At the foot of the dunes along the wild Costa Verde, this remote hotel occupies restored 19th-century mining warehouses reached via the abandoned Ingurtosu site, once among Europe’s most important mines. Today the landscape has returned to near-total wilderness: Mediterranean scrub spills into towering dunes where deer appear at dusk and sea turtles nest along the shore. Inside, the industrial shell has been softened with marble, iron, wood and Sardinian textiles, while its Ginepro restaurant serves local classics such as malloreddus alla campidanese and honey-drizzled seadas.

Tucked between the reddish rugged cliffs just outside Buggerru, Cala Domestica is a proper hidden gem. Beyond the main cove, a narrow path carved into the rock leads to a smaller, more secluded beach – quieter, more intimate, and often nearly empty.

Rising dramatically from the sea off the coast of Masua, Pan di Zucchero is a towering limestone stack and the tallest sea stack in the Mediterranean. Best admired from the cliffs near Porto Flavia or by boat, its pale rock glows against the deep blue water, making it one of the most iconic silhouettes along the southwest coast.