New Beach Shuttle Bus in Alghero
From Monday June 15 a new shuttle bus service has been launched in Alghero - connecting the city with the main beaches.
The service will run from 9 to 13:30 and from 16 to 00.30, every day, including Sundays.
The route is Via Garibaldi, Piazza Sulis, along the sea Dante; Valencia beach; Viale della Resistenza, Via Villanova Monteleone, Via Giovanni XXIII, Via XX Settembre, Via Lo Frasso, Via Mallorca, Via Garibaldi, Via Lido, Viale I May; Fertilia (optional detour to the golf driving range).
For more details call to the tourist office in Via Carlo Alberto, (with multilingual staff: English, Spanish, German, Catalan, Portuguese, French, Russian and Polish). The office will be open daily, including Sundays, until 23.30.
Taxis from Alghero Airport
There are buses from Alghero Airport to Alghero town - but an easier way to travel is to book your own private airport transfer. Taxis can be pre booked in advance online at Holiday Taxis - so no queuing or waiting. Airport Taxis will provide a return transfer for up to 3 people to Alghero for around £70 - That works out at about £23 each for the return journey. Sure - the bus might be a lot cheaper - but the taxi will drop you to the door of your hotel and pick you up there at the right time. No need to check bus timetables and buy tickets and find the bus stop . (Buying a bus ticket in Alghero is not as easy as you think - you can’t get on a bus without a ticket!). The taxi driver will meet you at arrivals with your name on a board - so you won’t miss them.
Cheapest Car Hire at Alghero Airport
With all the extra flights into Alghero this summer - tourists are being advised to make sure they have their car hire booked in advance. One website was talking about a shortage of cars for hire in summer 2009 because of all the new routes opened up by Ryanair.
We did a quick check of Alghero car hire prices booked online for a week in August 2009. The comparisons were done on May 23rd 2009 for 7 days car rental from August 8th to August 15th 2009
Auto Europe were offering a 2 door Fiat Panda with Air con for £180.12 for 7 days.
Holiday Autos quoted me £193 Pounds for an Opel Corsa for the same 7 days.
£205.01 Pounds at Hertz Car Hire would get me a Fiat Panda 2 door for the week. (Paid in Full in advance)
I was quoted £224 for a Fiat Panda with Air con from National Car Hire.
Easycar prices for Alghero were in Euros and I was quoted 207.34 Euros for a 4 door Vauxhall/Opel Corsa (This is about £236 Pounds)
The cheapest price available from Avis was £250.57 for an Opel Corsa
Europcar had a Fiat Panda 4 door for the price of €245.30 Euro (about £279 GBP) almost 100 pounds more than the cheapest quote I obtained.
The prices above were the lowest priced cars on offer from each company at Alghero Airport on the day I was quoted. Prices will change by the day and availability too. Book early to avoid getting a car you don’t want or a more expensive price.
For people who want to spend a bit more or need a bigger car for the family - the following cars were also available.
Holiday Autos had a VW Caravelle 9 seater minibus for £567 Pounds
£411 pounds would get you a mini cooper convertible from Auto Europe
Easter Tourist Figures good for Alghero
All the signs are good for the tourism business - with this first taste of summer. Restaurants, hotels, car rentals, shopping, all starting to smile again at least for a few days - while awaiting the warmer months. The only negative note was the protracted closure of the Caves of Neptune, because of restoration work not completed despite ads reopening for Easter.
Ancona Flights to Alghero
Ryanair are introducing a twice weekly flight (Fri & Mon) flight from Ancona to Alghero from early June and there are the usual reasonably priced introductory fares. Great idea for a short break in the sun.
Ryanair starting flights from Memmingen to Alghero
Ryanair will open a new route to Alghero in Sardinia from Memmingen (approx 75kms west of Munich) . Flights begin in starting May 2009
Ryanair celebrated their new Memmingen (Munich West) Airport, seven new routes and 500,000 passengers by knocking 50% off its 1million lowest fares for travel across its European network in April, May and June which are available for booking from midnight tonight on the airlines website.
Ryanair setting up new base in Alghero
Ryanair is building up it’s Italian market and trying to take advantage of the poor state of Alitalia.
It said it was planning to open two new bases on Sardinia at Alghero and Cagliari, in March 2009. The two bases will create eight new domestic and 11 new international routes to and from the island.
Ryanaie- Europe’s biggest low-cost carrier - also said it was also increasing its services between Rome Ciampino and the Milan region to five a day from late next month and was adding a new twice-daily domestic service between Rome and Trapani in Sicily in December.
Alghero and Cagliari will become the group’s sixth and seventh bases in Italy with locally based aircraft in addition to Rome, MilanBergamo, Pisa, Bologna and Forli.
It said it would base one 189-seat Boeing737-800 in Alghero and would operate a total of 18 routes to and from the north Sardinian city with two aircraft based at the Cagliari base offering 19 routes initially.
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Boat Trip to the Caves
There are a few boats in Alghero offering trips out to the caves. The boat we got cost €10 per person and €5 for under 12’s. The boat was full - and the journey took about 40 minutes to the caves. We had to wait a while to dock because another boat was getting ready to leave. There is a €10 euro a head charge to get into the caves - for that you get a guided tour in 3 languages (Italian, English and German) - but there was so many people on the tour it was hard to work out which bit of the caves the guide was talking about because he had gone way ahead. We could hear him - because they have a good speaker system. To be honest - the total cost of the overall trip (boat and caves) of €110 euro for a family of six was not really good value for money. It took just over 3 hours in total. There is an alternative - take a bus and walk down 650 steps - but in 34 degree heat I didn’t fancy that walk back up!
The caves are pretty amazing - though.
Osteria Macchiavello Alghero
There are plenty of restaurants overlooking the bay in Alghero - all with outdoor tables. The restaurants with the good views tend to be busier and a bit pricier - but we found one which was reasonable - and it had chicken on the menu. The Osteria Macchiavello is on Bastion Marco Polo - the name is not obvious as you pass by - but it was only the second menu I saw in Alghero with chicken on it.
The menu has a range of pastas, meats and fish. I chose the beef fillet with rocket and parmesan - a dish I have not had before - and was impressed. A side salad was better than other I had in Alghero and the chips were proper fresh wedges - not frozen. The others had pork chops and pasta - all were good and reasonably priced. The waiter was efficient and child friendly. Service charge was 15% - because of the outdoor seating. Most restaurants we went to added on a cover charge of at least €1.50 a head - but we didn’t give tips because of this. One place was charging 20% for outdoor seats.