Costa Smeralda
A Planned Resort Coast Developed From 1962 By The Consorzio Costa Smeralda, With The Maddalena Archipelago National Park Immediately To The North · Porto Cervo, Sardinia
There was nothing here until 1962, when a consortium led by the Aga Khan bought a stretch of empty Sardinian coast and invented a resort on it. What they built is odd and rather good: a harbour village of fake-old arcades and hand-shaped plaster, designed by architects told to make something that looked Mediterranean but existed nowhere, set among low hills of cork oak and myrtle. The reason it worked is the coast itself, which is pink granite ground down into boulders and coves, with water over white sand that turns a colour no photograph quite manages. The beaches are the whole point: Spiaggia del Principe, Liscia Ruja, Capriccioli, most of them reached down dirt tracks off one winding road. In August this is among the most expensive places on earth and that road is a queue. In May, June or late September the same water is there, the coves are nearly empty, and it costs a fraction of the price.
Piazzetta del Cervo, Porto Cervo, Sardinia, 07021, Italy
The beaches, the coast road and the Porto Cervo piazzetta are public and have no opening hours, though beach car parks are staffed and charged through the high season. Most hotels, restaurants and beach concessions on this coast operate roughly from Easter to October and close completely from November to March. Boat hire and the Maddalena day trips run daily in season, weather permitting, and stop out of it. ALL OF THIS IS UNVERIFIED FOR THIS ROW.