Alghero - A Rough Guide

Easycar have an desk at arrivals in Alghero Airport. Easycar usually have some of the lowest prices for hire cars. You can book your car hire in advance at Easycar to avoid being left without a car when you arrive.
A taxi from the airport to Alghero will cost you more than a full day’s car hire. The buses in Alghero are OK - but you can’t beat the comfort and flexibility of a hired car. Get to see all those out of the way places at your own pace in comfort. Book Here..

Alghero is full of designer clothes shops - both for men and women. Every little street seems to have at least one classy Italian clothes shop on it. Don’t think they are all called Saldi - that is Italian for “Sale” - and all of them seemed to have a “Sale” on. Even with the prices cut supposedly by 50% - many were above my budget. Most of the people strolling on the streets were well dressed - not a football shirt in sight. Most of the visitors in Alghero seemed to be Italian - with a scattering of Irish, English and Germans or Scandanavians. Not a drunken lout or any sign of bad behaviour at all. For a relaxed , peaceful holiday - Alghero is ideal. If you want all day fried breakfasts , happy hours and discos till 4am - then stay away…..please.

during the summer season the small funfair is open near to the Marina in Alghero. It is a great little funfair with a couple of bigger rides for older children and the usual Dodgem cars and roundabouts. There are stalls to test your shooting skills and your ball throwing skills. Don’t bother rying the one wher you have to knock down the tin cans - they are heavy and magnetic and will never fall off the metal shelf. There is a brilliant mini go kart track for younger kids just up the road from the main funfair - it is great value at just €1 for about 3 minutes.
The whole area from the marina upto the beach is busy with people young and old - out walking and chatting. Locals and tourists mix together browsing the stalls selling goods from hats to African sculptures and Jewellery.

We stumbled on the Al Refettorio after walking around the narrow streets one hot evening. Trying to find a menu that suits all members of a family of 6 can be difficult . We also wanted somewhere with air conditioning too. This was a smart looking restaurant - but the whole atmosphere was ruined by two (yes 2) large televisions - 1 showing a beauty contest and the other football. The menu had some expensive dishes steak and seafood - but we stuck with the basic cheaper Italian pasta dishes. The portions were not very large - probably because they were meant to be part of a 3 or 4 course meal - but we were just having the one course.
The pasta dishes were really nice - if a bit small. The waiting staff could have been a bit nicer and - there was a long delay for one of the orders - we had all finished eating before it finally appeared. (I don’t think it was charged for anyway)
There was another problem here with the credit card reader (second time in Alghero) - so we had to pay cash and since we only had €65 euro in cash we got about €12 euro off the bill.
Nice - but not great was the overall verdict. Trying to be upmarket - but the TVs ruined any atmmosphere. Would not go back again.
Located on Carrerò del Porxo (Vicolo Adami) : Tel. +39 079 9731126

Europcar Car rentals have a car hire desk at Alghero airport in Sardinia Italy.
You can book your car hire in advance online and pay nothing until after you have returned your car.
Visit Europcar
website to check prices and availability of cars. Book early.
Of course - cars drive on the right in Sardinia - and expect to hear a few horns being blown if you delay at lights - drivers seem to like blowing horns in Sardinia.

Flights to Alghero Airport in Sardinia from the UK and Ireland

Flights to Alghero From Liverpool Tuesdays and Saturdays Ryanair :depart 07.05
Dublin to Alghero Ryanair : Depart Sat 15.20 , Monsay and Friday 15.55
London Stansted to Alghero :Ryanair - Daily times vary.
East Midlands to Alghero : Ryanair Mar to oct depart 16.45 Wed and Sun

Charter companies
Gatwick Thomsonfly Sat 07.45 May to Oct
Birmingham Flybe Depart 6.15 Sat May -Oct
Southampton Flybe Sat 6.30 may- oct

Located just off Piazza Civica in the old town - the Il Ghiotto doesn’t look very inviting from the outside - but we were glad we looked in. This is a self service cafe/bar/restaurant which seems to be open all day. You can get snacks, wraps, pizza slices, foccacia, salads, hot pasta dishes, fish, chips, roast potatoes. The dishes change each day - the big surprise for us was to see chicken breast in breadcrumbs being served. Chicken doesn’t seem to be a popular dish in the restaurants of Alghero - we only saw it on one other menu. The food is really good and fresh. The self service style means you can eat quickly and you can mix and match as many dishes as you want. Seating inside or outside. Not for a special dinner maybe - but with fussy kids to feed in a hurry - it’s ideal.
My only little problem in Il Ghiotto was the attitude of one of the bar staff when I went to help myself to ice cubes from an ice bucket. She grabbed the bucket off me and indicated that only she could serve the ice - then said something in Italian which I think means “Stupid”. Apart from that one incident I would recoomend Il Ghotto - but don’t help yourself to ice !

We eat at the Ramblas Pizzeria and Restaurant on our first night - it was fairly late on a busy Saturday night. This was the nearest restaurant to our hotel and the menu looked good - so in we went. All the outside tables were full - so we had to sit inside which was fine.
The large menu had enough choices for everyone - from Pizza, Pasta, Fish, Steak. The restuarant was very popular which was a good sign. We couldn’t believe how cheap the pizzas were - €5 euro for a Margherita compared to €12 euro in Milanos back home. I ordered the Spagghetti Bolognese and all the children had Pizzas whilst my wife ordered the Spaggheti Carbonara. We ordered a small Margherita for our 5 year old which arrived first and was big enough for an adult. There were some delays with the Pizzas because of the large crowd - but the waitress kept apologising and the chef sent over some free starters to keep the kids going. When they arrived - the pizzas were met with approval by all. The pasta dishes were fine - nothing brilliant - but good. With wine only €2.50 for 250ml and bottled water just €2 a litre - the final bill was just €67 euro for six of us. They had a problem with the credit card reader and the cashpoint over the road was empty - so we left with the owner agreeing that we could pay tomorrow! During the holoday we returned to the Ramblas 3 more times and were happy every time. The Tiramisu is good - but they don’t do Ice Cream for dessert.
If you want good, reasonably priced pizza or pasta I can recommend the Ramblas Restaurant
Located at the junction of Via Lido and Via Don Minzoni. Not a very scenic part of town - but you can see the sea. Tel 079 9893073

Avis is another well known car hire company with a desk at Alghero airport.
You are usually better off booking your car hire before you arrive at Alghero airport - that way you have more chance of getting the type of car you want. Also you avoid the queues and hassle at the airport and any potential language problems. With an advance booking you can just show the staff the booking confirmation - no problems trying to translate MPV into Italian.
Tips: Air con in Sardinia is essential in the summer.
Petrol in Aug 2008 was 1.42 Euro a litre in Alghero.
Many petrol pumps are pre-pay in Sardinia
Book your car hire at Alghero with Avis here

We stayed at the Soleado - just across the road from the beach about 1km from the Old town.
The Soleado is a fine 3 start hotel - nothing grand - but clean rooms and friendly staff. The swimming pool is great to cool off in the 34 degree heat - and a shallow pool for smaller children is handy.
There is a bar which we never used. We stayed Bed and Breakfast - the breakfast is fine but don’t expect a “full English”. No toast and just one cereal with UHT milk - as well as cold hard boiled eggs, ham , cheese, fruit ,yoghurt, croissants, cakes,bread rolls. We bought our own cereal down each day (all bran).
Air conditioning in all rooms (you will need it) - no extra charge.
There are small fridges in the rooms too - handy for the odd drink. If you drink the bottled water in the fridge you will be charged 1.50 euro each - so buy your own in the supermarket for about 30c.
Overall - a good hotel though and we would stay here again.