Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Stintino & Parco Nazionale dell'Asinara
Once a forgotten fishing village, Stintino is now a sunny little resort and a good base for
exploring the surrounding area. There are some fine beaches in these parts, but the pick of
the bunch is
Spiaggia della Pelosa
, a salt-white strip of sand fronted by shallow, turquoise
waters and strange, low-lying licks of land. On the road to Pelosa beach, the
Asinara Diving
Center
( 079 52 70 00;
www.asinaradivingcenter.it
)
offers a range of dives starting at about
€40. On the beach itself, the
Windsurfing Center Stintino
( 079 52 70 06;
www.windsurfingcenter.it
)
rents out windsurfers (€18 per hour) and canoes (from €8 per hour).
Over the water from Pelosa lies Isola Asinara, home to native
asini bianchi
(albino don-
keys), and until recently off limits due to its maximum-security prison. The prison is now
closed and the island has been designated a national park,
Parco Nazionale dell'Asinara
(
www.parcoasinara.org
)
. From Stintino,
Linea del Parco
( 079 52 31 18;
www.lineadelparco.it
)
of-
fers a number of packages, including bus/4WD tours (€36/55) and yacht/fishing boat ex-
cursions (€65/70 including lunch). If you want to visit on your own, you'll have to take a
bike as there's no public transport on the island and access is limited to certain restricted
areas. Reckon on €25 for transport with bike and park admission.
Accommodation in the area is mainly in large, resort-style hotels, but there are some
pleasant lower-key choices. In Stintino,
Albergo Silvestrino
( 079 52 30 07;
www.hotelsilvestrino.it
;
Via Sassari 14 ; d €70-160, half-board per person €60-110; )
is a sum-
mery three-star place with cool, tiled rooms and an excellent seafood restaurant (meals
€35).
At laid-back
Lu Fanali
( 079 52 30 54;
www.lufanali.it
;
Lungomare C Columbo 89; pizzas €6-9,
meals €30; daily; )
you can watch boats bob by as you dig into reliably good pizza and
seafood classics such as
calamari e seppie grigliati
(grilled calamari and cuttle-fish).
There are five weekday buses to Stintino from Porto Torres (€2.50, 30 minutes) and
Sassari (€4, 70 minutes). Services increase between June and September.
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Sassari
POP 130,658
