
In our last trip to Sardinia and precisely in the northeast, we dedicated a day to visit the Maddalena. Actually our intention was to visit part of the archipelago including the island of Budelli, but the sea conditions and the strong mistral wind blowing at 30 knots limited our visit only to the main island, the island of Caprera and the small island of Giardinelli, all reachable by car.
The beaches of La Maddalena
The first thing I can say about Isola della Maddalena is forget about arriving directly by car to the beach: in the best case you will have to walk a few hundred metres. The coves, the views and the dream beaches are an unspecified number and all of them will thrill you with their colours.
In each of the renowned beaches there is also a refreshment point or a small restaurant, but my advice is to stop immediately after landing in the village to buy water and some sandwiches to take with you.
To make sure you are not mistaken the information point can give you further suggestions and provide you with the map of the island, but in essence there is only a very scenic road that goes around the island of Magdalena with a total length of 20 kilometres from which you can reach all the beaches of La Maddalena.
Choose the beaches of La Maddalena according to the wind conditions
The archipelago of La Maddalena or archipelago of Maddalene is almost always beaten by the wind and in our case an annoying 30 knots mistral was blowing in the western part of the island, so we only visited the most famous coves on that side and then we left the beaches of La Maddalena di Bassa Trinità and then Testa di Polpo.

Punta Tegge
Leaving the village clockwise, there is a single road that runs through the whole island called Panoramica. After about one kilometre along the road that leads to Nido d’Aquila you arrive at Punta Tegge, which in addition to the quiet little beach, offers a beautiful granite cliff overlooking the island of Spargi.
After the ritual photos with one hand holding the hat for the strong wind and just enough time to contemplate this magnificence, we left for the next beach.

Cala Francese
After passing Nido D’Aquila you arrive, along a dirt road, in Cala Francese. The area is very suggestive and it is dominated by an old disused granite quarry. Even here the very strong Mistral did not allow us to stop for a well-deserved bath in the crystal clear waters, but it is a place that I strongly suggest.

Lower Trinity Beach
We left, we headed towards the beach of Bassa Trinità, really a swimming pool! Here we couldn’t resist and after finding a corner sheltered by a big granite rock, we literally camped out to finally spend an hour in the sun.
We had to stop our beach towels with big stones to keep them from flying away, but I assure you it was really worth it.
The crystal clear water seemed to call you to swim, even though the sea was a bit rough.
Octopus head
The beach of Testa di Polpo or Capocchia d’ù purpu in Sardinian is not technically located in La Maddalena but on the island of Giardinelli. It is connected to the first one by a small clay bridge of about 10 metres. The road becomes unpaved and, to say the least, quite bumpy. Don’t despair and go on for about one kilometre until the road ends with a small car park. From there take your things and walk for about 5 minutes on the cliff, I assure you that the show will pay off big time.
