Sardinia & Corsica: Islands of Italy and France
Most people come to the Mediterranean expecting the familiar. Sardinia and Corsica will surprise them. Wander the Catalan-built streets of Alghero and the basket-weaving lanes of Castelsardo before crossing the often-turbulent Strait of Bonifacio to Corsica's dramatic cliff-top citadel. Back in Sardinia, settle into the Gallura coastline for a winery tour and tasting lunch, then spend a full day cruising the turquoise waters of the La Maddalena Archipelago. From there, trade the coast for the mountains: the Barbagia countryside is shepherd country, shaped by centuries of isolation and self-sufficiency. Cook a Sardinian meal from scratch, eat lunch at a working shepherd's hut, and gather for a Blue Zone dinner rooted in the ancestral rhythms that have helped make this island home to one of the world's highest concentrations of centenarians. Nothing like you expected.
MUST-SEE INCLUSIONS
- Wander the pedestrian lanes of Alghero's walled old town — and stay for the sunset from the ramparts.
- Explore Bonifacio — perched dramatically on white limestone cliffs at the southern tip of Corsica.
- Cruise the Costa Smeralda and island-hop through the La Maddalena Archipelago.
CULINARY INCLUSIONS
- Sit down to lunch at a Sardinian winery and taste through their production, from vine to glass.
- Master the distinct craft of Sardinian cooking — different pasta, different flavors, different logic entirely — and share the meal you've made at the table.
- Off-road into the Barbagia hills for lunch at a shepherd's hut — a simple, seasonal meal made from whatever the land provides.
CULTURAL EXPERIENCES
- Walk a Bronze Age settlement built by the people who shaped Sardinia long before Rome ever took notice.
- Visit a cork workshop — the raw material pulled from these Sardinian hills ends up sealing bottles of Chianti and Brunello.
- Meet the keepers of Mamoiada's ancient carnival — a living tradition of masks, bells, and ritual that predates Christianity.
HOTELS
- Aria Palace Hotel, Rome
- Hotel Catalunya, Alghero
- Hotel Santateresa, Bonifacio
- Mangia's Sardinia Resort, Gallura Coast
- Su Gologone Experience Hotel, Barbagia
- Hotel Tiber, Rome
INCLUDED
- 15 Days
- 14 Nights
- 13 Breakfasts
- 3 Lunches
- 3 Dinners
Itinerary
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Overnight Flight
You're on your way. Sardinia and Corsica sit at the heart of the Mediterranean, close enough to see each other across the Strait, worlds apart in language, culture, and table.
Accommodation: Hotel Catalunya -
Rome, Italy
Rome asks for nothing today – just your curiosity. As arrival times vary, the day is yours to explore at your own pace: wander through cobblestone neighborhoods, stop at a corner cafè, or taste the gelato. As evening approaches, gather with your fellow travelers for a welcome aperitivo drink before a night on your own.
Accommodation: Hotel Catalunya -
Rome - Fly to Alghero, Sardinia
A one-hour flight carries you off the Italian mainland and into a different world entirely. Touch down in Alghero on Sardinia's western coast and check in to your hotel. Alghero is unlike anywhere else on the island: dominated for centuries by the Spanish Kingdom of Aragon, its dialect is closer to Catalan Spanish than Italian – and that history is still written into the street names and architecture. Join your Tour Manager for an orientation walk through this walled city before an evening at leisure in this lively locale.
Meal included: BreakfastAccommodation: Hotel Santateresa -
Alghero
This morning, visit Nuraghe Palmavera – a Bronze Age tower complex built by Sardinia's indigenous Nuragic people, a civilization that left more than 7,000 stone structures scattered across the island. Afterward, wander the fruit and vegetable stalls at Alghero's public market. Lunch and the afternoon are on your own: the old town's pedestrian lanes are lined with local restaurants, small shops and a coral museum worth a look. Consider a motorboat ride out to the Neptune Caves, where stalactites and stalagmites fill chambers right at sea level. As evening falls, take a passeggiata (stroll) along the city ramparts.
Meal included: BreakfastAccommodation: Hotel Santateresa -
Alghero - Ferry to Bonifacio, Corsica, France
This morning, travel through northern Sardinia with a stop in Castelsardo – a hilltop town wrapped around a medieval castle. Its narrow lanes are still home to artisans who weave palm-leaf baskets by hand, a craft with roots in agricultural and fishing life that has defined the town for generations. In the afternoon, climb aboard a ferry* for a one-hour trip across the Strait of Bonifacio, watching the white limestone cliffs of France's largest island rise from the sea as you approach. Corsica didn't pass to France until 1768, one year before Napoleon was born here. Transfer to your hotel and settle in for an evening at leisure.
Meal included: BreakfastAccommodation: Hotel Santateresa -
Bonifacio
This morning, it's your choice! Join a local expert for a walking tour of Bonifacio’s old town, tracing history as you take in the Étendard bastion and the Citadel -OR- pull on your walking shoes for a hike** along the limestone cliffs above Bonifacio, where the views stretch across the old town and all the way to Sardinia on the horizon. The afternoon is yours to explore the town at your own pace.
Meal included: BreakfastAccommodation: Mangia's Sardinia Resort -
Bonifacio
Today is yours. Hop a local boat out to the Îles Lavezzi – a cluster of uninhabited islands in the Strait, known for their hidden coves and clear water – or join an optional excursion to Porto-Vecchio. Built in 1539 as a fortified hilltop port, Porto-Vecchio was designed to control the sea lanes and hold the south of Corsica against invasion. Walk the old fortifications and browse the lanes at your own pace before returning to Bonifacio for an evening on your own.
Meal included: BreakfastAccommodation: Mangia's Sardinia Resort -
Bonifacio - Ferry to Santa Teresa di Gallura, Sardinia, France
Cross back to Sardinia by ferry boat* this morning and trade the cliffs of Corsica for the rugged hills of the Gallura. Along the way, visit a local winery for a tour and a tasting lunch of their own production. This afternoon, check into your resort hotel on the Gallura Coast – perched in a panoramic position on Sardinia's northern shore, with extensive grounds and a private beach within walking distance. Settle in for a three-night stay.
Meal included: Breakfast & LunchAccommodation: Mangia's Sardinia Resort -
Gallura Coast - La Maddalena National Park - Gallura Coast
Following an early morning transfer to the port, board your boat for a cruise along the Costa Smeralda before reaching the archipelago of La Maddalena – a national park made up of more than 60 islands and islets off Sardinia's northeastern tip. You'll cruise aboard a large, shared vessel (150–200 passengers); the standard way to cruise this protected park. The boat makes three stops in total – the village of La Maddalena and two island landings where you can walk the beaches or even swim. Return to the hotel for an evening at leisure.
Meal included: BreakfastAccommodation: Su Gologone Experience Hotel -
Gallura Coast
Today, it's your choice! Take a full day to unwind at the resort – lounge by the pool, walk the private beach, and simply let the pace slow down -OR- head to glamorous Porto Cervo, the village at the heart of the Costa Smeralda. In the early 1960s, Prince Karim Aga Khan set out to build one of Europe's first purpose-designed luxury coastal destinations along this stretch of Sardinia's northeastern coast. The result was Porto Cervo: a place that manages to feel both exclusive and stunning – and attracts the international jet set.
Meal included: BreakfastAccommodation: Su Gologone Experience Hotel -
Gallura Coast - Barbagia Countryside
Leave the coast behind and drive into Sardinia's seemingly untouched mountainous interior. En route to the Barbagia, visit a cork workshop and get to know one of the island's most important crafts: Sardinia supplies some of the finest cork in the world, stopping the bottles of Chianti, Brunello, and Barolo in cellars across Italy. Check in for a three-night stay at Su Gologone Experience Hotel – a property built around the living traditions of the Barbagia. The rooms are simple by design; the corridors are hung with local crafts and artwork. Rooms are spread across the hillside, some requiring climbing flights of stairs.*** Dinner is served around 8:00 p.m., when the sun finally drops. That rhythm – easy movement, late meals, small portions of everything, time outdoors – is exactly the un po' di tutto approach that researchers have tied to Sardinia's extraordinary longevity: this is one of the world's Blue Zones, and you'll feel it in the pace here.
Meal included: Breakfast, Dinner & LunchAccommodation: Su Gologone Experience Hotel -
Barbagia Countryside
This morning, visit the village of Mamoiada and step into one of Sardinia's most distinctive living traditions. At the Mediterranean Mask Museum, explore a collection of masks from carnival traditions across the island and Italy – including the haunting Mamuthones, weighed down with heavy bells and moving in slow, rhythmic procession, and the Issohadores, dressed in red and white, who shepherd the procession with ropes. These figures carry pre-Christian, agrarian meaning – symbols of seasonal cycles, land, and the balance between order and wildness – still performed each February by volunteers from across the community. This experience is an Impact Moment: your visit directly supports the local carnival association in maintaining the handcrafted costumes and masks that anchor this tradition. Back at the hotel this afternoon, roll up your sleeves for a Sardinian cooking class — and come ready to unlearn everything you think you know about Italian food. What goes onto the table here has nothing to do with the mainland: the pasta shapes are different, the sauces are different, the proteins are different. You are the chef of your dinner tonight – buon appetito!
Meal included: Breakfast & DinnerAccommodation: Hotel Tiber -
Barbagia Countryside
This morning, it's your choice! Work alongside a local artisan at the hotel in a hands-on craft workshop – a window into the skills passed down through Barbagia's ovili settlements for generations -OR- climb into an off-road vehicle for a 30-minute drive to a Bronze Age Nuragic village. The hike** to the ruins gains about 150 feet on an unpaved path with roots and loose gravel – and rewards with the sight of a stone settlement built between 1800 and 800 BC. Those who want to go further can enter a cave with prehistoric relics still inside. Everyone comes together at midday: load back into the jeeps and head to a local shepherd's hut for lunch. The meal is exactly what a shepherd would pull together from the land in this season – simple, honest, and deeply connected to the present season. Return to the hotel for an afternoon at leisure before gathering this evening for a Blue Zone dinner: ancestral recipes from Barbagia's home kitchens, the kind of table that – along with a life spent moving, eating in moderation, and spending time in community – has helped keep this corner of Sardinia's centenarian count among the highest in the world.
Meal included: Breakfast, Dinner & Lunch -
Barbagia Countryside - Fly to Rome Fiumicino
Say goodbye to Sardinia this morning. A two-hour drive brings you to Olbia for your flight back to Rome Fiumicino, where you check into a seaside hotel near the airport – a comfortable place to land for a final night before tomorrow's departures.
Meal included: Breakfast -
Fiumicino - Tour Ends
Depart for home carrying a different understanding of two islands that share a sea but sound, eat, and live like nowhere else on earth.
Meal included: Breakfast
