Altarnative Transardinia: a gravel bikepacking adventure through the S

Altarnative Transardinia: a gravel bikepacking route through the Sardinian mountains and coast

AUGUST 24, 2024 | JULIA TRZYSZCZYK

We heard about the concept of the Transardinia route from the story of Tristan Bogaard and his friends who did it in 2021 and described it in detail on bikepacking.com (the primary creator of the route is Giorgio Pupillo). The original Transardinia route leads exclusively through the mountains, often in very rocky terrain that is difficult to navigate even on an mtb bike. The trail is not official or very popular, also no one cares about its maintenance, in many places it is a hike-a-bike so we decided to create an alternative ‘faster’ version of the traverse through the island that would be achievable during a week's holiday, rideable in its entirety on gravel bikes, varied in terms of views, and would not require taking a tent. And that's exactly what this version of Transardinia is, there are mountains, sea, small Italian towns, beautiful views and delicious Italian food.

Route summary

Total distance: approx. 400 km

Total elevation: 6800 m

Number of days: 5

Best time to ride: March to May, September to November

Accommodation: Hotels, optional tent

Food to bring: for one day

Difficulty scale: 5/10

Return to starting point: train from Olbia to Cagliari: TrenItalia

Ideas for where to store bike boxes: hotel in Cagliari (first and last night of stay), Green Bike service in Cagliari, luggage storage facilities

Our travellers: @juliatrzyszczyk, @krystianwagnerr

Day 0

We arrive in Sardinia on the 9th of March 2024 exactly at midnight, the airport in Cagliari is already a bit empty and we, with two big boxes in the middle of the night, have to get to our hotel in the centre. In theory we could take the 1am bus, but we don't want to shorten our already short sleep time even more, so we take a bigger taxi for around €25. We sleep at Baco B&B, a hostel in the centre of Cagliari. I wrote to the owner, Cosimo, on AirBnb to ask if we could leave the boxes in which we had brought our bikes at his hotel during our trip. He agreed and was super nice and understanding to us, so we spend our first and last night in Sardinia in the same hotel, at the same time solving the eternal problem of travelling with a bike, i.e. where to leave the boxes/suitcases while bikepacking.

Day 1: Cagliari - Armungia (83 km, 1700 up)

Before we definitely set off, we went to Decathlon to buy a gas bottle, in case we sleep in a tent (which, as it turns out later, we won't). After that we ride out of town onto a beautiful gravel road that takes us from sea level to 660 m. Gaining altitude the road gets more mountainous. Discouraged by this fact, but also by the rain and the increasingly late hour, despite our desire to follow the original Transardinia route, we modify it in order to reach our accommodation before dark. We descend to the village of Dolianova, from where we take the asphalt directly to Armungia. The road leads through a completely deserted interior of the island and, despite the asphalt, practically no cars pass us.

We stop in a very small town in a typically Italian house ‘Su Carreri’. Finding accommodation in Armungia was not easy at all as the mountainous areas of Sardinia are sparsely populated, in addition to being practically unvisited by tourists in the low season. We managed to contact Donatella, the owner of the B&B in Armungi, via whatsapp, and paid €65 for an overnight stay with (Italian) breakfast for two people. We kept our bikes rather worry-free on the terrace in front of the house. There is only one ‘Su stentu’ bar in the town (frozen pizza only), so we were incredibly happy that it was still open in the evening and we were able to fill up on some calories as we had almost 2,500m of climbing ahead of us the next day.

Day 2: Armungia - Lanusei (87 km, 2400 up / 78 km, 2000 up)

We start day two with an 8km asphalt descent with beautiful views. Down jackets were the best thing we took for this bikepacking, as you can see from the photos, the temperatures in March in the mountains of Sardinia are not very high...but it is a better option than summer temperatures above 30 degrees and crowds of tourists. Instead, a gravel climb in the sun awaited us for the next 8km, which allowed us to warm up sufficiently. We come out on a beautiful pass where we meet no one except many herds of goats and cows.

The sense of emptiness, peace and quiet is what impressed us most about this mountain part of the route. We don't know what it's like in the tourist season, but in the off-season the island is mostly incredibly peaceful.

Day two is about 20 km of gravel with most of it being climbs, so it takes us a while to get over them. Among other things, we have one ladder to climb over the fence of a military area that can be accessed by bike. The first town we reach is Perdasdefogu, where there are several bars, in one of which we stop to eat and look for a hotel for tonight. Apart from the first night in Armungia, we booked all our accommodation on the same day (by calling) or the day before (via booking) and it worked.

At that point we still didn't know what was in front of us to get to this hotel, a 17 km climb (including a 31% wall! at the very end), and we realised it by going down serpentines with beautiful views through the village of Jerzu. At this point it was almost 6pm so our lights came in handy as it was already getting dark by 7pm. Fortunately, Italians are used to eat the dinner quite late, because thanks to this we didn't go to bed hungry but had a delicious pizza in the hotel pizzeria.

*On this day, you can choose a slightly shorter variant of the end of the route, going from Jerzu via Ulassai, Osini and Gairo then the route has 2000 m of elevation gain and 78 km.

Day 3: Lanusei - Cala Gonone (94 km, 1500 up)

On the third day we wake up at almost 1,000 metres above sea level, making the temperature not encouraging us to leave our room. After the first few kilometres we ascend to an even higher point on the route from where we can see the horizon all the way to the sea. Then we descend on completely empty, narrow paved roads in beautiful scenery for about 10 km.

The highlight of today is driving along an old, abandoned road that traverses the mountains all the way to Talana. We see several signs about floods and landslides, so this is probably the reason why the road was closed to motor traffic, as it is mostly gravel with sections of damaged asphalt it should have been a few years ago. We only meet a herd of goats and a group of french cyclists who are taking a similar route, but in the opposite direction to us. The road is almost 20 km long and ends in the tiny village of Talana, where we find an open bar without leaving the route.

From this point on the route the landscape changes faster and faster, and the closer we get to the coast the warmer it gets. We still pass through Ursulei in case we need to find a bar there too. We are tired after 3 days of riding in the mountains and we miss a turn on the gravel road, which was supposed to take us to Cala Gonone. We do not want to go back, so we reach the sea using the asphalt which is equally beautiful, especially at sunset.

Day 4: Cala Gonone - La Caletta (70 km, 800 up)

The three days in the mountains were really beautiful, but there is no doubt that it was quite cold as most of the time we were many metres above sea level. The change of scenery and warm sea air appealed to us incredibly and day four turned into a great day on the coast. To start with, we were welcomed by a 4km fairly steep climb with a beautiful view of Cala Gonone bay. We highly recommend going down to Cala Cartoe beach, which is absolutely beautiful, hidden in a small cove and completely empty in low season. Definitely worth it! The next kilometres pass very quickly, riding on pleasant slightly sandy terrain right next to the sea.

*For those longing for the mountains, the route can pass through Siniscola and overnight there, a good option for those wishing to extend the route the next day.

Day 5: La Calletta - Olbia (60 km, 500 up)

Fifth day was the fastest and shortest of all our days. We realised that the train we were supposed to take back to the south of the island was temporarily out of service on one of the sections and transport was being provided by replacement buses. In theory this wasn't a problem, but we had two bikes and weren't sure if we could take them on the bus, the information on the website said no...and we had a flight to Poland the next morning. Fortunately the bus took us and the bikes without too many problems to Macomer where we continued by train to Cagliari. We were in such a hurry to catch the earliest bus that we don't even have a photo in Olbia, but we took one in Cagliari:

Bonus day: Cagliari - Park of Gutturu Mannu (78km, 650 up)

After finishing Transcardinia we still had 1.5 days in Cagliari, so we spent half a day exploring the city centre (it's really nice) and eating a few scoops of pistachio ice cream (definitely try the those at Gelateria Vaniglia e Pistacchio on Via Napoli). The last remaining day we spent on a bike trip to the Foresta Gutturu Natural Park. A huge regional park covered with a Mediterranean forest through whose valley runs the Gutturu Mannu River.

This ride impressed us above all with a very good quality gravel (smoth and fast!) road that runs through a gorge along the river. We ascend the 478m S'Arcu su Schisorgiu from sea level and return along the same road, passing through the Laguna di Santa Gilla close to the coast where you can admire flocks of flamingos. We finish our last kilometres in Sardinia in the port of Cagliari admiring the sunset.

Summary

What charmed us most about bikpacking in Sardinia were the endless and wild roads, frequented only by local farmers commuting to their pastures, empty asphalts leading through the mountains and coastal gravel paths. We recommend Sardinia especially outside the holiday season (September-May), then we can fully enjoy the diversity of the route and not meet crowds of tourists in the seaside towns. The route will be an ideal bikepacking option for beginner cyclists, it is 100% passable and doesn't require carrying a tent or a lot of food. In our opinion, Sardinia is still a hidden gem of cycling in Europe, with its bikepacking potential still underestimated. If you decide to go there and need any tips, feel free to reach out to us.

Responsive Table

Day: 1

Distance: 84 km

Elevation gain: 1700 m

Accommodation: Armungia, Su Carreri B&B (contact via whatsapp with the owner +39 345 086 5059, on booking.com for at least 2 days booking), 65 euros

Food: Armungia Bar Su Stentu

GPX: Cagliari-Armungia

Day: 2

Distance: 87/78 km

Elevation gain: 2400/2000 m

Accommodation: Lanusei, Hotel Ristorante Pizzeria Bosco Selene

Food: Capriccio bar in Perdasdefog and the pizzeria in the hotel (delicious!)

GPX: Armungia - Lanusei

Day: 3

Distance: 94 km

Elevation gain: 1500 m

Accommodation: Cala Gonone, Affittacamere Casa del Sole

Food: Bar Sa Carrera in Talana

GPX: Lanusei - Cala Gonone

Day: 4

Distance: 70 km

Elevation gain: 800 m

Accommodation: La Caletta (lots of options to choose from) / Siniscola

Food: Orosei

GPX: Cala Gonone - La Caletta

Day: 5

Distance: 60 km

Elevation gain: 500 m

Accommodation: Return by train to Olbia

Food: Olbia

GPX: La Calletta - Olbia

Day	Distance	Elevation gain	Accommodation	Food	GPX
1	84 km	1700 m	Armungia, B&B Su Carreri	Armungia Bar Su Stentu	Cagliari-Armungia
2	87/78 km	2400/2000 m	Lanusei, Hotel Bosco Selene	pizzeria in the hotel (delicious!)	Armungia - Lanusei
3	94 km	1500 m	Cala Gonone, Affittacamere Casa del Sole	Bar Sa Carrera in Talana	Lanusei - Cala Gonone
4	70 km	800 m	La Caletta	Orosei	Cala Gonone - La Caletta
5	60 km	500 m	Return by train to Olbia	Olbia	La Calletta - Olbia
Total	391 km	6800 m

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