so, after an incredible week in Sardegna, i can offer a few thoughts:
we had an amazing time, in spite of coming down with a horrendous cold and high temperature on the first day!
we arrived to temperatures of 36 degrees, well above the seasonal average, and sea temperature of 22 degrees!
we flew to alghero, the airport is small and seemed pretty efficient, the hire car booths are right by the exit, easy to find.
We had a good car and i took my GPS with Europe Map, this i find almost essential! and road signs in sardegna are a luxury not to be relied upon...
We were staying at Isola Rossa, which is mid way along the north coast. The journey via porto torres was straight forward.
Isola Rossa is mid way along the cliff-section of the north coast, there are sandy beaches further west and then cliffs most of the way until the end of the costa paradiso.
Isola Rossa is obviously pretty popular with the spearos and we saw several boats with spearos returning to the harbour, also quite a few going staight from the beach. Saw some big fish caught from returning spearos!
Although my diving was extremely limited by my cold, blocked ears etc, i did get in as much as possible... The areas around isola rossa was generally 7-10m but getting much deeper quite quickly. I also dived at Costa Paradiso which was just a stunning place although i wouldnt fancy walking up the hill at the end of a dive! the area i dived was like a boulder ruckle with huge sections and blocks of cliff that have just collapsed into the sea. Out from CP it got very deep very quickly. I guess 25m+ . Further along the coast going west it was more like 10m+. The whole area was full of huge gulleys, holes and overhangs where the boulders/cliffs had fallen.
I also dived on the East coast, well worth the visit, it is protected from any north storms. We drove down to see the Isle Tavolara, which is spectacular, and then dived in the shallower waters around C Coda Cavallo which is in the marine park. (I didnt take a speargun)
The roads on the East coast were much better, even having white lines in most places. The east coast is much busier than the North and Porto Cervo well worth the visit to see how the other half live it up, with all the finest luxury motor yachts!
There is a spearo shop at Santa Teresa, just go all the way into the town and just after you turn left for the Cappo Testa, it's there on the left. Cappo Testa is woth the visit too, but car parking is very limited, which is a great shame for such an interesting place.
We also visited Castelsardo but I couldnt think of anything to reccomend there! ditto for Sassari which is a large sprawling chaotic town.
We were advised to visit Tempio Pausania, which is an inland town not too far from Costa Paradiso/Isola Rossa, but again i am not sure what there was to see there. The trip to Tempo is good with some amazing inland boulder-fields and wind-turbine lined ridges, and we also drove in to see the Lago de Coglinas which is south of Tempio and one heck of a drive through the mountains (cue banjo music).
So that was our tour; we had a fantastic hotel and were upgraded from our original Tomson choice to 5T with full board, it was for sure a holiday of a lifetime!
One word of caution if you are planning to hire a car - we used national/Alamo and cannot reccomend them after our very bad experience. Our car broke down and they would only tow the car away, not providing any assistance to myself and wife and son! Ever tried getting a taxi from the middle of nowhere when you cant speak the lingo?!
The tomson rep proved to be superb when we contacted her and she managed to get me a lift on the tow truck to Sassari where i waited until alamo agreed to provide a replacement car (they weren't going to!). CHECK YOUR CAR HIRE POLICY, because they run things differently in sardegna.
Overall, i would reccomend getting a hire car, but perhaps just for a couple of days if you can get one at your resort (Isola rossa has Avis), but from Costa Paradiso or Isola Rosso i would use a tour operator + transfer (tomson were great). I would also suggest planning to hire a boat to cover the coast better, they are 25Euro (IR) or 30 euro (CP) per hour or about 80Euro for a half-day; plus fuel. The boats are small 4m RIBS with a 40hp o/b engine.
Cant think of anything else that might be of use if you're planning a trip...
Pictures are: Isola Rossa + Costa Paradiso