Sassari (province)

Province of Sassari (Italian: Provincia di Sassari, Sardinian: Provìntzia de Tàtari, Sassarese: Prubìnzia di Sàssari) is the northern province of Sardinia. Visitors are drawn by its beautiful coastline, beach resorts, and historical sites.

Cities

North-Western Sardinia

It is the area close to the Gulf of Asinara at the north-west of Sardinia with Sassari, the 2nd largest city in Sardinia and the capital of the homonymous province.

• 1 Sassari — provincial capital and Sardinia's 2nd largest city
• 2 Alghero — renowned for its Catalan heritage
• 3 Castelsardo — a nice town at the coast of the Asinara Gulf built around an old castle
• 4 Porto Torres — one of the sea gates of the island with connections to Corsica and the mainland ports in Italy, France and Spain

North-Eastern Sardinia

Perhaps it's the most popular tourist destination on the island because of its famous beaches.

• 5 Budoni — on the Mediterranean sea
• 6 La Maddalena — an archipelago of 7 islands north of Costa Smeralda renowned for largely unspoiled nature and beautiful scenery
• 7 Olbia — an unofficial capital of the Gallura sub-region at the north-east of Sardinia
• 8 Palau — near the northwest tip of Sardinia
• 9 Santa Teresa Gallura — a "bridge" to Corsica at the most northern tip of Sardinia
• 10 San Teodoro — a seaside resort at the south-east of Olbia next to the Tavolara and Punta Coda Cavallo Marine Preserve
• 11 Tempio Pausania — an old town, famous for its granite architecture, a former mountainous co-capital of the Gallura subregion

Other destinations

• 1 Asinara Island — a nature reserve with a rather unusual historical background and a lot of asses
• 2 Costa Smeralda — the most glamorous stretch of the coast at the whole Sardinia with its focal point — Porto Cervo
• 3 Isola dei Gabbiani (L'Isuledda) — a small island and a popular destination for windsurfing and kitesurfing

Understand

This region has some of the most famous Sardinian tourist resorts: Castelsardo, Porto Torres, Alghero and the Riviera del Corallo, Stintino, Porto Cervo, Porto Rotondo, La Maddalena and its archipelago, Palau and Santa Teresa di Gallura. They are divided into rocky and sandy: some of the longest beaches are those of gulf of Asinara, such as the beach of Platamona which joins that of the Marina di Sorso. Towards Stintino, the Fiumesanto beach stretches out, joining that of Ezzi and finally that of the salt pans, all together forming a beach several kilometres long.

In Porto Torres there are some rather beautiful beaches such as the better known Balai beach. In Stintino the Pelosa beach and others towards the so-called outside sea. In Alghero the Lido, the Maria Pia pine forest, the most famous Bombarde beach, and the Mugoni pine forest. And in Castelsardo in the hamlet of Lu Bagnu a very long beach. The island of Asinara, Lake Cuga, Lake Bidighinzu and the western side of Lake Coghinas are part of the provincial territory.

In the innermost part of the province, however, the territory of Logudoro stands out for importance, characterized by a hilly and mountainous landscape, which sees in the city of Ozieri its most important centre for history and culture, and which boasts the presence of the third Sardinian centre highest above sea level: Pattada.

Talk

The Sassari province is linguistically diverse, though most residents can speak Sardinian or Italian.

The city of Sassari has its own language Sassarese and the Gallura subregion has Gallurese. They are both similar to Corsican.

Catalan is spoken in Alghero, though this is in decline and local officials estimate only a quarter of its residents speak it as their main language.

Get in

Sassari has two airports:

• Alghero Airport (AHO ^IATA)
• Olbia Airport (OLB ^IATA)

By boat

There are sea connections to the port of Porto Torres from Civitavecchia (6 hr), Savona (9 hr), Genoa (11 hr), Ajaccio (3 hr 45 min) and Propriano (3 hr 30 min), Toulon (8 hr 45 min) Marseille (17 hr), and Barcelona (10 hr).

The remaining ports of the area are located in Alghero , Stintino and Castelsardo , but these are ports strictly linked to pleasure tourism.

The port of Olbia is one of the most important passenger ports in the Mediterranean, with 4 million visitors each year.

By plane

In Alghero, the local Fertilia airport.

In Olbia, the Costa Smeralda airport.

By train

The main railway in the province is the Dorsale Sarda, which connects Cagliari with Gallura (and Olbia in particular) ending in the port of Golfo Aranci. From it originates in Chilivani (Ozieri) another railway for Porto Torres, which reaches Sassari and allows the connection between the two major Sardinian cities. Both lines are operated by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana; Sassari also has two narrow-gauge railways linking the provincial capital with Alghero and Sorso , as well as a third line terminating in Palau but open only to tourist traffic on the Green Train.

See

The province of Sassari has one of the highest densities of Stone Age nuragic buildings. The coastal region of the Costa Smeralda, the emerald coast, with its gorgeous bays are well worth seeing. Also worth seeing is the medieval old town of Alghero, where a Catalan dialect has been preserved.

Do

You can explore the national park areas of the island of Asinara (Parco Nazionale dell'Asinara), the island of Maddalena (Parco Nazionale Arcipelago di La Maddalena), the Parco Regionale di Porto Conte with the Grotte di Nettuno stalactite cave and the marine protected area Area Marina Protetta Tavolara - Punta Coda Cavallo, and the former ore mining areas in the Argentiera.

For bathing, diving and sailing, there are magnificent beaches on all the coasts of the province, for which Sardinia is known.

Go next

• Bonifacio (Corsica) – Take a ferry from Santa Teresa Gallura.