Parco Nazionale dell'Arcipelago di La Maddalena official website: how to use it before you book

The Parco Nazionale dell’Arcipelago di La Maddalena official website, lamaddalenapark.it, is run by the park authority, the Ente Parco. It is not a tourism portal, and it does not sell a single boat ticket. What it does hold is everything that binds the boats you will be on: the zoning, the navigation ordinances, the permit system for private boats and the access rules for Cala Coticcio. We checked the site on 2 September 2026; this page describes only what we found there.

Use it the way a skipper does. Read the rule, download the map, then go to the operators hub or a booking platform to choose your boat.

What the site is organised around

The Italian menu has the following sections: CETS (the European charter for sustainable tourism), Ticket di accesso/Autorizzazioni, Mappe, Natura e Ambiente, Info Cala Coticcio/Brigantina, Centro Educazione Ambientale, Modulistica-Cosa fare per, Valutazioni incidenza ambientale, Ente Parco and Area comunicazione. An “English version” section mirrors the essentials: Permit to enter the park, Maps, Cala Coticcio excursion information, Nature and Territory, Fortifications, Caprera’s trails, pages for each island (La Maddalena, Caprera, Santo Stefano, Spargi, Budelli, Santa Maria, Razzoli, Soffi/Nibani/Mortorio), Implementing rules and the forest fire plan.

The homepage carries dated notices. On our visit these included the drone ban (June 2024), a wild boar control campaign and an experimental navigation, mooring and anchoring ordinance, order 33/2026 of 2 April 2026.

Permits for private boats and rentals

The “Ticket di accesso/Autorizzazioni” page states that an authorisation is required to navigate, moor, anchor and stay within 300 metres of the coast inside the park. Recreational boating permits (diporto) are priced by boat length; fishing and diving have their own permits. Purchases are made on the online portal, autorizzazioni.lamaddalenapark.it, and paid through pagoPA. The page states a 5% discount for online purchases (excluding daily rental boats and commercial activities), a 40% reduction for sailing boats, and that kayaks, small rowing boats and paddle boards are exempt. Residents and natives use a five-year “Seapass”.

For a visitor this matters in one case: you rent a RIB in Palau or La Maddalena. Ask the rental company whether the daily park permit is in the price; the fact sheet on our private charter page explains that it usually is not. Tour operators hold their own annual authorisations, which is why the platform price never includes a permit, only sometimes a small cash contribution.

Insider tip: Buy a private-boat permit the evening before, not at 9:00 on the quay. The portal is the same, the discount is the same, and you will not be the boat holding up the rental jetty while pagoPA loads.

Zoning and the maps you should download

The Maps page offers three PDFs: the zoning map (2021, in Italian and French, also on the Sardinia geoportal), a beaches map showing what is allowed and forbidden on each park beach, and a museums-and-trails map for Caprera. The site defines zoning as the division of the territory into homogeneous areas, each with its own prohibitions, listed in the founding decree of 17 May 1996, which is linked as a PDF.

The zoning explains the tours. Zone A, the integral reserve, is closed; it includes the Spiaggia Rosa on Budelli and some islets, which is why every boat shows you the pink beach from the water and lands at Cala di Roto or Spiaggia del Cavaliere instead. Our Budelli page walks through that stop. Keep the beaches map on your phone: it is the fastest way to settle an argument about whether you may walk to a viewpoint.

Cala Coticcio and Cala Brigantina: the guided-access rules

The “Info Cala Coticcio/Brigantina” page is the one most hikers need. According to it, the paths to the two coves are not freely walkable; visits are possible only with an authorised environmental hiking guide (GAE), under a discipline approved by the park board’s resolution no. 17 of 4 June 2022, and violations are sanctioned. The page provides the official list of authorised guides; you arrange the walk with a guide, and after booking you pay a €3 environmental contribution through pagoPA. The ticket is valid only for the day indicated, and children up to 12 do not pay.

What the page does not do is take your booking. There is no calendar and no basket. Either contact a guide from the list or book a guided product that includes the authorisation, such as the Caprera hike to Cala Coticcio with aperitif listed on GetYourGuide (3.2 km, about 160 m of elevation, closed shoes mandatory according to the listing). Boats are a separate matter: many tours make a swim or photo stop in the bay under the navigation rules, and that does not require the walking ticket. See our Cala Coticcio page for the trail itself.

A news item of 19 June 2026 published clarifications on the guide authorisation system, a sign that details change between seasons. Re-read the page in the week of your walk.

News, closures and ordinances

The Area comunicazione section has a dated news archive and an events calendar. Items from summer 2026 included the public notices for 2026 boat rental licences (8 July), new rules for rental with and without skipper (7 July), the opening days of the environmental education centre museums (2 July) and the Cala Coticcio guide clarifications (19 June). Navigation ordinances appear here as well; the April 2026 order on navigation, mooring and anchoring is the document your skipper is working under this season.

There is no live sailing-status feed. Whether boats leave Palau on a mistral morning is decided by the operators and the harbour authorities, not published by the park. For that, check with your operator or the forecast, as we explain on the national park guide page.

What the site does not offer

• No boat tours for sale. The page “Trasporto Passeggeri ditte autorizzate e itinerari anno 2026” says that if you want a boat excursion you should contact the passenger-transport companies, and links a PDF of authorised companies and itineraries updated 19 June 2026. That list is your check that an operator is legal; the booking happens with the operator or on a platform.
• No ferry timetables. Delcomar and Maddalena Lines publish their own.
• No English-language help desk for tourists; the contact given is the public relations office and the authorisations e-mail.
• No price list for tours, and no reviews.

How to use it before you book a boat tour

1. Open the authorised passenger-transport PDF and find your operator’s name. If it is missing, ask why before paying.
2. Download the beaches map and the zoning map, and note which coves your itinerary can land on.
3. Read the homepage notices and the latest navigation ordinance for anything that affects anchoring stops.
4. If Cala Coticcio on foot is on your list, read the access page and contact a guide from the list or book the authorised hike.
5. If you plan to rent a boat, buy the permit on the portal.

Then compare boats on the tours from Palau page and book.

How Sardegna Turismo complements it

Sardegna Turismo (sardegnaturismo.it) is the Sardinia Region’s official tourism site, available in Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, Russian and simplified Chinese. Its page on the national park gives the general facts (established 1994, first in Sardinia, more than 20,000 hectares of sea and land, 180 km of coast, more than 60 islands), how to arrive by scheduled ferry from Palau in about 20 minutes or from Santa Teresa Gallura, and links to lamaddalenapark.it. Its La Maddalena page covers the town, the naval museum, the Garibaldi museums and the 45 km of coast road.

Read Sardegna Turismo for orientation in your own language and the park site for the rules. Neither sells the boat.

Alternatives you can book online

Once the rules are clear, the boats that respect them are easy to find: the small-group Maddalena National Park boat tour from Palau with seven stops, the authorised Cala Coticcio hike on Caprera, or the full list of La Maddalena boat tours.