Hi everyone -- We are trying to plan our honeymoon for late July. We are mainly looking at Sardinia, Greek islands (Mykonos, Crete, Santorini) or, if ultimately it seems to fit our purposes better, somewhere close by (nice place in the Caribbean). We are very interested in Sardinia. I have heard great things about Costa Smeralda especially and have been trying to find the best place to stay for our honeymoon. We found some very nice places, but at very high prices (starting at 800 euros). We are looking for more the 500 euros or under range. Our main criteria is that the hotel has a beach, is not too too crowded with tourists (we realize July is a high tourist season), has at least one restaurant on premises for the nights we don't want to venture far, ideally would also be close to a town or village... just wondering if anyone has any recommendations, or even recommendations where we should be looking (besides google searching, which can only tell you so much!). Thanks in advance!

I can sort of nip around the edges of your questions, as my son and I visited Sardinia in February, 2008 to meet up with some families he had met in Italy on a prior trip.

We flew RyanAir into Alghero, stayed a night and bussed south to Cagliari. We stayed there 3 nights and flew out, again with Ryan.

The hotel we found in Alghero was through Ryan's site. Alma Di Alghero. A 3*. Comfortable, but not over-rated. We were well treated there though. The city itself has a lot of interesting history and we wished we had had more time to explore it. We took a bus from the airport, and the driver was very helpful in pointing out our hotel and giving us directions to get to it (it was dark out and not right on his route).

We learned a hard lesson on the bus from Alghero to Cagliari - the Sunday schedule is much abbreviated. Got there eventually.

At the bus stop in central Cagliari, about a block away across a little city park, is a tourist information place. We just asked for a hotel there and they found us one. Again, nothing fancy, 3*, but right downtown and convenient for seeing the sights there. A wonderful museum, pizza at a department store restaurant that was really great, and lots of history. Very interesting to just wander around the city.

Wine everywhere was uniformly excellent, yet very reasonably priced. People were helpful.

We had an incredible visit with the friends.

Really can't help you with a hotel appropriate for a honeymoon, but I'd guess somebody here will step up to the plate.

Romelle

two of the major hotels in sardinia are in the starwood chain. you might go to the starwood board to read about them they are very expensive. if you stay on points, no food, and food is very expensive at the hotels. they meet all your other criteria

Thank you both for your replies!

slawecki -- I saw the starwood hotels. Those are the ones I was referencing as being pretty expensive... they do look great and exactly what we are looking for, other than that small little point :-) Do you think it's going to be hard to find a place more at our price point?

romelle -- sounds like you had a nice trip. did you have a favorite place around sardinia?

Hi,
I was just in Sardinia last summer. The water is exquisite. I highly recommend you hire a private boat for a day long tour to explore the Arcipelago della Maddalena, tiny islands with waters clearer than a swimming pool. Phenomenal.

I believe there are 3 Starwood hotels these days, Pitrizza, Cala di Volpe, and Romazzino. All phenomenal, and can be worth the 800+ Euro cost if you understand what it's all about AND are interested in that kind of thing.

The prices are that high because these hotels are like a private club, with the same families going every year in the summer, the families who also go to the same elite ski resorts in the winter.
It is a very exclusive atmosphere, and for some people the price is worth it and for others it is not worth it at all.

If you choose not to stay at one of these hotels, you can find a nice 3-4 star hotel slightly to the south. I can recommend Li Cuncheddi as a solid 3-4 star hotel with fantastic beach and swimming. The bathrooms are a little odd, and the food in the restaurant is not exceptional, but I enjoyed staying here for a few days.

But to really experience the unbelievable clarity of the Sardinian waters, make sure you spend at least one full day at the Arcipelago.

Have a wonderful time!

have never been there. not easy to get to from the states in the winter. i would look here to see what hotels and resorts looked like

http://www.venere.com/site/index.php?geoid=29504&lg=en

make certain you put in the correct dates to look at pricing. the �80 for today is probably �250-300 for june/july.

will take a little while to work around, but almost every hotel is listed here.

Thank you everyone for your help! We are still narrowing down where to stay... but we are trying to book our flight soon. Question: the flight we want to take has a stopover in Rome, and we have the option of a 2 hour layover all the way up to a 7 hour layover. Apart from staying over for a day in Rome, do you think it would make sense to take the 7 hour layover and go see some of the city? I suppose what I'm asking is how easy it is to get from the airport in Rome to the city, and whether we would have time to at least see a few things in that time period. What do you think? Thanks in advance!

The Leonardo Express train runs between FCO and Rome every 1/2 hour and takes about(??) a half hour. Puts you in Termini.

Or you could get a cab at 40 Euros each way. Running time probably similar.

Of course the whole process of getting off the plane and through security and customs will burn a bit of time. Somebody else who has done it recently will probably give you a better idea of this.

I think I'd choose to have those 5 hours on Sardinia. IMHO.

Romelle

Come back and do Rome right for an anniversary.