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Gallura is the northernmost tip of Sardinia and in the middle ages was one of the four ‘giudicati’ which formed the governance and administration of the island. A largely historic term now, with the area forming part of the modern province of Olbia-Tempio (Tempio and Olbia being the two main administrative centres) but it’s an historically interesting (as well as remarkably beautiful) part of the island.

It has its own dialect too, tricky for visitors already struggling to reconcile their text book Italian with the rather harsher sound of Sards speaking their own language (Sardinian has ‘praza’ rather than the Italian ‘piazza’, ‘abbas’ rather than ‘ague’ for waters for starters). The northern diasystem of Gallurese muddies the phonetic waters further, though you’ll get by in either Italian or indeed English.

The coast here is lovely, incredibly windy, with countless little bays and inlets, beautiful islands offshore (including the Parco Nazionale dell’Archipelago di La Maddalena) and the stunning Costa Smeralda unwinding down the north-east flank of the island, with good beaches at Cappricccioli, Rena Bianca and Liscia Ruia, and the main coast town at Porto Cervo. Check out too the Golfo di Arzachena and the lovely wooded parkland of Caprera (with the house once inhabited by Giuseppe Garibaldi. There’s a museum here dedicated to the hero of Italian independence and the Risorgimento.

You have the airport and port at Olbia, and main towns are Olbia , Tempio Pausania , La Maddalena , Arzachena and Calangianus. The area’s economy is largely agricultural and fishing, with granite and cork traditional mainstays.

Find places to stay in Gallura and Sardinia.
Some useful local information on Gallura, Sardinia. Note that much of this is in Italian only.

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