How to reach Alghero

FlightAHO

Alghero–Fertilia «Riviera del Corallo»

Distance

10 km

Time

14 min

Destinations

37

The island's north-western airport, ten kilometres from the walls at Fertilia. One terminal, so the bus stop, the taxi rank and the car hire desks are all a couple of minutes from the door. Traffic is seasonal and largely low-cost: the timetable swells from spring to autumn and thins out in winter, when the year-round links to the Italian mainland do most of the work. Check the airport's own destination list before you build a trip around a particular route.

Linksaeroportodialghero.itWikipedia (en)

FlightOLB

Olbia Costa Smeralda

Distance

135 km

Time

1 h 55

Destinations

79

The busiest airport on the island in summer and the one with the widest European choice — and it sits on the other coast. From there it is 135 km and about two hours by the SS 597 and SS 131, or a Sun Lines coach, which runs by reservation only and sells tickets on board. Worth it when the fare difference is large or Alghero has nothing on your date.

Linksgeasar.itsunlines.itWikipedia (en)

FlightCAG

Cagliari Elmas

Distance

198 km

Time

3 h 14

Destinations

68

The capital's airport, the steadiest one out of season and the furthest away: about 200 km, three hours of driving, most of it on the SS 131. A railway station sits at the terminal with trains into Cagliari every twenty minutes or so, and Logudoro Tours runs a year-round coach up the island towards Macomer, Sassari and Alghero. Without a car, treat the transfer as a travel day.

Linkscagliariairport.itlogudorotours.itWikipedia (en)

Ferry

Porto Torres

Distance

36 km

Time

37 min

Crossing

7–11 h

Destinations

5

Alghero's port in every practical sense: 36 km up the coast, about forty minutes by car. Ships come in from Genoa, from Civitavecchia near Rome, from Barcelona, and seasonally from Corsica and the French coast. Most crossings run overnight, which is why a cabin usually beats the cheapest deck ticket. For August with a car, book weeks ahead.

LinksGNVGrimaldi LinesCorsica Ferries

Ferry

Olbia and Golfo Aranci

Distance

135–158 km

Crossing

5–9 h

Destinations

5

The busiest gateway from the mainland and the one with the shortest crossings — Civitavecchia to Olbia takes about five and a half hours, Livorno and Genoa longer. The price is the drive that follows: two hours or more across the island, and Saturdays in August are the worst of it.

LinksMobyTirreniaGrimaldi Lines

BusARST 714

The bus from the quay

Time

1 h

First / last

04:50 – 20:50

Line 714 links Porto Torres with Alghero directly, calling at the port and the intermodal centre, then Fertilia, and on two runs a day the airport. It takes about an hour, with roughly eight runs a day — enough to meet most ferries, but not one that docks at dawn on a Sunday. Read the day's departures before you book a night crossing.

LinksARST 714adspmaredisardegna.it

Car

Driving

Distance

SS 131 · SS 291

There are no tolls anywhere on the island and no motorways either: the SS 131 Carlo Felice is the spine from Cagliari through Oristano to Sassari, and the SS 291 brings it down into Alghero. Reckon on an average nearer 70 km/h than 110 — roundabouts, villages, and in summer a queue for every beach car park. The coast road to Bosa is worth the extra half hour it costs over the inland route.

Linkssardegnaturismo.it

TrainARST TSS1

Trains

Time

41 min

First / last

05:15 – 21:15

Alghero is the end of a metre-gauge line from Sassari run by ARST: about forty-one minutes, first departure at 05:15 and last at 21:15. The station is in the Sant'Agostino quarter, two kilometres from the walls, and city line 3 passes it. Trenitalia covers the rest of the island — Cagliari to Oristano, Macomer, Sassari, Porto Torres and Olbia — but no railway runs down the west coast, so anything beyond Sassari means a change and a long afternoon.

LinksARSTtrenitalia.com

Bus

Long-distance buses

Time

1 h

ARST is the island's bus network and Alghero's terminus is Via Catalogna. From there: Sassari in about an hour, Porto Torres in about an hour on line 714, Bosa on the inland line through Villanova Monteleone. Private operators cover the rest — Cagliari and Oristano, Nuoro, and in summer Stintino and Santa Teresa. Buy before boarding wherever you can; on board costs more.

LinksARSTARST 9312

Boat

Boats to Asinara

Crossing

20 min

Season

Apr – Oct

The national park on the old prison island is reachable only by boat: twenty minutes from Stintino, about an hour and a quarter from Porto Torres, in season only, and once ashore you move around with a guide, on foot, by bike or in a park vehicle. Private cars stay behind.

Linksparcoasinara.org

On foot

On foot

Distance

400 × 300 m

The old town is flat, paved and largely closed to traffic, and the sea walls make one continuous promenade around it. North of the port the seafront promenade runs for kilometres — the town beach at the Lido is a twenty-minute walk from the walls. Inside the walls, nothing needs wheels.

Bus1 – 6

City buses

Fare

€1.00 · €1.50

Every

20–60 min

Six urban lines, renumbered in June 2026: 1 to Fertilia, 2 to La Pietraia, 3 to the airport, 4 to Carmine and La Taulera, 5 along the coast to Porto Conte and Capo Caccia, 6 between Sant'Agostino and the port. They all meet in Via Catalogna. One ticket covers any of them, and tapping a contactless card on board is the simplest way to pay.

Linkscomune.alghero.ss.itARST

BusARST 5

To the beaches and the cape

First / last

06:55 – 23:30

Line 5 runs out past Fertilia to Punta Negra, the Lazzaretto, Maristella and Mugoni, and on to Capo Caccia for Neptune's Grotto — but only a few runs a day go all the way to the cape, so read the timetable before you depend on it. In summer a private Beach Bus adds its own circuit with day and multi-day passes. Both are easier than parking at Le Bombarde in August.

LinksARST 5cattognobus.it

Boat

Boats to Neptune's Grotto

Crossing

40 min

Season

Apr – Sep

From April to September boats leave the Banchina Dogana in the port for the cave under Capo Caccia: about forty minutes each way along the Coral Riviera, and they arrive at the cave mouth instead of at the top of 654 steps. The boat ticket does not include admission to the cave, and crossings stop when the sea gets up.

Linksgrottadinettuno.it

Bike

Bikes

Distance

5 km

A cycle path runs along the seafront from town to Fertilia, some five kilometres of flat tarmac, and carries on towards the pine woods and the beaches beyond. Rental shops sit at the town end of it. It is the wind, not the gradient, that decides how hard the ride back will be.

Linkscomune.alghero.ss.it

Parking

The ZTL and parking

Fare

€0.50 / h

Season

Apr – Oct

The old town is a limited-traffic zone with camera gates, and access has to be arranged by your hotel if you are staying inside it. Around the centre, blue-line bays cost fifty cents an hour, charged around the clock from 15 April to 15 October; the multi-storey at Piazza dei Mercati has 277 spaces and is a ten-minute walk from the middle of town. In summer the beach car parks at Maria Pia, via Lido and Le Bombarde are paid as well. Meters take cards, and the EasyPark and DropTicket apps work in all of them.

Linkscomune.alghero.ss.it