Sardinia - Coast to Coast (Self-Guided Road)

A coast-to-coast that starts in a ghost town

Montevecchio is an abandoned mining town below the Arcuentu mountain range, about three-quarters of the way down Sardinia's south-west. It's where this self-guided road cycling holiday begins — a quiet, slightly melancholy place that gives way within a day to maquis-covered hills, olive groves and the emerald water at Marina di Arbus. From there you cross the island to Bari Sardo on the east coast over the course of eight days, threading through landscapes that change often enough to feel like several different countries strung together.

The route, day by day

Day one is the arrival: a flight into Cagliari, a transfer of about an hour to Montevecchio, and a first Sardinian meal with your Skedaddle representative, who runs through the route with you. The proper riding starts the next morning with the Costa Verde Loop — 66 km and around 830 metres of climbing — which contours the Montevecchio mountains, drops to Marina di Arbus, and skirts the lagoon at Marceddi, where pink flamingoes feed. The small town across the water is known for its shellfish.

From there the days build. You cross the Campidano Plain through cultivated fields and small farming estates, and stop at the UNESCO site of Su Nuraxi at Barumini. The middle of the week takes you up into the Gennargentu Mountains — a long, demanding climb that pays you back on the descents — and across the Tacchi of Ogliastra, dolomitic limestone outcrops whose name comes from their resemblance to a shoe heel. From day five you ride through Seulo and Ulassai, in one of the world's five Blue Zones, where life expectancy is unusually high. The week closes with the long descent to Bari Sardo.

The practical side

This is a self-guided trip, so you've got the route notes and luggage transfers between hotels, but you set your own pace and ride alone or with whoever you've come with. Eight days from £1,495 per person, starting and ending at Cagliari airport. The Costa Verde loop on day two — 66 km, 830 metres of ascent — is a fair indication of the gentler days; the Gennargentu crossing is more demanding again. Dinners and breakfasts are included at the family-run hotels along the way, and that's where a lot of the trip's character lives: home-cooked Sardinian food, the local wine, and proprietors who tend to take an interest in where you've been that day.

It suits competent road cyclists who want a proper week of riding without the structure of a guided group, and who don't mind a few quiet evenings in small inland towns between the coastal stretches.