Sardinia has five of them, and each makes a different holiday. Pick the coast that fits your week — then book the house from the person who owns it.
The island is bigger than it looks — six hours end to end. Where you stay in Sardinia decides which beaches you actually reach.
Costa Smeralda, San Teodoro, Budoni
The postcard coast, and the one most first trips land on. Olbia airport is 30 to 60 minutes from almost everything here.
Costa Smeralda is the expensive stretch. San Teodoro and Budoni sit on the same water half an hour south and cost noticeably less.
Alghero, Stintino, Bosa
A Catalan old town with a sea wall you can walk at sunset, and La Pelosa: shallow, pale, the most photographed beach on the island.
La Pelosa caps daily visitors in summer and charges for entry. Book the slot before you drive up.
Gulf of Orosei, Cala Gonone, Dorgali
Limestone cliffs straight into the water. Several of the best beaches have no road at all. You arrive by boat or on foot.
Boats leave Cala Gonone every morning in season. In rough weather they do not leave at all, so keep the day flexible.
Cagliari, Chia, Villasimius, Costa Rei
A real city with a harbour, flamingos on the edge of town, and dunes an hour away in either direction.
Chia lies about an hour west of Cagliari, Villasimius about an hour east. You do not need to choose between them from the same house.
Barbagia, Supramonte, Nuoro
Mountains, granite villages and shepherds' country. The part of Sardinia that has nothing to do with the sea.
Houses here cost a fraction of the coast, and the sea is still under an hour away on the east side.
A house in Sardinia whose owner wants €1.000 for the week. This is what you pay, depending on where you book it.
Assumption: the owner wants to receive the same amount and prices the platform’s cut into the rate. Airbnb split fee, verified 17 September 2026: about 3 % from the host plus 14.1–16.5 % from the guest — Airbnb Help Centre, service fees. Booking.com publishes no single rate; it depends on the contract, the country and the property type, and programmes such as Preferred Partner add to it — we calculate with 15 %, the lower end — Booking.com Partner Hub, understanding our commission. BookNoFees: 0 % commission from the owner; the guest total includes a 3.9 % cost contribution for Stripe payment fees and refunds, which BookNoFees does not earn on. Airbnb and Booking.com are trademarks of their owners; this site is not affiliated with them.
Most houses in Sardinia belong to the family that built them. Writing to that family is not the leap it sounds like, and the money is still held until after you arrive.
Look for the place you want in Sardinia on BookNoFees, or anywhere else. What matters is that an owner, not an agency desk, is behind it.
Ask the things a listing never covers: how far the beach really is, whether the road is paved, what the house is like in August heat.
The owner confirms the dates. The price you see is the price you pay. no service fee is added at the end.
The money is held until 48 hours after you check in, then goes to the owner. If the house is not what was agreed, it has not been paid out.
Jens Scafarti built BookNoFees because a holiday home should not lose a seventh of its rent to a booking screen. This guide is written by the same people — which is why it says plainly where the platform is still thin.
Listed by the owner, no service fee at checkout. The number of houses in Sardinia is still growing — if nothing fits your week yet, it is worth looking again.
For the famous ones, the north-east between Olbia and Budoni. For the wildest, the east coast at the Gulf of Orosei, where you reach several beaches only by boat. For warm water late in the year, the south around Chia and Villasimius. All three are within a day's drive of each other, but not within an afternoon's.
Almost always yes. Buses in Sardinia connect the towns, not the beaches, and the best coves sit at the end of unmarked roads. The exceptions are Cagliari and Alghero, where you can spend a week on foot. Book the car when you book the house; in July and August the island runs out.
June and September. The water off Sardinia is warm, the roads are not full, and a house costs less than in August. October still swims in the south. In August everything in Sardinia is booked and priced accordingly.
It is cheaper than the same house on a portal, because no service fee is added at checkout. On Airbnb the guest fee is typically 14.1 to 16.5 percent of the booking; Booking.com adds its commission into the nightly rate. On BookNoFees the owner pays no commission and the guest pays the cost of the payment itself, 3.9 percent, shown before you pay.
Not many yet. The platform is new and the number is growing. We would rather say that plainly than pretend to a catalogue we do not have. Look, and if nothing fits your week, come back next season.