Three nights each in Palermo, Cagliari and Alghero, with Ustica, a Sunday sea crossing and Sardinia’s Bronze Age towers.
Begin among Palermo’s market stalls and Norman mosaics. Ballarò, the Palatine Chapel and the streets around the cathedral introduce the city through food and art: pane e panelle at lunch, then an interior shaped by Byzantine, Islamic and Latin traditions. A day on Ustica adds a small island and protected marine setting to the three-night Palermo stay.
Across the sea, Cagliari rises from the Marina quarter to Castello’s cathedral and medieval towers. Fregula with clams or pasta with bottarga brings the coast to the dinner table, while Poetto leaves another day for a beach walk. The drive north pauses at Su Nuraxi, where Bronze Age towers and village remains reveal a much earlier Sardinia.
Alghero finishes the trip with Catalan heritage, walls beside the sea and the Coral Museum’s craft story. Spend a full day around Capo Caccia, with another evening in town before departure. The calendar starts on Thursday, crosses to Sardinia on Sunday, reaches Alghero on Wednesday and ends the following Saturday. Each city has three hotel nights; May–June or September suit the mix of historic streets and coastal outings.
Follow Ballarò’s produce stalls with the Palatine Chapel, where Byzantine, Islamic and Latin traditions meet in the mosaics and decoration. Pane e panelle and potato crocchè give the day another local pleasure between visits.
Ustica brings a protected marine setting into the Palermo stay. Cala Sidoti is a snorkelling location within the reserve, with a guided outing as one way to learn more about the island’s marine life. Return to the same Palermo room that evening.
Castello’s cathedral and medieval towers stand above the port, with Villanova and the Marina quarter offering other walks through the city. Poetto adds a beach day, while fregula with clams and bottarga introduce coastal cooking.
At Barumini, a central stone tower, surrounding towers and the remains of a village show how settlement grew around a nuraghe. The guided visit gives these walls a human story before the drive continues to Alghero.
Explore the old town’s lanes, Santa Maria Cathedral and seafront bastions. Catalan heritage remains part of local language and street names, while the Coral Museum introduces the craft associated with this coast.
Give the Capo Caccia area a full day from Alghero, choosing Neptune’s Grotto when access permits. Porto Conte offers another coastal outing, and a beach day at La Pelosa is a separate alternative for this part of the trip.
Best for
StartBooker answer
Arrive in Palermo on Thursday for three nights, with Friday for markets and the Palatine Chapel and Saturday for an Ustica outing. Sunday’s daytime ferry brings you to three nights in Cagliari, exploring Castello and Poetto. On Wednesday, collect a one-way car and visit Su Nuraxi on the drive to Alghero. Three nights there give you the Catalan old town and a Capo Caccia day before Saturday’s departure. The ten-day journey includes nine hotel nights, with the sea crossing during daylight.
Explore tours, attractions and local experiences in Palermo, Cagliari, Alghero along this route through Italy.
Loading activities…
Activities provided by GetYourGuide. We may earn a commission on bookings.
Spend three nights in each city. Ustica is a return outing from Palermo; Su Nuraxi is the main visit between Cagliari and Alghero.
3 stops · swipe
1
Markets, the Palatine Chapel and departures for Ustica
The Politeama–Teatro Massimo area and northern historic centre suit evening walks, neighbourhood meals and the Palermo city day. Three nights leave time for the markets, Palatine Chapel and an Ustica outing.
Read the Palermo guide →
2
Hilltop Castello, the Marina quarter and Poetto beach
Marina and lower Stampace bring evening meals into the stay, while Castello offers the hilltop setting above the port. Three nights give you a city day and time at Poetto before the drive north.
3
Catalan heritage, coastal walls and the Coral Riviera
Stay near the old-town edge for the walls, lanes and dinner on foot, or near Lido for the beach setting. Three nights leave a full town day and another around Capo Caccia.
Thursday opens the Palermo stay, Sunday is the sea crossing and Wednesday brings the drive via Su Nuraxi. Three nights in each city leave the final Saturday for departure from Alghero.
Arrive in Palermo by airport train or the airport coach, then begin with the streets near your accommodation. Around Teatro Massimo and Politeama, a short walk introduces two of the city’s great landmarks. Politeama’s columns and rooftop sculpture give the square a distinctive focal point, while the route between the theatres helps you become familiar with this part of town. Choose a neighbourhood restaurant for the opening dinner and enjoy the first evening on Sicily. The Thursday arrival leaves two full days before the Sunday crossing: one for Palermo’s markets and Norman art, and another for Ustica. With three nights in the same room, there is time to get to know the surrounding streets as well as the headline sights.
Overnight: Palermo
Start at Ballarò, browsing produce stalls and food counters before continuing towards the Norman Palace. The Palatine Chapel gives the day its main interior visit. Mosaics and decoration express the meeting of Byzantine, Islamic and Latin traditions in Norman Sicily, with detail that rewards time looking closely. Afterwards, pass the cathedral and continue towards Capo and Via Maqueda for more of the historic centre. Lunch brings another Palermo tradition: pane e panelle, a roll filled with chickpea fritters, or potato crocchè. Enjoy the food and the streets around it, then spend the afternoon following the places that interest you most. Return to your neighbourhood for dinner, with another Palermo night before the island outing.
Overnight: Palermo
Take the hydrofoil from Palermo to Ustica for the day, returning to the same city base in the evening. The marine protected area gives this small island a different focus from yesterday’s markets and monuments. Cala Sidoti is one possible snorkelling location, with a guided outing offering an introduction to the marine setting. Choose one main activity and enjoy time on the island around it, including lunch and the journey between the harbour and the place you visit. The detailed sea and access conditions are in the Ustica question below. This outing adds another island to the trip while keeping the three Palermo nights together. In the evening, return for a final meal in the city before tomorrow’s crossing to Sardinia.
Overnight: Palermo
Sunday is the full sea journey from Palermo to Cagliari. Cross as a foot passenger, leaving the Sardinian car section for later in the trip. The daytime sailing changes the pace after Palermo’s busy streets and the Ustica outing: this is a day aboard, with meals and time at sea between the two large islands. The published schedule places arrival in Cagliari in the evening, so the first night is centred on reaching your accommodation and having dinner nearby. The next two days are devoted to the city, with Castello above the port and Poetto beside the water. Tonight begins the middle three-night stay, giving Sardinia’s capital time of its own before the drive into the interior.
Overnight: Cagliari
Begin in Castello, where the Cathedral of Santa Maria and medieval towers stand above the port. Walking through the surrounding streets makes the quarter’s defensive setting clear. Choose Palazzo Regio for an interior visit, then descend towards Villanova or the Marina quarter to see another part of Cagliari’s daily life. Pause for a drink between walks and let the city’s different levels become part of the day. At lunch or dinner, try fregula con cocciula: small toasted-semolina pasta with clams. Spaghetti with bottarga, or cured fish roe, offers another connection with the coast. Enjoy the meal before returning to the streets you would like to explore further, with a second Cagliari evening and tomorrow’s beach day ahead.
Overnight: Cagliari
Use a CTM connection to Poetto for a day by Cagliari’s long city beach. A waterfront walk and time by the sea give this stay a different feel from yesterday’s hilltop streets. Choose the length of the outing around the weather, with shade and a swim when local conditions suit. The car is collected tomorrow, so today remains a city-beach outing from the same base. Return to Cagliari for dinner in the Marina quarter or a favourite place from the previous evening. In wet or windy weather, spend the day in town instead, choosing an open cultural site and a longer meal. This is the third night in Cagliari, before the journey north through Sardinia’s interior.
Overnight: Cagliari
Collect the car in Cagliari and drive to Barumini for Su Nuraxi, the main visit on the way to Alghero. This Bronze Age nuraghe complex brings an earlier Sardinia into the journey. A central stone tower, surrounding towers and village remains show how settlement developed around these distinctive structures. The guided visit helps turn the walls and passages into a picture of a place where people lived, adding another scale of history after Cagliari’s medieval quarter. Leave time for lunch and the onward drive, then begin the three-night Alghero stay with a short walk near your accommodation. The following two full days belong to the old town and northwest coast, with the town’s Catalan heritage introducing the next chapter.
Overnight: Alghero
Explore Alghero’s old town on foot, following its lanes to Santa Maria Cathedral and a stretch of the seafront bastions. Catalan heritage appears in local language and street names as well as in the city’s broader identity. Choose the Coral Museum to learn about a craft associated with this coast, then spend the afternoon near Lido di San Giovanni or Maria Pia if time by the water appeals. Dinner is another chance to enjoy the place through its cooking: fish in agliata or a Catalan-style seafood preparation brings local flavours to the table. Return to the walls for an evening walk or stay over the meal, enjoying a full day in Alghero before tomorrow’s coastal outing.
Overnight: Alghero
Give the Capo Caccia area the day, with Neptune’s Grotto as the main visit when access permits. The cave can be approached by sea or through the land entrance, giving the outing a different beginning according to the option chosen. Seasonal arrangements and the land route’s steps are gathered in the cave question below. Spend the remaining time around the Porto Conte area, then return to Alghero for the final evening. If the cave is closed, Porto Conte can be the coastal focus of the day. A La Pelosa beach day is another choice in place of Capo Caccia, keeping the whole day for the outing you most want. Finish with dinner in Alghero after the last of the route’s full sightseeing days.
Overnight: Alghero
For a later departure, enjoy breakfast by the waterfront before the journey to Alghero Airport, about ten kilometres from the city. If returning the car there, include refuelling under the contract, the correct depot and the handover before airline check-in; documenting the vehicle’s condition completes the return. Travellers who returned it earlier can use the ARST connection from Via Catalogna, with service times varying in winter and around holidays. An early flight leaves the morning for departure. The trip ends on this second Saturday after nine hotel nights: three in Palermo, three in Cagliari and three in Alghero. Markets and mosaics, marine scenery, Bronze Age towers and Catalan streets have each brought a different island story to the ten days.
Base: Alghero
The Sunday ferry connects Palermo with the three-night Cagliari stay. The drive north then brings Su Nuraxi into the journey before three nights in Alghero. Ustica is a return outing from Palermo.
2 transfers
Palermo Cagliari
Cross from Palermo to Cagliari as a foot passenger on the weekly daytime service. Arrive for the first of three nights in Sardinia’s capital, followed by a Castello day and time at Poetto.
Cagliari Alghero
Collect the one-way car in Cagliari on day seven, visit Su Nuraxi and continue to Alghero. The three-night stay gives you an old-town day and a northwest coastal outing before the day-ten return.
Estimated spending for two adults sharing one double room over ten days and nine nights in May–June or September: EUR 2,600–4,090 (≈ US$2,930–4,600). The rows cover rooms, meals, both boat trips, a one-way car, fuel, local transport and selected visits. USD equivalents use the ECB rate of USD 1.1253 per EUR on 16 October 2026.
Booking tips
See the three overnight cities across Sicily and Sardinia: Palermo, Cagliari and Alghero. The accommodation search opens around Palermo, where the journey begins.
Sicily and Sardinia route
Arrival on Thursday and departure on the second Saturday give ten calendar days. Spend three nights each in Palermo, Cagliari and Alghero, with Sunday’s ferry during daylight. The week pattern follows that crossing: a different sailing or an overnight service would require a different allocation of hotel nights. A flight is an alternative for travellers who prefer a shorter transfer and a different date pattern.
Use a suitable outward-and-return Liberty Lines pair; the October 2026 timetable gives about ninety minutes each way. Choose one main island activity, with time for the harbour transfers and return sailing. Cala Sidoti lies within the marine protected area: permitted access, equipment and swimming depend on reserve rules, your ability and sea conditions. A guided outing is an option. In rough weather, use the same Palermo room and spend the day in the city, keeping the following Sunday for Sardinia.
The cited Grimaldi timetable, valid through 31 December 2026, lists Sunday 09:00–21:00. This weekly sailing sets the Thursday-arrival calendar, so reserve it before non-refundable rooms and flights. Boarding requires arrival at least one hour before departure on foot, or two hours with a vehicle, with extra time for busy-season queues and any earlier instruction on the ticket. A change to the sailing date requires a corresponding change to the hotel calendar.
In Cagliari on day seven, after the three-night city stay. The route crosses from Sicily on foot, uses walking and CTM around Cagliari, then takes a one-way car through Barumini to Alghero. The car remains for the northwest outing and is returned on day ten. Bringing a rental across from Sicily would be a different arrangement, subject to its ferry-carriage terms.
Choose the sea approach or the land entrance, which has 654 steps each way. June–October visitors arriving by car use Casa Gioiosa parking and a shuttle, reaching it an hour before the voucher time. November–May visitors go to the entrance square at least forty minutes beforehand. Adverse seas can close the cave even for visitors approaching by land. Porto Conte provides the alternative coastal outing from the same Alghero base.
Grimaldi normally requests 48 hours’ notice for assistance, reduced to 24 hours on public-service lines including Naples–Cagliari–Palermo. Arrange the meeting point, accommodation and any medical-equipment needs while booking; accessible cabins need separate confirmation. Add a pet to the reservation with its permitted accommodation and required documents. A standard cabin does not include the extra pet-in-cabin service. Food and supplies need to cover the full crossing.
Yes. Lido di San Giovanni and Maria Pia provide nearby beach choices during the Alghero stay. La Pelosa is a separate day-nine alternative to Capo Caccia, with any controlled-season reservation made through the official Stintino system. Bosa is another distinct outing for a different choice of day. Give the selected coast or town the day rather than combining these separate destinations.
Reviewed by StartBooker
Last reviewed 2026-10-19
Updated
Method: Ferry and hydrofoil sources cover the stated calendar and crossings. Tourism institutions and heritage operators cover the cities, local food, marine reserve and cultural visits. The budget gives estimated spending for two adults at the stated ECB conversion rate.
20 References opened
Some photos provided by Pexels.
Compare routes by length, stops and transport.
