Alghero in 3 days

The harbour and the Bastions. Begin where the walls meet the port and walk them with the sea beside you, since the whole circuit is open to anyone with a pair of shoes. They are mostly 16th-century work with seven towers and three forts, and the stretch with restaurant terraces is the Bastioni Marco Polo.

The cathedral. The bell tower is octagonal and topped with polychrome majolica, and the interior has three naves on a Gothic-Catalan base. The morning opening runs from 10.30 to 13.00, and on its closed days, Wednesday and Sunday, go to the cloister first.

San Francesco. The cloister is square, and its octagonal pillars alternate with columns in a pattern that is easy to miss if you hurry past. Entry is €3 (cloister), and its hours change with the season.

Lunch. Bar Focacceria Milese at Via Garibaldi 11, opposite the harbour, makes the filled focaccia that locals eat on the pavement. One costs €3.50. A sit-down lunch is worth booking in season.

The Coral Museum. It sits in Villa Costantino, a Liberty villa of the 1900s, and the coral explains why this coast is called the Riviera del Corallo. Entry is €5.

Sunset and dinner. Watch the light go from the walls, then eat on Via Principe Umberto, where the sea restaurants are, or at Mos Tapas on Via Carducci 3.

Breakfast, then the slot. By land the time slot is compulsory, even at the ticket desk. From June to October leave the car at Casa Gioiosa an hour before your slot and ride the shuttle, and from November to May drive up and arrive 40 minutes before it. A late arrival cancels the booking.

Through the cave. The 654 steps down the cliff were cut in 1954, and the cave mouth sits about a metre above the sea. Entry is €18, and the guided tour lasts 30 min. Inside are lit stalactites and stalagmites and a salt lake.

Capo Caccia. The ARST line from town to the cape runs all year at city fares. There are no toilets in the cave, and the café sits by the ticket desk.

Lunch. Eat at the café beside the ticket desk for something quick, or drive back and eat in the old town.

A beach on the way back. Le Bombarde is a pale crescent of sand with a large car park, and it fills up in summer, so come early. Lazzaretto has soft white sand a little further north.

Anghelu Ruju. Thirty-eight tombs are cut into sandstone and dated to 3200–2800 BC, and the site joined the UNESCO list on 12 July 2025 as part of the series on the domus de janas, the rock-cut tombs found across the island. The guided visit lasts 1 h and costs €7. The road is the SP 42 dei Due Mari, and no public bus runs there.

Sella & Mosca. The estate at I Piani covers 650 hectares, 520 of them under vine, and visits are by reservation on 079 7000266, so call before you drive out. The sparkling Oscarì is made from Torbato by the classic method.

Lunch. A tasting leaves a gap, and the gap is for lunch.

Palmavera or Mugoni. The Palmavera Nuraghe is a Bronze Age village near Porto Conte, about 12 km from town and beside the SS 127 bis road, and entry is €5. Mugoni is a golden beach in the bay, sheltered on windy days.

Fertilia. Settlers from Ferrara founded it in the 1930s, so the streets carry names from Veneto and Julian March, and after 1947 it took in exiles from Istria, Rijeka and Dalmatia. The lookout has a lion of St Mark.