Sardegna: Tortolì + Costa Baunei
We had never done an all-inclusive resort before, but for our 4th of July long weekend, we wanted to go somewhere to park ourselves at the beach and not move or think about anything. I saw Arbatax Park Resort & Spa on Instagram months before and saved it, not thinking of a time we would actually go. I just saw the incredible blue water, the white beaches, and that they had an animal park for kids.
This turned out to be the perfect summer holiday for us. Sardegna has two airports (Olbia and Cagliari) and when we looked, both had frequent and direct flights from Naples on EasyJet. We flew in Olbia and rented a car to drive to Tortolì, where the resort is located. I will say it’s about a 3 hour drive and a lot of it is on winding mountain roads, so doing it late at night like we did may not be the best. The resort does offer to coordinate airport transfers but we preferred to handle it ourselves with a rental.
The resort itself is pretty massive and you can choose from several different hotels (I believe there are six in total) and board options.
We stayed in the Cottages and did full board, which we thoroughly enjoyed. I wouldn’t say the food was life changing, but it was very good and the options were endless. We definitely felt like we got our money’s worth. Plus the convenience was really what we were sold on — being able to walk right from the pool to get lunch at the pizzeria with the terrace overlooking the cliffs and the sea.
For the nature park, we took a shuttle from our side of the resort to the far side of the resort and then were able to walk/hike around the area with all the animals. This was definitely a highlight for my son. The walking paths were easy to follow and the animals (especially the donkeys) were clearly used to people so they would walk right up to say hi.
We also did two excursions, booked through the resort.
Costa Baunei: We rented a gommone, the inflatable bottom speed boats, and spent the day exploring the Costa Baunei and the different coves. I truly had never seen water as blue as this before so I was in heaven. Renting the boat was incredibly easy and affordable. Doing it through the resort was helping because they drove us to and from the port and helped monitor the weather and rebooked us from one day to another when the seas and wind looked too rough.
Some of the different beaches and coves we visited are below:
Cala Goloritzè
Cala Mariolu
Cala Luna
Cala Sisine
Cala dei Gabbiani
Spiaggia di Lido di Orrì: The resort organizes daily trips over to another beach and beach club. Many of the beaches at the resort itself are set among the rocks and cliffs, so there is not one long stretch of beach. The Spiaggia di Lido di Orrì is an absolutely beautiful, long white sand beach that is perfect for swimming, surfing, paddle boarding, etc. Normally, guests go by boat but unfortunately the waves were too rough so we were taken by car. There was a restaurant and small beach bar as well as public toilets available. It was nothing fancy in terms of a lido, but it was a great beach for playing and swimming. There were sun beds, umbrellas, and even a life guard.
Other highlights of the resort:
La Bohème - a fantastic boutique with a location in both the resort and the town of Tortolì - Yvan and Chiara create beautiful silk dresses and are the kindest people you will meet
One night while we were there, they had a Sardo cultural festival with music, food, and local artists
As you may expect with resorts, they had entertainment and shows available for kids of all ages, as well as a kid’s club. My son loved watched the “camp counselors” (for lack of a better word) sing and dance to the resort theme song by the pool and we enjoyed the nightly dance parties and shows with the animators.
On the way back to Naples, before we flew out of Olbia, we did stop to see a few things. We had an late night flight so we stayed at the resort until check out, had lunch, and then got in the car to head back north. We stopped to stretch our legs at the Castello di Pedres and Tomba dei Giganti Su Monte ‘e S’Abe. There is a ticket office, but from what we read and understand, it is permanently closed and access to both of these sites is free. It was hot, so walking all the way up to the top of the castle was a bit of a workout, especially with a toddler who wanted carried part of the way, but the views were worth it. From here, we headed into Olbia to wander around, find a playground, and have dinner before heading to the airport. One of my favorite things to do when we are doing more “Type B” traveling and are going to a city without a lot of plan or structure is to just put “city center” (or centro storico in Italian) into GoogleMaps and have that be our starting point for wandering around.
This truly was a perfect summer holiday to stay in one place and relax at the beach — my partner and son were able to nap each afternoon while I laid by the sea reading (or napping myself) and it was a rare vacation where we actually went home feeling refreshed instead of more tired than when we left.
