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The Portofino Area is a wonderful place to experience the unique landscape. From your sea kayak you will reach places only for a few people.
Quick Details
Sea Kayaking Adventure in Sardinia
Sardinia with its crystal-clear beaches and mild temperatures is renowned as the Italian Caribbean. Beside the sea, you will also hike its mountains exploring the Gorropu Gorge, the biggest one in Europe. All this while sampling regional cheeses and wine and very good local food! This is the ideal place for your holiday! Come explore this beautiful island with me!
Given the nature of the trip, anyone with a good level of fitness (e.g. being able to walk for 5 miles every day) can participate.
16/17 year olds are welcome if accompanied by their parents or guardian.
Itinerary
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As you arrive in Sardinia, we pick you up from Olbia Airport, and around 15 minutes later, you arrive at your hotel complex. Its coastal location ensures superb views for the start to your sea kayaking vacation.
During our briefing, you get the first sip of the great wines from this island.
Trip briefing: 5 pm
Dinner: Hotel
Night: Hotel
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Buffet breakfast
During this sea kayaking vacation, we paddle in one of the best places to be on the water, Sardinia, rich in a variety of beauty. The first paddle day consists of a warming up trip in and out of stunning little coves, many of which are deserted.
Distance will depend on the group’s ability and weather conditions.
Lunch: Packed lunch
Dinner: Hotel
Night: Hotel
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Buffet breakfast
We glide past another area packed with breathtaking beaches, bays, and inlets. The beautiful Porto Istana is often rated the number one attraction around Olbia, north Sardinia. Your vacation is full of crystal-clear, turquoise waters, and soft, white sand always welcomes us for our kayaking expeditions. No matter how far we travel, the water is warm, the coast is rugged, and the bays are beautiful.
Lunch: Packed lunch
Dinner: Hotel
Night: Hotel
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Buffet breakfast
Transfer to my mum’s home in Sardinia. This is another beautiful area we uncover during your vacation.
It’s not just the family connection that draws me back. It’s the Supramonte beauty and its soaring limestone peaks and canyons that skirt the Golfo di Orosei. This was the favourite area of outlaws in years past.
After our lunch at the hotel, mentioned in the best Italian food and wine guides, we visit the Ispinigoli grotto, featuring Europe’s second-largest stalactite-stalagmite, approximately 38 meters high. The enormous cavern astounds visitors with its symphony of sinuous chiaroscuro, a sight not to be forgotten.
Lunch: Hotel
Dinner: Hotel
Night: Hotel
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Buffet breakfast
Today the beautiful Cala Fruili and the sea caves backed by steep cliffs await our kayaking day.
Transparent, crystal-clear, brilliantly blue water and a coast dotted with beaches interspersed with soaring cliffs are on today’s vacation menu.
Cala Luna, a long, fine-sand beach with crowned grottoes, is also in our plans on today’s paddle before coming back to Cala Gonone for our well-deserved relaxing evening at the hotel.
Lunch: Packed lunch
Dinner: Local restaurant
Night: Hotel
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Buffet breakfast
We travel by 4×4 and hike the Gorropu Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and you get fully immersed in the natural history and colorful secrets of this great canyon.
Many stories are known about this place. The most singular one, supported with a firm belief by many elderly people, is that inside Gorropu it is possible to see the stars during the day. This datum doesn’t have a scientific basis, but there are those who claim that at a certain time and from a specific point of the canyon, it is really possible.
Wine tasting before coming back to our hotel
Lunch: Packed lunch
Dinner: Hotel
Night: Hotel
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Breakfast with the shepherd
Today we have an early start for an in-depth opportunity to discover Sardinian culture. You spend time with friendly, open people who tell you about their profession and how they find it extremely gratifying, even without breaks or holidays.
Tour of Cuiles (Old House Shepherd) and bird watching with packed lunch
Driving northward along the coast, we enjoy a different perspective of the beautiful blue sea, rolling hills, and ancient ruins. Even from a distance, it’s clear to see why this area is regarded as offering the best kayaking in the Mediterranean. Conditions permitting, we launch at Porto Rafael and paddle across to the island, disembarking at the town of La Maddalena itself, our base for the next two vacation days.
Lunch: Packed lunch
Dinner: Local restaurant on the Island
Night: B&B
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Buffet breakfast
La Maddalena is often described as the Caribbean of the Mediterranean, offering islands, coves, beaches, cliffs, and superb restaurants. All that one desires on a sea kayaking vacation, this place provides.
Today we kayak the northwest coast of Isola della Maddalena, stopping to swim at small beaches. Taking a short hike, we have a view of the coastline, smaller islands of the archipelago, and the mountains of Corsica visible in the distance across the Bonifacio Strait. After wrapping up another great paddling day, we return to the comfort of our B&B before dinner out in La Maddalena’s historic center.
Lunch: Packed lunch
Dinner: Local restaurant on the Island
Night: B&B
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Buffet Breakfast
The reason the great Garibaldi chose this as the place for his vacation home will be very apparent when you experience the sheer beauty of the island and its surrounding area.
With crystal-clear water, amazing rock formations, and white sand beaches, Isola di Caprera is one of the best places of the myriad of Sardinian kayaking destinations. Strategically significant for centuries, the island is dotted with fortresses — some ancient, some recent.
Lunch: Packed lunch
Dinner: Local restaurant on the Island
Night: B&B
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Buffet breakfast
Although all good things come to an end, keep your memories alive by sharing your vacation enthusiasm with friends and family back home, thinking of how exquisite Sardinia is.
More
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Your accommodation will be in double room with en suite in characteristic hotels and bed and breakfast located in quite areas with great sea views where you will be able to rest and relax in company with friends and a local glass of wine.
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Lunch Time: We take total advantage of being in the country that’s arguably the food capital of the world. Every lunchtime, we take a break to stroll distance to a village taverna or a market providing fresh, seasonal produce.
Dinner Time: We dine in local village, tasting local handmade dishes and wines.
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- Swimsuit
- Sun hat
- Sunscreen
- Sunglasses
- Water flask (refilling water wherever possible helps us reduce the amount of plastic bottles used)
- Lightweight towel
- Old trainers or water shoes
- Light clothes easy to dry (no cotton) as well as some long-sleeve rash vests
- Rain jacket. It is good to have in just in case.
- Mosquito repellent
- Waterproof camera (optional)
- Waterproof case for your phone, passport, cards, and cash
- Any medication needed
- Remember to bring your smile!
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One major difference between Italy and some other cultures, such as the USA, is the subject of tips. Italian workers in the tourism industry earn a living wage that is not reliant on tips to bring their wage up to a reasonable level. It’s not that they are insulted if you tip them, it’s just that it is not a requirement to do so. If you feel that you have received good service, it will be seen as very nice of you to show your appreciation by leaving a tip.
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I have no kayaking experience; is this trip for me?
Anyone with at least moderate fitness can participate. We only require you to be confident in getting wet for an unexpected swim.
Once on the beach and when you are properly fitted into your kayak, you are given a full safety briefing and basic introduction to paddling technique. On the water, we paddle as a group. You learn to paddle by doing it under the guide’s coaching tips. We will be kayaking for around one hour, at a relaxed pace, before the first stop.
I am an experienced paddler; will I find this trip challenging enough?
It depends on what challenges you. As an experienced paddler, you will be free to roam always in a safe ‘chatting distance’. While the less-experienced will swim and relax, you might prefer to practice your roll or improve your rescue and paddling technique.
Where do we go?
We discuss the paddling itinerary together on our Saturday meeting.
Where and if we will be able to paddle will depend on strength and direction of the wind. If the sea conditions are not safe, we enjoy the views while hiking the island!
Are vegetarians welcome?
Every meal will be local, therefore it will be mainly fish and seafood-based dishes.
There are always different options; just let us know.
Are non-paddling partners welcome to join the tour?
Yes. They might need an independent kind of transportation.
What is there to do on Sardinia besides paddling?
Take a hike on one of the many walking trails; go to a different beach every day, from colorful pebbles to white sand to granite rocks; hire a mountain bike, a scooter, or a car; take some photos or draw; go shopping!
