The Gulf of Orosei
Forty kilometres of cliff, and the best coves are reached only from the water.
Between Orosei and Arbatax the east coast becomes a continuous wall of white limestone up to five hundred metres high, and for forty kilometres no road comes down to the sea. The beaches lie at the bottom of gorges that come down from the Supramonte, and you go by boat or on foot.
Cala Luna has a row of caves at the back of the beach and is the largest; Cala Mariolu and Cala Biriala have white shingle and transparent water; Cala Goloritze, created by a landslide in 1962, has a limestone spire a hundred and forty metres high and is reached only by a steep path or by boat. Daily visitor numbers are capped.
How you get there
Dinghies and boats leave from Cala Gonone, Santa Maria Navarrese and Arbatax, and in high season it is worth booking the day before. On foot you go down to Cala Luna from Cala Fuili in about two hours, and to Goloritze from Su Porteddu in an hour and a half; in every case you need real shoes and a lot of water.
The campsites lie outside the gulf, north towards Orosei and Siniscola and south towards Bari Sardo and Tortoli, because inside it nothing is built. Behind lies the Supramonte, with the Bue Marino cave and the Gorropu gorge.