North Sardinia Itinerary: A 7-Day Costa Smeralda + La Maddalena Week

Your charter begins at Marina di Olbia, a fifteen-minute taxi ride from Olbia (OLB) airport on Sardinia's northeast coast. Your captain and chef meet you on the dock, walk you through the yacht, stow the luggage, and cover the chart for the days ahead. Provisioning is squared away by early afternoon; lines off when the group's ready.

Most guests on this itinerary expect to head north toward Costa Smeralda on day one. The captain instead points the bow south for the twelve-nautical-mile run to Tavolara — a single limestone ridge rising five hundred meters straight out of the sea, designated as Italy's first marine-protected area. The anchorages on the lee side of Tavolara hold flat in any wind direction, the water visibility runs to twenty meters on a clear day, and the cruising traffic is a fraction of what's working the Costa Smeralda anchorages a few miles north.

First night at anchor in the lee of Tavolara. Chef-prepared welcome dinner aboard — Sardinian seafood, a glass of Vermentino di Gallura, the limestone ridge holding the day's heat after sunset and the lights of Porto San Paolo a couple of miles off the bow.

Slow morning at Tavolara — swim, breakfast on deck. Mid-morning lines off for a five-nautical-mile reposition north to Cala Brandinchi, Sardinia's south-east-coast version of "Tahiti of Sardinia" — a half-mile crescent of fine white sand backed by low scrub and stone pines, with shallow turquoise water that runs warm. Lunch at anchor, swim off the back of the boat.

Late afternoon, lines off for the longer fifteen-nautical-mile run north around Capo Figari and into the southern end of the Costa Smeralda. Cala di Volpe is the deepest sheltered anchorage on this stretch — sand bottom, Mistral protection, and the Hotel Cala di Volpe sitting on the headland above the water. The captain calls Pevero or Cala di Volpe based on the afternoon's wind, and you settle in for the first of two nights on the Costa Smeralda.

Dinner aboard tonight, in the lee of the granite ridges. Chef-prepared on the aft deck. The Costa Smeralda granite holds the day's heat after sunset; the water turns from turquoise to navy as the lights come up across the bay.

Slow Costa Smeralda day. The captain may reposition five nautical miles between Pevero, Cala di Volpe, and Liscia di Vacca depending on the wind, but the route is short — most of the day is on the hook. Morning swim, paddleboard or kayak into the headlands, and a late-morning tender to Phi Beach for lunch if the table works. Phi is the beach club built into the cliffs above Baja Sardinia: open-air, granite walls, and a kitchen that runs Sardinian seafood-led with the occasional Italian-mainland classic.

Afternoon ashore: walk Porto Cervo's village above the marina — twenty minutes end-to-end, hand-built in the 1960s by a small group of Aga Khan's architects who refused to repeat any single building twice. The village is small enough that you'll cover it slowly with a stop at the Stella Maris church (a Vassily Kandinsky painting hangs inside) and a coffee at the piazza. Marina di Porto Cervo holds seven hundred slips and yachts to a hundred meters; walking the quayside reads more interesting than most guests expect.

Dinner aboard tonight or ashore at one of the Costa Smeralda restaurants — the captain books ahead. The Sardinian table is what most guests come back for: fregola sarda, suckling pig roasted under a bell, bottarga di Olbia grated over pasta, and a Cannonau red from the inland vineyards that doesn't travel well outside the country.

Slow morning on the Costa Smeralda — swim, breakfast on deck, optional walk into Cala di Volpe village if the group hasn't done it. By late morning, lines off for the fifteen-nautical-mile run north up the granite coast and across the Maddalena Sound to Caprera, the second-largest island in the archipelago.

The Maddalena Archipelago sits inside an Italian national park. Anchoring is managed — fields with mooring buoys in the heavily-trafficked coves, and the captain pays the per-yacht park fee online before crossing into the park boundary. The water turns the cleanest blue of the cruising ground, reading thirty meters of visibility on a settled day. Caprera holds Garibaldi's preserved house on its north coast (a museum, optional shore stop), but most charters come for the granite coves on the south coast and the white-sand beaches on the east.

Settle in for the night at one of Caprera's south-coast anchorages. Chef-prepared dinner aboard. The lights of Maddalena town a couple of miles off the bow.

Today is the island day. Your captain repositions north into the cluster of smaller islands at the top of the Maddalena Archipelago — Spargi, Budelli, Razzoli, Santa Maria, and the small cays in between — for a full day of swim stops with no long passages. The first stop is Cala Corsara on the south coast of Spargi: a half-mile cove ringed by pink granite outcrops, the kind of water clarity that reads twenty meters of visibility on a calm day, and a managed anchoring field that limits how many yachts can sit there at once.

From Spargi a short tender-and-binoculars run takes you past Budelli's famous Pink Beach (Spiaggia Rosa), where strict look-only restrictions have been in force since 1994 — the pink color comes from microscopic coral and shell fragments and the beach is one of only two of its kind in the Mediterranean. Don't try to land; the harbor police monitor it. The look from offshore is the point. Razzoli sits just north of Budelli with a different shoreline texture, and Santa Maria — the most northerly of the cluster — has a long sand beach on its south side that's less visited than the headline anchorages.

Late afternoon, drop into Cala di Roto's natural pool. The pool is a sheltered shallow basin tucked at the back of the anchorage; it sits a few feet deep, turns a luminous turquoise mid-day, and stays glass-flat in any wind direction. Dinner aboard tonight, anchored in the cluster, the kind of evening that's the reason to have done the trip.

Slow morning swim from the Maddalena cluster anchorage, breakfast on deck. Mid-morning, an eight-nautical-mile run southeast back toward the east coast of Caprera and Cala Coticcio — locally called the Tahiti of Sardinia. The cove is approachable only by tender; the granite boulders frame a half-moon of fine white sand, and the water turns the color of a pool light. Anchor offshore, tender into the cove for the morning, and back aboard for a slow late lunch.

Afternoon at anchor on Caprera's east coast. Water toys deployed — paddleboards, kayaks, snorkel kit. The captain may reposition a mile or two between coves depending on the afternoon's wind, but the day's miles are done. The Maddalena's quieter coves see only one or two yachts on a typical evening; on the Costa Smeralda you're never alone in an anchorage, but here you can be.

Dinner aboard tonight, the kind of last-night-but-one meal that the trip is built around. Chef-prepared, on the aft deck, with the granite ridges holding the last of the day's heat.

Last full day at anchor. Slow morning swim from Caprera, breakfast on deck. By late morning, lines off for the longest leg of the week — a twenty-two-nautical-mile run south along the Costa Smeralda's outer islands and back into the Gulf of Olbia. The captain may stop at Santa Teresa Gallura on Sardinia's northern tip for an optional walk through the working fishing harbor and the Spanish watchtower above it.

Settle into Marina di Olbia in the early afternoon. Walk into Olbia town if you have the energy — the old town is small enough to cover in an hour, and a final lunch at one of the seafront restaurants is the unhurried close most groups take. Final chef-prepared dinner aboard tonight, anchored in the marina with the day's last light over the gulf.

Pack at your own pace. Your captain has the morning's transfer logistics already squared away.

A last slow breakfast aboard at Marina di Olbia, a final swim off the stern if the harbor allows, and disembarkation by mid-morning. Your crew handles the transfer logistics: OLB is fifteen minutes by taxi, with direct summer flights to most major European hubs and an easy connection to the US East Coast through Rome, Milan, Frankfurt, or London. Step off with the granite coast and the Maddalena behind you, and the kind of unhurried Italian week that most charter guests describe as the one they wished they'd booked the first time.