How To Get To Sardinia: Fly vs. Ferry Costs & Benefits
This is the grand-daddy of guides on how to get to Sardinia from both Europe (especially Italy destinations) and US destinations because my ass did a lot of research last spring before my month-long road trip on the island.
I researched the fastest, cheapest, and best ways to get to and around Sardinia, so I learned quite a bit. I also spent a month driving around the island, hiking its mountains, exploring its pretty beaches from north to south, and getting lost on Sardinian roads, so the knowledge (and love) goes deep. 🤓
Here’s the gist about how to get to Sardinia.
- Sardinia has three airports: Cagliari (south), Olbia (north), and Alghero (west). Flying into Sardinia is likely the best and cheapest way to travel, and Cagliari is the biggest airport.
- Sardinia also has three main ferry ports: Cagliari (south), Olbia (north), and Porto Torres. The perks of taking a ferry to Sardinia are that you can bring your rental car or RV onboard. Olbia is the best port to ferry to, and it’s the prettiest part of the island, too! FYI, the ferries are pretty industrial, so don’t expect a romantic luxury cruise. (Book ferry tickets here.)
- The easiest way to reach Sardinia is from Rome, Italy. Flying from Rome to any airport in Sardinia takes about 1 hour. A ferry from the Civitavecchia Port near Rome will take between 6 – 8 hours, the fastest being to Olbia Port.
- I think getting around Sardinia is best done by renting a car and doing a road trip. While there is a public transportation system (train, bus), it’s not great, and there are many beaches, hikes, and mountain trails I love off the beaten path.
PRO TIP TO THINK ABOUT: If you are going on a bigger Italy road trip that includes Sardinia, it might be cheaper and more convenient to rent a car in Rome and take the overnight ferry from Civitavecchia Port to Olbia than to fly over and rent a car in Sardinia. Food for thought…
In this post, I’m dumping all my research, lessons learned, and a few logistically odd things about Sardinia I learned along the way to help you plan your trip. So let’s jump into the details of flying and ferrying into Sardinia, how long each option takes, costs, and what to expect.
How To Get To Sardinia from Italy
Sardinia is one of the biggest Italian islands, and because of this, it’s easy to get to from the mainland, especially from Rome. Here are a bunch of common ways you can get to Sardinia from Rome and Italy more broadly.
✈️ How to Get to Sardinia From Rome By Plane
You can fly to Sardinia from both Rome airports: Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport in Fiumicino (FCO) and Giovan Battista Pastine International Airport in Ciampino (CIA).
Sardinia has three main airports you can fly into:
- Cagliari Elmas Airport (CAG) in the south (biggest)
- Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB) in the northeast
- Alghero-Fertilia Airport (AHO) in the northwest
Several airlines operate flights from Rome to Sardinia, including Alitalia, Ryanair, and EasyJet, all of which are regional and budget-friendly.
In the summertime, the flights from Rome to Sardinia range between €150-200 roundtrip per person. It’s a 1 – 1.5 hour flight, and there are multiple flights a day.
If you want to visit the south of the island, I recommend flying into the capital of Sardinia, Cagliari—this is where I landed and started my road trip. This means visiting long sandy beaches like Villasimius, Chia, and Costa Rei and exploring the capital city of Cagliari.
You can also dive deeper into the Nuragic civilization by visiting the Barumini Nuraghe UNESCO World Heritage site, which showcases the impressive nuraghe, Bronze Age stone structures that are unique only to Sardinia.
Olbia is a great place to land if you want a more upscale vacation in the La Maddalena Archipelago. My Italian friends told me this is where famous and wealthy Italians go on vacation – olala!!
I know it sounds haughty, but it makes sense when you see the archipelago and the famous Emerald Coast of Sardinia. I thought this region was the prettiest on the island.
Alghero is a great place to land if you want to explore the northeast of the islands—beautiful towns like Sassari and Castelsardo (which I stayed in!) and my favorite little beaches around Costa Paradiso. I know I say this a lot in my posts, but I wish I could get a vacation home near this area—it’s almost as stunning as the Madalenna Archipelago!
⛴️ How to Get to Sardinia From Rome By Ferry
If you have a rental car or RV on the mainland of Italy, taking the overnight ferry from Rome Civitavecchia Port to Sardinia is your best bet. The benefit here is that you’ll have a car in Sardinia, which is ideal because their public transportation is not great.
There are three main ports in Sardinia I recommend:
➡️ Olbia (northeast) – most popular ferry route, also the shortest
Duration: 5 hours (fast ferry), 8 hours (regular ferry)
Info: 10 pm departure from Rome, 6 am arrival in Olbia
➡️ Porto Torres (north east) – near Alghero
Duration: 7 hours
Info: Popular port if you’re coming from a west European port
➡️ Cagliari (south) – least popular route, longest, don’t recommend
Duration: 15 hours
PRO TIP: It might be cheaper and more convenient to rent a car from Rome and take the overnight ferry from Civitavecchia to Olbia than flying over and renting a car in Sardinia.
You can search for tickets here. The best and most frequent ferries will be from Tirrenia and Grimaldi Lines, and tickets should be around €50 per adult and €70 per car (RVs will be more expensive).
⭐️ How to Get from Rome to Civitavecchia Port
I get this question a lot because there are many cruises and ferries that leave from Civitavecchia, the closest port to Rome and its main airports. Here are the most practical options:
➡️ The easiest way to get from Rome Airport (FCO) to Civitavecchia Port is by Private Transfer. Costs about €115 per person and takes about 1 hour. ⬅️
*** Private transfers are available from Rome city center and Ciampino Airport.
If you’re coming from the main airport, since there is no direct line from Rome Fiumicino Airport (or the Ciampino Airport either) to Civitavecchia Port, you will have to take the Leonardo Express train from the airport to the city center of Rome (Roma Termini) and then change lines to get to Civitavecchia Port. The whole train trip will take about 2.5 hours. Here are the details from the city center of Rome.
✅ Train from Roma Termini to Civitavecchia Train Station. [CHEAPEST]
This is the most practical and cheapest option, but it is a local train, so there will be frequent stops. The train ride from Roma Termini Station to Civitavecchia Station is about 1.5 hours and costs about €6. I use OMIO to reserve train tickets and check schedules ahead of time.
You can also head into the Roma Termini train station to buy tickets from the machines or the ticket office and be on your way. Everything can be done in English and paid by credit card.
PRO TIP: Once you get to the Civitavecchia train station, you can walk to the port or take the local shuttle bus. The bus runs every 20 minutes, picks up at the front of the station, and costs €2 per person (pay cash on board). The ride to the port is about 10 minutes.
✅ Rent a Car at the Airport & Drive to Civitavecchia Port [CLEVER]
Renting a car in Rome and taking it on the overnight ferry to Sardinia is a clever and budget-conscious way to take a road trip to the island. This gives you the advantage of having your rental with you on the island, and it might save you money. Renting a car on the island can be more expensive, and flights are a bit more expensive than taking the ferry.
FUN FACT: In Europe, I was surprised to find that renting a car at the airport (especially when it’s not an island) is cheaper than anywhere else. This is the opposite in the USA, where the airport price-gouges you.
If you rent a car at the Rome airport, you will drive about 60km to the Civitavecchia port, which takes about 1.5 hours on the highway, and board the ferry at night – they usually depart around 10pm. Check FerryScanner for schedules and get your tickets ahead of time!
How to Get to Sardinia from Florence
To get from Florence to Sardinia, you have two main options: flying or taking a combination of train and ferry. Flying is faster, but the ferry is cheaper, and has the advantage of you being able to take your car/RV on the ferry with you.
Flying is probably the fastest. You can fly direct from Florence’s Amerigo Vespucci Airport (FLR) to airports in Sardinia like Cagliari Elmas Airport (CAG), Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB), or Alghero-Fertilia Airport (AHO). Airlines like Vueling and Alitalia often have direct or connecting flights. Direct flights take about 1.5 hours.
Your second option will be to take a train from Florence to one of the ferry ports that offer services to Sardinia, such as Porto Livorno near Pisa (2 hrs by train), Port Civitavecchia near Rome (3.5 hrs by train), or Porto Genoa (3 hrs by train). Trenitalia has frequent train services to all these ports. I use OMIO to book tickets.
From the mainland, you’ll board a ferry to one of Sardinia’s ports like Olbia, Porto Torres, or Cagliari. Ferry operators like Tirrenia and Grimaldi Lines are the more popular companies. The ferry journey alone can range from 6 to 12 hours and is usually overnight.
How to Get to Sardinia from Sicily
Again, you can take the ferry, you can fly, or you can connect somehow through mainland Italy. I think the quick and dirty way is to fly from one of Sicily’s two airports in Palermo or Catania to Sardinia. Sardinia has three airports I already talked about – the closest to Sicily being Cagliari.
The primary ferry connection between Sicily and Sardinia is from Palermo (Sicily) to Cagliari (Sardinia). This route is operated by Tirrenia, a well-known Italian ferry operator. Again, you can use FerryScanner to find and book a ticket. The ferry journey can take around 12 hours, and the last time I checked, it ran in the morning from Sicily with a late arrival in Cagliari.
If the direct Sicily-Sardinia ferry schedule doesn’t fit your plans, I would take a ferry or fly from Sicily to the Italian mainland. From here, you can catch a ferry to Sardinia from ports like Civitavecchia, Genoa, or Livorno, heading to Olbia, Porto Torres, or Cagliari in Sardinia.
How To Get To Sardinia from Europe
I think the best and fastest way to get to Sardinia is by flying into one of its main airports: Cagliari Elmas Airport (CAG) in the south, Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB) in the northeast, or Alghero-Fertilia Airport (AHO) in the northwest.
If you want to bring your car or RV to the island, you can catch a ferry to Sardinia from ports like Civitavecchia, Genoa, or Livorno in Italy, heading to Olbia, Porto Torres, or Cagliari in Sardinia. These ferries are usually overnight and take between 6-12 hours. You can check ferry schedules and prices on Ferryscanner – it’s what I use.
What Airport Do You Fly Into for Sardinia?
Sardinia has three main airports you can fly into:
- Cagliari Elmas Airport (CAG) in the south
- Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB) in the northeast
- Alghero-Fertilia Airport (AHO) in the northwest
How To Get To Sardinia from the USA
The best and fastest way to get to Sardinia from the USA is to fly into Rome (or a main hub in Italy), and then take a connecting flight to one of Sardinia’s three main airports – Cagliari Elmas Airport (CAG) in the south, Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB) in the northeast, or Alghero-Fertilia Airport (AHO) in the northwest.
When I decided to go to Sardinia, I flew from Austin to Madrid and then took a regional flight via RyanAir through Sevilla and on to Cagliari, Sardinia. It was a quick cheap flight.
PRO TIP: If you’re going on a bigger Italy trip, and want to include Sardinia as part of that, you can ferry your rental car overnight from the Civitavecchia Port near Rome to Olbia in Sardinia and continue the adventure – it’s quite cheap, and the ferry takes about 6-8 hours in the summertime.
Getting Around Sardinia
Renting a car is the best way to get around Sardinia, and it’s how I went about exploring the island. There are many obvious perks to driving yourself, including the flexibility around time and ability to hit up some of the more remote hikes, villages, and beaches around the island – my favorite hike being Cala Goloritzé, a beach located in Baunei.
➡️ I use Discover Cars to check prices & rent a car in Sardinia! ⬅️
Driving in Sardinia is pretty easy, and the highways are in good shape. To nobody’s surprise, Sardinia has some super scenic drives along the coast and through the mountainous interior – like wow!
I thought the toughest part about driving in Sardinia was the smaller roads, which Google sometimes sends you on. They are unpaved, and holy shit I hope you get the car insurance with the rental – it can get rough! Don’t let that deter you; just turn back if you find yourself on one of those pebbly roads leading to God knows where. There’s always another way to get to where you need to be. Navigating narrow streets in small towns and finding parking can also be challenging.
PRO TIP: If you decide not to rent a car, maybe because you’re only staying for a few days, I recommend parking your ass in one of the main towns, my favorite being Olbia, Alghero, and Cagliari in that order.
FAQ: Getting To Sardinia
Here’s the quick and dirty frequently asked questions I had before I went on my trip.
What is the fastest way to get to Sardinia?
Flying is the fastest way to get to Sardinia, and there are tons of flights from major European cities to Sardinia’s three main airports: Cagliari Elmas Airport (CAG), Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB), or Alghero-Fertilia Airport (AHO)
Flights from Rome to any airport in Sardinia are about 1 hour and will range at about €150 roundtrip per person. I flew into the biggest airport, Cagliari, and started my road trip around the island from there!
What is the cheapest way to get to Sardinia?
The cheapest way to get to Sardinia is probably still flying, but it’s a toss-up if you have a few people with you, AND car rental costs are through the roof in Sardinia, especially in the summer, and especially if you don’t drive manual transmission (cheaper to rent).
Flights from Rome to any airport in Sardinia are about 1 hour and will range at about €150 roundtrip per person. A ferry from Rome will take about 8 hours overnight and cost you about €50 per person and €75 for a vehicle.
PRO TIP TO THINK ABOUT: If you are going on a bigger Italy road trip that includes Sardinia, it might be cheaper and more convenient to rent a car in Rome and take the overnight ferry from Civitavecchia Port to Olbia than to fly over and rent a car in Sardinia. Food for thought…
What is the best way to get to Sardinia?
The best and fastest way to get to Sardinia is to fly into one of its main airports: Cagliari Elmas Airport (CAG) in the south, Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB) in the northeast, or Alghero-Fertilia Airport (AHO) in the northwest of the island.
I flew into Cagliari and rented a car for the month. From here, I went on an amazing road trip around the island, hiking, exploring little villages like Sassari and Arbatax (my favorite), and eating my way through the renowned food the Sardinians have gained popularity for!
How many days in Sardinia is enough?
I would spend a minimum of three days in Sardinia in one of the main beach towns around the Madalena Archipelago or the Villasimmius beaches in the south. That said, Sardinia is actually a pretty big island, so a week is best to go around the island and really give it a good go!
Is Sardinia expensive to visit?
No, I don’t think Sardinia is expensive. In fact, it’s pretty rural in most places, and to give you an example of my budget – I spent about $3,000 for a month on the island, including nice lodging and a car rental when I went in April.
A dinner out is about €30, a lot of the nature is free, decent accommodations are at around €150 a night, and good wine is cheap! Of course, you can blow up the budget if you want to stay at the best resorts in the Madalena Islands, but at that point, it’s a different budget conversation.
Conclusion: Best Way to Get To Sardinia
In conclusion, flying is the best and fastest way to get to Sardinia, and there are tons of flights from major European cities to Sardinia’s three main airports: Cagliari Elmas Airport (CAG), Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB), or Alghero-Fertilia Airport (AHO)
Flights from Rome to any airport in Sardinia are about 1 hour and will range at about €150 roundtrip per person.
If you have a rental car or RV on the mainland of Italy, taking the overnight ferry from Rome Civitavecchia Port to Sardinia is your best bet. Tickets should be around €50 per adult and €70 per car (RVs will be more expensive). The benefit here is that you’ll have a car in Sardinia, which is ideal because their public transportation is not great.
There are three main ports in Sardinia I recommend:
- Olbia (northeast) – most popular ferry route, also the shortest
- Duration: 5 hours (fast ferry), 8 hours (regular ferry)
- Info: 10 pm departure from Rome, 6 am arrival in Olbia
- Porto Torres (north east) – near Alghero
- Duration: 7 hours
- Info: Popular port if you’re coming from a west European port
- Cagliari (south) – least popular route, longest, don’t recommend
- Duration: 15 hours
PRO TIP: It might be cheaper and more convenient to rent a car from Rome and take the overnight ferry from Civitavecchia to Olbia than flying over and renting a car in Sardinia.
So what are you waiting for, get your butt off your couch and book that trip to Sardinia!
