The Costa Smeralda did not exist as a destination before 1962. A consortium led by the Aga Khan bought a stretch of the northeastern Sardinian coast that was then largely empty scrubland, and imposed a building code: low buildings, no high-rise, rendered walls in earth colours, roof tiles, no advertising hoardings, and vegetation left as it was.
That code has held for sixty years, which is why this coast looks the way it does and why it does not look like the Mediterranean coasts that developed at the same time.
Granite, not sand
The other defining feature is geological. This is a granite coastline, weathered into rounded boulders and deeply indented, which produces a great many small coves rather than long beaches.
The water in those coves is the reason for the name: shallow granite and white sand under it turn the sea an opaque green that photographs badly and looks unreal in person.
The consequence for a booking is that a beach here is a cove, and the good hotels each have one. There is no long public strand to walk along; you swim where you are staying, or you take a boat.
Porto Cervo is the centre: a purpose-built village around a marina, with the shopping, the restaurants and the yacht traffic. Porto Rotondo is the smaller equivalent to the south. Baja Sardinia is slightly cheaper and slightly more ordinary. San Pantaleo, inland, is a real village with a Thursday market.
The season is short: June to September, with August at extreme rates and much of the coast closed from November to April.
The eight below are grouped by cove.
The original hotels
Built in the 1960s under the consortium's code and still the defining properties.
Cala di Volpe, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Costa Smeralda occupies a cove at Cala di Volpe, designed to look like a fishing village that had always been there, with a saltwater pool that was the largest in Europe when it was built and a bay full of boats outside. It is the address on this coast.
Cala di Volpe, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Costa Smeralda
Cala di Volpe · 5★ · $$$$
Built as a fishing village, with a vast saltwater pool
Check availabilityRomazzino, A Belmond Hotel, Costa Smeralda sits above a beach at Romazzino with white rendered buildings among gardens, a long crescent of sand and a family-focused operation. It is the calmest of the three originals.
Romazzino, A Belmond Hotel, Costa Smeralda
Romazzino beach · 5★ · $$$$
A long crescent of sand and the calmest of the originals
Check availabilityCervo Hotel,Costa Smeralda Resort occupies a small cove near Porto Cervo as a set of low villas among juniper and granite, with a seawater pool cut into the rock. It has around fifty rooms and it is the most private of the three.
Cervo Hotel,Costa Smeralda Resort
Porto Cervo · 5★ · $$$$
Above the marina with the village on foot
Check availabilityPorto Cervo and the marina
The centre, with the shopping and the yachts.
Cervo Hotel,Costa Smeralda Resort sits above the marina in the middle of Porto Cervo with a pool, a good restaurant and the shortest walk to the village. It is the practical base for the coast.
Baja Sardinia and the north
Slightly out from the centre, at lower rates.
7Pines Resort Sardinia - A Destination By Hyatt occupies a hillside at Baja Sardinia with several pools, a beach club below and views to the Maddalena islands. It is the most contemporary resort on the coast.
7Pines Resort Sardinia - A Destination By Hyatt
Baja Sardinia · 5★ · $$$$
Several pools and a beach club facing the Maddalenas
Check availabilityW Sardinia - Poltu Quatu sits above a fjord-like inlet at Poltu Quatu with a marina, a pool and rooms looking down the channel.
W Sardinia - Poltu Quatu
Poltu Quatu · 5★ · $$$
Above a fjord-like inlet with its own marina
Check availabilityInland and beyond
Petra Segreta Resort & Spa occupies a hillside above San Pantaleo with granite-built villas among the rocks, a spa and views down to the coast. It is the quietest property here and it is ten minutes from the sea.
Petra Segreta Resort & Spa
San Pantaleo · 5★ · $$$
Granite villas in the hills ten minutes from the sea
Check availabilityCala Cuncheddi - VRetreats sits on a bay south of Olbia with a private beach, a pool and rates well below the Costa Smeralda proper. It is the value pick and it is a twenty-five minute drive from Porto Cervo.
Cala Cuncheddi - VRetreats
Capo Ceraso, near Olbia · 4★ · $$$
A private beach at well below Costa Smeralda rates
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The villa rentals across the Costa Smeralda are excluded, and they are how much of the summer population stays, particularly for August. They are houses rather than hotels.
What to do
Take a boat to the Maddalena archipelago, a national park of seven islands and many islets between Sardinia and Corsica, with water that is the best in the Mediterranean. A day charter from Porto Cervo or Palau is the standard and it is the best thing here.
Swim at the coves rather than looking for a beach. Cala di Volpe, Liscia Ruja, Capriccioli and Romazzino are the known ones and they fill in August.
Go inland for a day. San Pantaleo's Thursday market, the granite villages of the Gallura and the nuraghe — Bronze Age stone towers found nowhere else in the world, of which Sardinia has thousands.
Eat Sardinian rather than Italian: culurgiones, porceddu, bottarga, pane carasau and a hard sheep's cheese that is nothing like the mainland's.
Practical notes
Olbia airport is 25 to 40 minutes from most of the coast, with heavy seasonal European traffic. Ferries run from Civitavecchia, Livorno and Genoa.
June and September are the best months: warm sea, open restaurants and manageable rates. July is busy, August is at capacity with rates several times the shoulder season. Most of the coast closes from November to April.
A car is essential; the coves are spread along a winding road and there is no useful transport.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Costa Smeralda Hotels
Questions people actually ask
Why does it all look the same?
A building code imposed in 1962 that has been enforced since: low, rendered, earth-coloured, no hoardings.
Are there proper beaches?
Coves rather than long strands, and the good ones are attached to hotels or reached by boat.
Is August worth it?
The coast is at capacity and the rates are several times June or September, which are warmer in the water anyway.
How many nights?
Seven. Five with a Maddalena day and a night inland.