Four trips, and the island is large
From a northern campsite to the south coast is four hours: you pick a quadrant.
Sardinia is not toured in one holiday, and trying means spending the days in the car. Better to decide the quadrant before booking the ferry: each of these four routes sets out from its own area of campsites.
The north and the Maddalena
From the Gallura you go to Capo Testa, with its wind-carved granite, and to Palau, where the ferries leave for La Maddalena and Caprera. The archipelago is a national park: sixty-two islands and islets, and the best beaches are reached by dinghy. On the opposite coast is Castelsardo, with the Doria castle on top.
Alghero and the west coast
Alghero has its walls on the sea and speaks Catalan: it is the base for Capo Caccia and the Grotta di Nettuno. Going down the coast you reach Bosa, coloured houses on a navigable river, and then the Sinis peninsula, with the Phoenician and Roman ruins of Tharros and the quartz beaches.
The Gulf of Orosei and the Barbagia
From the east coast you go by boat to the coves of the gulf, and by road you climb into the Barbagia: Orgosolo with its murals, Oliena below the Supramonte, Mamoiada with its carnival masks. The Gorropu gorge is reached on foot, in half a day's walking that is not difficult but is long.
The south and the mines
From Cagliari you go to Nora, a Phoenician city by the sea, and to Barumini, where the most studied nuraghe on the island stands. To the west begins the Iglesiente, with its disused mines, Porto Flavia cut into the cliff and the dunes of Piscinas, the highest in Europe.