La Maddalena, Sardinia: a practical guide to the island and the archipelago

La Maddalena, in Sardinia, is three things at once: an island of about 20 km², a town of roughly 10,500 people on its southern shore, and an archipelago of 62 islands and rocks protected by a national park. People searching for La Maddalena usually want to know how to get there, how long to stay and how to see the islands around it. This page answers in that order.

Boat trips are the main event here and have a guide of their own. What follows is everything that comes before them: ferries, the airport, which area to sleep in, costs, seasons and how to move around once you have landed.

Island, archipelago and town: what La Maddalena means

• The island of La Maddalena: the largest in the archipelago, about 20 km² with 45 km of coast and a panoramic ring road of roughly 20 km. Its high point is Monte Guardia Vecchia, around 156 m, topped by Forte San Vittorio.
• The town of La Maddalena: on the south coast, wrapped around the ferry harbour. Piazza Garibaldi with the town hall, Via Garibaldi for the shops, the Museo Archeologico Navale “Nino Lamboglia” and the Museo Diocesano.
• The La Maddalena Archipelago: 7 main islands (La Maddalena, Caprera, Spargi, Budelli, Santa Maria, Razzoli, Santo Stefano) plus around fifty islets, making up some 180 km of coastline. Since 1994 it has been the Parco Nazionale dell’Arcipelago di La Maddalena.
• Caprera: the second island, joined to La Maddalena by the Passo della Moneta causeway (about 600 m). It is the only other island reachable by road.

Every other island is a sea-only proposition, and we cover them in the guide to the islands of the archipelago.

Where it is and how to get there

The island sits in the Bocche di Bonifacio, the strait between Gallura and Corsica. The way in is Palau, on the mainland, 2 nautical miles from La Maddalena harbour.

By air

The nearest airport is Olbia Costa Smeralda, about 40 km (25 miles) and 45 minutes by road from Palau. Flight information is on the airport’s own site, geasar.it. Olbia takes summer flights from several UK airports, which makes this one of the easier corners of Sardinia to reach without changing planes. From the terminal you continue to Palau by hire car, bus or taxi.

By ferry from Palau

Two companies work the Palau to La Maddalena route: Delcomar and Maddalena Lines. The crossing takes 15–20 minutes, sailings are frequent day and night, and the ferries carry cars. Timetables shift with the season, so check them on the companies’ sites, above all for the last evening sailing.

Foot passengers do not need to book. With a car in August it pays to turn up well ahead, because queues at Palau harbour are normal through the middle of the day.

By bus

The regional operator ARST links Olbia with Palau in roughly 1 hour 15 to 1 hour 30. From the stop you walk to the ferry berth at the harbour. This is the answer for arriving without a car and sleeping in town.

By road from the rest of Sardinia

Olbia is also the ferry port for arrivals from Livorno, Civitavecchia, Genoa and Piombino. Distances from Palau: Olbia about 40 km, Santa Teresa Gallura 25 km, Porto Cervo 30 km, Cannigione 15 km, Alghero about 170 km (2 hours 30), Cagliari about 300 km.

Insider tip: if you are staying in Palau and taking your boat trip from there, you do not need the car on the island at all. Cross on foot and save yourself the vehicle ticket and the hunt for a space in town.

How many days you need

With a single day the choice makes itself: take the boat, because the most photographed islands, Spargi, Budelli and Santa Maria, cannot be reached any other way. Day-by-day itineraries are on our things to do in La Maddalena page.

Where to stay: the three areas

We name no properties, only areas.

In La Maddalena town. Restaurants, shops and the harbour on foot, boats leaving from the island’s marina, the Palau ferry on your doorstep. This is the pick if you have no car. Against it: parking is difficult in August if you do have one, and evenings are noisier.

In Palau. Convenient if the boat trip is your only outing: the tours leave from the Palau marina and the airport is 45 minutes away. More campsites and apartments to choose from. Against it: seeing the island means taking the ferry every time.

The Caprera side, east of the island. Close to the Passo della Moneta, quieter, with the Caprera beaches minutes away. You need a car or a bike for everything, the harbour and its boat trips included.

What to do in La Maddalena

In order of priority, as we see it.

1. The archipelago boat trip. Seven or eight hours around Spargi, Budelli, Santa Maria and Santo Stefano, with 3–4 swim stops. It is the reason people come. Formats and prices are compared in our archipelago tour guide.
2. The beaches by car. Bassa Trinita, Monti d’Arena, Cala Lunga, Spalmatore, Cala Francese, Punta Tegge, Nido d’Aquila and Testa di Polpo all sit on the panoramic road. Coarse sand, granite, shallow water.
3. Caprera. The Compendio Garibaldino, the house where Giuseppe Garibaldi lived from 1856 and died on 2 June 1882, with his rooms, his tomb and the garden; the Memoriale Giuseppe Garibaldi in Forte Arbuticci, opened in 2012; and the beaches at Cala Portese, Cala Andreani, Spiaggia del Relitto and Due Mari. Cala Coticcio on foot needs a park-authorised guide.
4. Guardia Vecchia and Forte San Vittorio. The highest point of the island, and the quickest way to grasp the shape of the archipelago before or after the boat.
5. The town museums. The Museo Archeologico Navale “Nino Lamboglia” keeps the cargo of a Roman ship that sank off Spargi around 120 BC; the Museo Diocesano stands near the main church. Times on the official sites.

What a visit costs

These are orders of magnitude, not a quotation.

• The Palau ferry: a fare per person plus a supplement for the car; current rates on the Delcomar and Maddalena Lines sites.
• The boat trip: shared boats from Palau run around €50–80 per person on GetYourGuide (the classic vintage motorboat is €76); twelve-berth catamarans with lunch €150–200; sunset trips €100–119. Prices recorded in September 2026.
• Landing contribution: some boats collect one in cash at check-in, and one Santa Teresa listing quotes €5 per person. Read the “Not included” line.
• Museums and the Compendio Garibaldino: tickets to be checked on the official sites.
• Your own boat: entering the park in a private vessel means buying the navigation permit, sold online by the park and priced on hull length.

When to go

The maestrale, the north-west wind, is what decides your days at sea. It blows most often in spring and autumn but can arrive at any point, so book the boat early in your stay and keep spare days behind it.

Getting around: taxis, buses, bikes

On foot. The town, the harbour and the museums need no transport. The beaches do: even the closest are a few kilometres from the centre.

By bus. Local lines connect the town with Caprera and other parts of the island; services and times change with the season, so ask in town or check the ARST site.

By bike or scooter. The loop of roughly 20 km has short but repeated climbs: half a day by bike with swim stops, a couple of hours on a scooter. Hire is available in town, with no fixed prices worth quoting here, so ask locally.

By taxi. There are few of them and they cluster near the harbour. In August, book your ride back from the beach rather than hoping to find one there.

By car. Needed for Caprera and the further beaches. Beach car parks are small and unsurfaced, so in August arrive early in the morning or leave the car and take a bike.

Insider tip: staying on the island means you can board straight from the La Maddalena marina and skip the ferry: the classic archipelago tour and the small-group hybrid trip with an aperitivo (drinks with snacks) both leave from there.

A little history, briefly

Napoleon Bonaparte took part in a failed attack on La Maddalena in 1793. Between 1803 and 1805 Nelson’s fleet used the archipelago as an anchorage, in the stretch known as Agincourt Sound or Mezzo Schifo, before Trafalgar. Through the 19th and 20th centuries the town was a major Italian naval base, and on Santo Stefano the United States kept a submarine support base from 1972 to 2008. The fortifications scattered across the island come from all of that.

Rules to know before you travel

The Parco Nazionale dell’Arcipelago di La Maddalena has banned landing on Spiaggia Rosa on Budelli since 1994; regulates access on foot to Cala Coticcio since 2021 (authorised guide only, with a capped daily quota); forbids and fines the removal of sand, shells and pebbles; requires authorisation for drones; and bans fires and camping on the smaller islands. The detail and the zones are in our national park guide and on the official site, lamaddalenapark.it.

From the island to the islands: the boat trip

With the ferry and the room sorted, the decision that matters is how you see Spargi, Budelli and Santa Maria. The classic archipelago tour on a vintage motorboat leaves from La Maddalena or Palau, runs 8 hours with 4 swim stops and is listed at €76 on GetYourGuide, rated 4.5 from 215 reviews. With only half a day on the island, look at the small-group hybrid tour with aperitivo, which sails from the La Maddalena marina and takes in Spargi, Cala Corsara, Budelli and a photo stop at Spiaggia Rosa.

For every other option out of La Maddalena, Sardinia, from catamarans to private charters, work through this guide starting with the boat trips overview and the departures from Palau.