterranean

Tour Code: ITA05

An 8-day holiday to the 'Jewel of the Mediterranean' in search of the plants, birds and butterflies of the island's coastal lagoons and mountainous interior.

8 days from
£1,995 (Inc flights)
Land only price from
£1,795
book now

Highlights

Summary

Summary

This is a 2-centre wildlife holiday on a beautiful island – the 'Jewel of the Mediterranean'. Surrounded by crystal-clear sea, Sardinia offers a range of habitats from the salt pans around Cagliari to the mountains of Monte Arcosu and the rugged Gennargentu range. These maquis-covered limestone mountains descend to an unspoiled coastline of remote sandy coves. We access one, Cala Luna, by boat from the pretty harbour of Cala Gonone, taking a swim before the cliff-walk back. On such day walks we amble slowly as we search for wayside plants, birds and butterflies under the guidance of our expert leader. We may also visit such archaeological sites as the Neolithic ‘Giant’s Tomb’, the Nuraghic villages at Tiscali, and other prehistoric Nuraghic dwellings dating from around 2,000 BC.

Please note that, depending on flight schedules, the published itinerary may be reversed but will still have the same number of nights at each location.

  • Salt pans filled with Flamingoes, waders & Slender-billed Gulls
  • 28 orchid species amongst a profusion of wild flowers, including endemics
  • Mountainsides covered in maquis & Cork Oak woodland
  • Eleonora’s Falcon, Barbary Partridge & Audouin’s Gull
  • Visit ancient Nuraghi villages – a Bronze Age civilization
  • Taste the ‘blood cleansing’ Cannonua wine

Grading

Day walks only.

It was our affection for Corsica and the great success of our tours there in recent years that first attracted us to Sardinia. Both islands have been so fortunate to escape the ravages of tasteless tourist developments that have afflicted other Mediterranean areas and, like Corsica, Sardinia is a large island with a rich natural history that is not well known to Britons. Famed more for its fabulous white sandy beaches and crystal waters — some of the best in the Mediterranean — and known as ‘the Jewel of the Mediterranean’, Sardinia also has some of the wildest and most beautiful countryside in Europe. Indeed, for the naturalist, it is more the island’s abundance of coastal lagoons, extensive forests, rugged mountains and limestone hills that prove most attractive, and which are home to a wide variety of interesting flora and fauna. Sardinia is also an ancient and mystical land where a Bronze Age people built the famous nuraghi stone towers (of which 7,000 remain) and the equally impressive ‘giant’s tombs’ which are amongst the most splendid of European Megalithic buildings. Since that time the Sardinians have suffered wave after wave of seaborne invaders — first the Phoenicians, then the Carthaginians, the Romans and the Moors, all of them leaving behind ruined temples and other monuments in their wake. The Sardinian people themselves frequently fled to the hills, becoming a wild and defensive race who eked out a living as hill shepherds and bandits! It is perhaps this defensive and wary nature that today has kept Sardinia relatively free of ugly tourism development.

We begin our holiday with a flight to Olbia from where we drive south to the village of Dorgarli. For the next four nights we will be based in a very friendly, family-run hotel near the east coast of the island. This will be our base from which to explore the Sopramonte region of the Gennargentu Mountains, where shepherds still roam with their large flocks of goats and sheep. This is a rugged and beautiful area of maquis-covered limestone mountains that descend to an unspoilt coastline of remote sandy coves and isolated cave systems where the endangered Monk Seal used to breed. The mountain villages are decorated with dramatic murals depicting local customs and some with topical and political themes. We will walk on Bruncu Spina where we may find alpine plants such as Corsican Saxifrage and Rock Cinquefoil and, depending on the timing of the season, we should see sheets of Crocus minimus and Viola corsica. Amongst the trees we will look for the national flower, Paeonii mascula ssp. russii, while birds may include Rock Thrush, Marmora’s Warbler, Corsican Finch and perhaps Golden Eagle.

From the pretty harbour of Cala Gonone we will take a boat along the coast to an area of cliffs where Eleonora’s Falcons breed. Hopefully we will see this late-breeding falcon at this known nesting colony. We next head back to the exquisite cove of Cala Luna, from where we will explore the gorge of the Rio Codula di Luna on foot. After a picnic lunch and perhaps a swim, we take the boat back to Cala Gonone and the gelateria on the harbour front! On all our walks we will amble gently through the day as we search for wayside plants, birds and butterflies under the guidance of our expert leader. We will also hope to find time to enjoy such nearby archaeological sites as the Nuraghic villages of Mannu, in a dramatic clifftop setting, and Serra Orios, dating from around 2,000 BC.

For the second part of this 2-centre holiday we will drive south to Capoterra, via Oristano on the west coast, where we will explore the lagoons looking for wetland birds such as Purple Heron and Red-crested Pochard. In coastal garrigue we will also hope to find Mirror Orchid (Ophrys speculum) and Ophrys eleanora.

We will be based in Capoterra for our final three nights. From here we will visit the nearby coastal marshes of the Gulf of Cagliari, where rare breeding birds include Greater Flamingo, Glossy Ibis, Little Bittern, Purple Heron, Cattle Egret, Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Red-crested Pochard, Gull-billed Tern, Slender-billed Gull and Spectacled Warbler. We will also visit Monte Arcosu, WWF’s largest Italian nature reserve and a fine example of the magnificent forest that once clothed the island prior to the logging and then fires that destroyed so much of it in the earlier part of this century. The 915-metre granite peak of Monte Arcosu towers above the reserve, whose cliffs, crags and outcrops support a maquis flora of Narrow-leaved Cistus, Phillyrea latifolia, Lentisk, Rosemary, broom, juniper, Oleander and Strawberry Tree. In the forests are Holm, Pubescent and Cork Oaks, whilst Olive and Carob Trees stand in the dry glades and pastures. The endangered Sardinian Deer (an endemic subspecies of Red Deer), Fallow Deer, Wild Cat and Wild Boar all occur here, as well as a variety of such woodland and maquis birds as Coal Tit, Roller, Bee-eater, and Subalpine, Marmora’s, Dartford, Spectacled and Sardinian Warblers. Overhead birds of prey are possible — with Buzzards, Golden Eagles and Peregrines all breeding here.

We will also explore the Cixerri Valley and the peaceful wooded valleys of the Forest of Margani where we should find good numbers of orchids, including the endemic Ophrys chestermanii, as well as Cirl Buntings and Firecrests. The coast adjacent to our hotel often holds migrant species and Laguna di Nora hosts the largest breeding colony of Audouin’s Gulls in Italy, unusually on a low island rather than the more usual rocky offshore islet.

 

 

DETAILED INFORMATION
Itinerary

Outline Itinerary

Day 1
Fly Sardinia; transfer Dorgali
Day 2/4
Walking excursions in the Gennargentu Mountains in search of plants, birds and butterflies
Day 5/7
Transfer to Capoterra for natural history excursions
Day 8
Fly London
cloud_downloadDownload Full Itinerary
What's Included

What's Included?

  • Flights
  • Accommodation:

    A 2-centre holiday using comfortable hotels with private facilities and serving fine local food.

  • Food:

    All food included in the price.

Reviews
Dates & Prices

Dates & Prices

2025

Departures Availability Cost
Sat 12th Apr – Sat 19th Apr SPACES £1,995
Book Tour Show Details
Flights:
Most Naturetrek tours include flight costs ex-UK. If flights are not included, we indicate that here.
Flights are included in the tour cost
Regional Departures:
On certain tours it is possible to depart from a regional airport (rather than London). If a regional departure is possible, we indicate that here.
Regional Departures are available. Call 01962733051
Land only cost:
The "Land Only" cost is the tour price you will pay if you choose to arrange your own flights/transport.
£1,795
Single Room Supplement:
Single Room Supplement.
£295
Sat 19th Apr – Sat 26th Apr FULL £1,995
Flights:
Most Naturetrek tours include flight costs ex-UK. If flights are not included, we indicate that here.
Flights are included in the tour cost
Regional Departures:
On certain tours it is possible to depart from a regional airport (rather than London). If a regional departure is possible, we indicate that here.
Regional Departures are available. Call 01962733051
Land only cost:
The "Land Only" cost is the tour price you will pay if you choose to arrange your own flights/transport.
£1,795
Single Room Supplement:
Single Room Supplement.
£295

2026

Departures Availability Cost
Sat 18th Apr – Sat 25th Apr SPACES £1,995
Book Tour Show Details
Flights:
Most Naturetrek tours include flight costs ex-UK. If flights are not included, we indicate that here.
Flights are included in the tour cost
Regional Departures:
On certain tours it is possible to depart from a regional airport (rather than London). If a regional departure is possible, we indicate that here.
Regional Departures are available. Call 01962733051
Land only cost:
The "Land Only" cost is the tour price you will pay if you choose to arrange your own flights/transport.
£1,795
Single Room Supplement:
Single Room Supplement.
£295 
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Botanical Tours – See Wild Flowers with our Expert Botanical Guides


There are few more pleasing sights in the natural world than a meadow filled with wildflowers. Seeing plants in their native habitat is always exciting and our flower tours offer you an incredible choice, from dazzling tropical blooms and the thrill of finding elusive orchids or delicate alpines, to seeing island endemics or British flora. Our tours range from week-long holidays focusing on the ‘Alpine flowers of the Swiss Alps’, the ‘Italian Dolomites’ and the ‘Alpine Flowers of Slovenia’s Julian Alps’, to orchid-hunting on Italy’s Gargano Peninsula and searching for the Autumn Plants of Greece’s Peloponnese. We also visit more remote areas of the world in search of plant-life, from the Tien Shan Mountains of Kazakhstan where we look for wild tulips, to the rainforests and spiny deserts of Madagascar where over 80% of the flora is endemic.  


Many of us want to know more about the plants we see around us. Whether inspired by an appreciation of the aesthetic appeal of flowers, or a more focused desire to identify individual species, everyone with an interest in botany will derive pleasure from joining one of Naturetrek’s flower tours.


Why choose Naturetrek’s botanical holidays?


    

  • All our botanical holidays are led by expert botanist guides
    • 

  • All levels of interest and expertise are catered for, from hobby gardeners and complete beginners to keen botanists who wish to explore a new area with the help of a knowledgeable leader
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  • We keep the overall focus on flora, though expert guidance is also given on other wildlife
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What can I expect on a typical Naturetrek botanical holiday?


    

  • Travel with a group of like-minded people
    • 

  • Stay at a comfortable hotel or lodge, close to an area of outstanding botanical interest
    • 

  • Enjoy a series of leisurely day excursions with ample time to appreciate the local flora
    • 



In addition to our dedicated flower tours, we also offer holidays with a wider theme to encompass birds, butterflies and other aspects of natural history as well as the flora. Our spring tours to 'Crete' and ‘The Island of Cyprus’ are both timed to allow us to enjoy the botanical highlights as well as the spring bird migration, whilst ‘Croatia and Slovenia – Spring in Istria’ also allows time to enjoy a little of the local culture. ‘Romania – the Wildlife of Transylvania’ combines an appreciation of the flora of the Carpathian Mountains with birding, butterflying and a trip to look for Brown Bears from a purpose built hide, and our holidays in both the ‘French Pyrenees’ and the ‘Spanish Pyrenees’ combine birds, butterflies and botany throughout the week.  




Our specialist recommends...






"I'd recommend 'Wengen – Alpine Flowers of the Swiss Alps', 'Crete' and 'The French Pyrenees', which all offer some fascinating European botany, along with plenty of wider natural history and some stunning scenery. If you’re keen to travel a little further afield, I’d suggest joining us in South Africa for our 'Wild Flowers of the Cape & Namaqualand' tour” 

David Tattersfield - Tour Leader




All Botany Tours

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Birding Tours Led by Expert Naturalists


The majority of our wildlife tours focus primarily on birds, allowing us to offer a huge choice of bird holidays. On most of our birdwatching tours we aim to see a wide variety of species, while taking time to enjoy other wildlife as well as cultural highlights and architecture.


Naturetrek Birdwatching Tours


We have one of the largest selections of professionally organised, small group birdwatching holidays around the world and all of our birdwatching tours are accompanied by at least one professional ornithologist leader with detailed knowledge of the area.


The majority of our bird tours have a relaxed, flexible approach which allows more time for photography, detailed wildlife exploration, leisure time and the region’s people, culture, history and architecture, while allowing the group to see a wide range of bird species.

Here is a small selection of our many bird holidays:



Our Bargain Birdwatching Selection


Our Bargain Bird Tours are intensive birdwatching holidays suitable for the serious birder. They are led by expert English-speaking local guides (and not accompanied from the UK by a tour leader). You can expect a higher-paced tour and to spend long hours in the field.


 




Our specialist recommends...






"Try Coto Doñana & Extremadura for an excellent introduction to Europe's wetland and steppe birds. I would recommend our bargain holiday, 'Nepal – A Birdwatching Tour' for those interested in Siberian rarities and Ibisbill, while Costa Rica offers a chance to search for arguably the world's most beautiful bird, the Resplendent Quetzal."

Byron Palacios - Tour Leader




  


 


All Birdwatching Tours

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Prefer to Travel in a Private Group?

For any interested natural history club or society, we can arrange for a private departure of this tour.

Enquire
Why Naturetrek?

Why Naturetrek?

At Naturetrek we craft expertly-guided group and tailor-made wildlife holidays and cruises to all seven continents. On one of our holidays, you can be assured that our passionate team will enable you to experience and enjoy the best of the world's wildlife and natural spectacles in as comfortable and rewarding a manner as possible, caring as best we can for the environment in the process. We are proud to provide:

  • The widest choice of wildlife holidays worldwide
  • Tours managed and led by naturalists, for naturalists
  • Outstanding value and exceptional customer service

Furthermore, as a Naturetrek client, our office team are always to on hand to help you – so if you have any queries about your holiday, whether before or after you have booked, we will be delighted to answer them on the phone. Please just give our team a call!