Our dog has already traveled quite a lot during the three years of his life. He was born in Karlovy Vary so as a puppy, he traveled home across the whole country. Soon after his first birthday, he visited sea for the first time - during our short family vacation in Poland. One year later, he was running around the beach in Greece and this year, he can bark about his memories from Sardinia.
I fell in love with Italy two years ago, when I first visited Palm riviera. Despite all the hotels, camps and Czech tourists (which are the things we usually avoid at all cost), I was enchanted by all the smiling outoing Italians, beautiful clear sea and perfectly relaxed atmosphere of that place. So when we started discussing family vacation this year, I was the main lobbyist for Italy.
My enthusiasm for Italy became even bigger after our stay on Sardinia. Parasol-beaches were replaced by beautiful natural beaches overlooking rocky cliffs. There weren't many Czech tourists even though the manager of our first apartment was Czech and her parents are (by coincidence) living on the same adress as we do and they have even the same surrname.
The journey to Sardinia with a dog
When we started thinking about visiting Sardinia, we fell in love with the idea. The only concern was about the journey with our dog. Daylong trip by car and 7 hour long journey by ferry brought many questions. Is he going to handle it? And what about us? The idea, that Teddy's gonna protect all the dog girls and fight with his competitors ... was pretty scary. At the end, he was the least problematic crew member. Even though we forgot to pack his food.
The journey by ferry to Sardinia takes about 5 to 10 hours. Its lenght and the prices are constantly changing. The price differences can be even around 100 euros during the day. So it's imporant to watch the prices and ideally book your trip in advance (which obviously wasn't our case - we finally decided for the trip to Sardinia about two days before departure)
For our journey, we chose Sardinia & Corsica Ferries which allows the pets to travel with you on board and they also offer special cabins for passagers with pets. Some companies allow the transport of animals, but bigger pets (ove 8kg I guess) have to travel in something like luggage compartment of the aircraft. That may be very stresful and even life threatening for some pets. While traveling with Sardinia Ferries, you can keep your dog of any size by your side. The only problem is walking them on the board - there's a special place called the "dog park", basically a trough with stones, where the pets are allowed to go "to the toilet". Logically, none of them wants to go there and it ends up like this ...
For our journey, we chose Sardinia & Corsica Ferries which allows the pets to travel with you on board and they also offer special cabins for passagers with pets. Some companies allow the transport of animals, but bigger pets (ove 8kg I guess) have to travel in something like luggage compartment of the aircraft. That may be very stresful and even life threatening for some pets. While traveling with Sardinia Ferries, you can keep your dog of any size by your side. The only problem is walking them on the board - there's a special place called the "dog park", basically a trough with stones, where the pets are allowed to go "to the toilet". Logically, none of them wants to go there and it ends up like this ...
Our ferry left Livorno at 7am and the journey to smaller sardinian port Golfo Aranci took about 8 hours (with embarkation and landing). You have to get to the port at least one hour before the departure. Everything is well organized there - guys from the port ask you for your reservation confirmation and passports and then they navigate you to the right number. Then you simply park your car in a queque and wait for the ship to come.
The journey itself wasn't a problem at all. But what I'd like to advice you about the landing, is that you definitely shouldn't run to the stairs and to your car right after the first ship "report". You'll have to wait for the other people to find their vehicles and leave the ship anyway. And every extra minute in the overheated garage with lack of fresh air .. is litereally hell.
The journey itself wasn't a problem at all. But what I'd like to advice you about the landing, is that you definitely shouldn't run to the stairs and to your car right after the first ship "report". You'll have to wait for the other people to find their vehicles and leave the ship anyway. And every extra minute in the overheated garage with lack of fresh air .. is litereally hell.
There are many ways to spend your time on the ferry. There's a bar, restaurant and even a pool on the board. You can also pay for a seat in a special room that looks like cinema auditorium or book a cabin. The cabins are usually way cheaper during the day and more expensive during the night, when they are booked by more people. The others usually sleep in the corridors - even with kids and dogs.
The boar cabin is bacially a tiny room with 4 folding beds, toilet and shower. We choose to book the cabin mainly because of our dog, but it was actually very pleasant to be able to take a shower a sleep for at least few ours (our ferry ride back to Livorno was from 23:15 do 6:40 am).
Dogs in Italy
Most Italians love dogs so there were almost no problems with Teddy. Even though some beaches don't allow pets (mainly the beaches with parasols, near hotels and restaurants), you can find many beautiful beaches on Sardinia, where you can go with your four-legged friend (scroll down for dog beaches tips).
Sometimes just small dogs are allowed to go the beach. The problem is, that it's quite hard to ask anyone if you can go to the beach with your dog or not. Because ... of Italians. And their English. Which simply doesn't exist. So instead of trying to ask an inteligent question in any other language than Italian, simply use three words - "spiaggia" (beach), "cane" (dog) and "okay". While saying this, point at your dog and if the other person nods or replies "okay" ... You and your dog can enjoy a sunny day on the beach.
The level of English in Italy is one big disaster - in the streets or in the shops and even at the attraction with a lots of tourists - including the ferry rides where the chambermaid wasn't even able to answer me, where can I find the toilet.
Sometimes just small dogs are allowed to go the beach. The problem is, that it's quite hard to ask anyone if you can go to the beach with your dog or not. Because ... of Italians. And their English. Which simply doesn't exist. So instead of trying to ask an inteligent question in any other language than Italian, simply use three words - "spiaggia" (beach), "cane" (dog) and "okay". While saying this, point at your dog and if the other person nods or replies "okay" ... You and your dog can enjoy a sunny day on the beach.
The level of English in Italy is one big disaster - in the streets or in the shops and even at the attraction with a lots of tourists - including the ferry rides where the chambermaid wasn't even able to answer me, where can I find the toilet.
Anyway, dogs on Sardinia are sometimes allowed into in the shopping centers and supermarkets, where you can borrow a special shopping cart (for the small dogs).
Dog beaches
Fontanamare
On the south of Sardinia, in the area of Gonessa, you can find La Spiaggia di Fontanamare - a long sandy beach with amazing mountain view. Surfers and water sport lovers enjoy this beach especially because of the (relatively) big waves and windy weather. You can find a special dog beach (Spiaggia Cani di Gonnesa) as a part of the long beach, but if you don't want to spend your time on a small crowded part of the beach with other people and dogs, you can go with your dog basically anywhere around the Fontanamare.
Porto Paglia
Our most favourite place at all. Wonderful calm beach with clear water, fine sand and rocks which gave Teddy a place to hide from the sun. Incredibly photogenic place with the most beautiful sunsets.
San Nicolo
Similar to Fontanamare, just hidden behind the "next rock".
Porto Pino
Porto Pino is a beach next to the sand dunas and it's a part of the Sulcis natural park where you can find vast pine forests with Alpine pine (which grows only here and on the island of San Pietro). On your way to the Porto Pino beach, you can see the lakes, which are populated by pink flamingos and kingfisher. Even though some of the Internet articles said that flamingos can't bee seen on Sardinia during the summer holiday months, we were lucky and saw the flamingos not only at Porto Pino, but also on the Stagno de Molentargius lake near Cagliari.
Porto Pino beach has the finest white sand and beautifully blue clear water. A sign at the enterance to te beach says that dogs are not allowed here, however the lifeguard told us (literally) "small okay", so if you have a dog with a size of a big mouse, Porto Pino shouldn't be a problem.
Porto Pino beach has the finest white sand and beautifully blue clear water. A sign at the enterance to te beach says that dogs are not allowed here, however the lifeguard told us (literally) "small okay", so if you have a dog with a size of a big mouse, Porto Pino shouldn't be a problem.
Our only good photo of the pink flamingo:
Baia delle mimose
You can also find a special dog beach in the area of Badesi. Our confused GPS navigated us to a different part of the beach, than the one intended for dogs ... However we didn't have a problem with our dog here neither.
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