Published on: 13 December 2016  | Last updated: 7 January 2020

Overview

From Castelsardo the route continues through the dunes and coastal pine woods to the city of Porto Torres and then on to the former tuna-fishing village of Stintino.

Highlights

• the cycleway into Porto Torres
• the road through the dunes at the Marina di Sorso
• Stintino, with its little harbour, is charming place to be.

Beaches

This area has some of northern Sardegna’s best beaches, and is surpris­ingly undeveloped. Beaches convenient to the route include the Marina di Sorso between Castelsardo and Porto Torres

The most famous beach near Stintino is probably the Spiaggia La Pelosa on the peninsula north of the village, but other options include the Saline and Ezzi Mannu beaches

Map and altitude profile

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Distances
Castelsardo to Porto Torres	34 kms
Porto Torres to Stintino	30 kms

Route description

Castelsardo to Porto Torres

Coming out of Castelsardo there’s a stretch along the lungomare passing the port. You then pick up the SS 200 (signs for Lu Bagnu). There’s a short climb, at the top, and just as the road bends, it’s worth taking a moment to have a look back over Castelsardo. 

The road takes you through the pleasant resort of Lu Bagnu and on towards the Marina di Sorso. The road from here is absolutely glorious taking you through a mixture of dunes and coastal pineta with very little devel­opment. It passes the Stagno dI Platamona lagoon where there’s a visitor centre, and in theory a tourist inform­ation office – although it wasn’t open when I passed by. The tourist inform­ation office also has a ciclo-officina (bike workshop or repair facility), but this was also closed.

Look out for the Torre di Abbacurrente on your right-hand side . There’s a short track that takes you down to the tower itself. Worth a short break. 

On your right-hand side as you come towards Porto Torres you’ll come to a circular blue-and-white sign for a cycleway. The first section of this is a section of old road along the cliff-top. At the top, at Balai Lontano, you come to a little white-painted chapel dedicated to San Gavino. 

Look in the other direction and you have Porto Torres with the red and white striped chimneys of the power station and the white windmills of a wind farm.

The cycleway along the cliffs and the lungomarewas an unexpected delight. The surface has deteri­orated a little at some points, but alongside there’s a quiet minor road which you can use if you prefer. The cycleway comes to a little park, with a small beach, and picnic tables. 

The cycleway takes you past another little chapel dedicated to San Gavino (San Gavino a Mare). San Gavino is the local saint, patron saint of Porto Torres, and still very popular (if that’s the right word). A roman officer in the 3rd-century Roman colony here, he was ordered to take two Christian priests (Proto and Gianuario) to prison, but along the way he became a convert himself and set them free. He was in turn beheaded.

The little chapel of San Gavino a Mare is defin­itely worth a visit. On the left-hand side there is a chamber excavated out of the rock. By the light of the candles you can make out three figures: San Gavino himself plus Proto and Gianuario.

After San Gavino a Mare the cycleway continues on along the lungomare enabling you to ignore the one-way system and take the direct route into the centre of the town. 

Porto Torres

Porto Torres (Turris Libyssonis as it was called) was an important port city under the Romans —the modern port is built on the found­a­tions laid by the Romans. You can visit the remains of ancient Turris Libyssonis. Otherwise the main sight is the romanesque Basilica di San Gavino (en.wikipedia.org: Basilica of San Gavino)

Port Torres to Stintino

The cycleway takes you to the gates of the porto turistico - the ferry terminal is a little further on. As you skirt around the port area, you come to the Stazione Marittima (ferry terminal) and a little way after is the archae­olo­gical site of the remains of the old Roman city. At the next round­about, left on the via Ponte Romano ignore the road sign for Stintino and turn right and go over the old Roman bridge. There’s a section where you can see the original surface. 

After the Roman bridge, the route continues through the industrial/commercial hinterland of Porto Torres picking up the SP 34. As much as I like to a positive spin on things, even I could not describe this section as scenic, but it’ll soon be over. Outside Porto Torres come to a round­about where you have a choice of road: you can either take the fast road (scorrevole) option or the quiet road. I chose to quiet road. There’s no difference in terms of distance.

The quiet road wasn’t quite as quiet as I expected. The reason was a rubbish tip about mid-way, but on the whole it was quite an enjoyable ride. 

Eventually come to a round­about in the village of Pozzo San Nicola. At this point you can then turn left and follow the signs for Palmadura and Alghero. Otherwise head straight on towards Stintino. 

As you approach Stintino look out for the the World War II machine gun emplace­ments dotted over the fields on your right. 

The road into Stintino takes you past the saline salt lagoons, and one of the island’s most unusual beaches the Spiaggia delle Saline: a dazzling white stretch of crystalline beach (which I assumed was salt but I didn’t do a taste test).

Stintino

After the saline there is a short stretch of cycleway across the causeway. At the end of the causeway turn right onto the on the strada panor­amica that takes you into Stintino. As you follow the road look out for the old tonnara (tuna processing plant, now converted into a hotel) on your right hand side.

Around the harbour there are a series of photo­graphs commem­or­ating the Stentino’s tonnara sadly, a number of the pictures are now badly faded. The photo­graphs celebrate both the men involved in the tuna fishing, and the women who were involved in the prepar­ation and processing of the tuna there is a charming set of group photo­graphs of the employees of the tonnara from the 1930s.

If you’re travelling between May and September you can visit the Museo della tonnara di Stintino in the Via Lepanto on the left as you come into town (check opening times: mutstintino.com: opening times) .

The museum has posted an inter­esting video (subtitled in English) about Stintino and the tonnara.

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The harbour itself is as pretty as they come with a extraordinary range of tradi­tional fishing boats. I have to say, that I expected to be under­whelmed by Stintino but in many ways I was charmed. Out of season it’s a lovely place to be. (What it’s like in the high tourist season is another matter).

Options

After Castelsardo you could head for Alghero via Sorso and Sassari, and then the SS127 Bis to Alghero. 

If you have the time you could visit the Asinara national park famous for its white donkeys. If you have an off-road capable bike you can take it on the ferry-boat from Stintino to the island. Delcomar also offer a twice-daily ferry service from Porto Torres (Delcomar Porto Torres-Asinara timetable).

Articles in this series

• Sardegna North Coast: Introduction
• Sardegna North Coast: Part 1: Olbia to Palau
• Sardegna North Coast: Part 2: La Maddalena national park
• Sardegna North Coast: Part 3: Palau to Castelsardo
• Sardegna North Coast: Part 4: Castelsardo to Stintino
• Sardegna North Coast: Part 5: Stintino to Alghero