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Sardinia Real Estate

Getting to Sardinia: airports, ports and mainland connections

Last reviewed: August 2026

This page provides general information about buying property in Italy and does not replace legal or tax advice. The individual case is decided by a notary, tax adviser (commercialista), or lawyer on the ground.

Sardinia is an island: every journey to a property here ends with a flight or a ferry crossing. For a buyer, the practical question behind this page is a simple one — how far is a house or an apartment from a reliable way home. The answer depends on three commercial airports and eight ports, and on who runs them.

This page names the infrastructure and the authorities responsible for it. It deliberately quotes no airlines, routes, timetables or fares — those change with every season and every tender. Whoever needs a current timetable will find it with the operator named in each section.

The three commercial airports

According to ENAC’s traffic-data report for 2024, Italy has 45 airports open to commercial civil traffic. Three of them are in Sardinia — the only three on the island:

  • Cagliari Elmas (IATA code CAG), managed by SO.G.AER. S.p.A.
  • Olbia (IATA code OLB), managed by GEASAR S.p.A.
  • Alghero Fertilia (IATA code AHO), managed by SO.GE.A.AL. S.p.A.

Which destinations are served from each airport, and by whom, varies by season. Current information is published by the respective management company; the official list of airports open to commercial traffic is maintained by ENAC.

Public-service air routes to the mainland

Air connections between Sardinia and the Italian mainland are partly organised under “continuità territoriale”: public-service obligations imposed on selected routes so that a minimum level of service exists independently of purely commercial decisions. Since 1 January 2010 these functions have been exercised by the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, under Article 1, paragraphs 837 and 840, of Law 296 of 29 December 2006.

The current regime rests on a ministerial decree published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 26 September 2025, prepared jointly by the Region, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and ENAC. It covers the routes linking Cagliari, Alghero and Olbia with Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate and entered full service with the IATA 2026 summer season on 29 March 2026 — five routes, with Alghero–Milan Linate continuing temporarily under the previous arrangement pending a new tender.

Which carrier flies a public-service route, and on what conditions, is decided by tender and changes with each award. This page therefore names no airlines and no fares; both are published by the Region and by ENAC.

The eight ports

Sea access is administered by the Autorità di Sistema Portuale del Mare di Sardegna, the port authority responsible for eight ports on the island (as of August 2026): Cagliari, Olbia, Golfo Aranci, Porto Torres, Oristano, Santa Teresa Gallura, Portovesme and Arbatax.

For passenger traffic the authority describes the ports as follows: Olbia has around ten quays and berths dedicated to passenger ships — ferries and cruise vessels; Porto Torres has berths dedicated to passenger vessels, both ro-pax ferries and cruise ships; Cagliari serves mixed ro-ro ferries carrying both freight and passengers.

Golfo Aranci is characterised by the port authority as the Sardinian port closest to the Italian mainland. Santa Teresa Gallura is the berth for the ferries to Bonifacio on Corsica, Portovesme handles the ro-ro ferries to the Isola di San Pietro, and Arbatax is a port specialised mainly in passenger transport.

The authority’s pages attach no reference year to passenger volumes, so this page quotes none. Which crossings operate in a given season is published by the ferry operators and by the port authority.

What this means for a property search

For most properties on the island, the practical measure is the travel time to the nearest of the three airports, or to a ferry port with mainland connections — not the distance in kilometres. That time is best checked on a map for the specific address in a listing, ideally once for summer and once for winter, because the range of services can change from season to season.

Terra Mia Immobiliare operates this portal as a listing platform: location details in a listing come from the seller and are not verified by the platform. Checking the distance between a specific property and an airport or port is therefore part of the buyer’s own examination — like every other statement in a listing.

An overview of how the island is organised administratively is given in the guide on the provinces of Sardinia. Current listings can be found via the property search.

The legal steps of a purchase in Italy — which apply in Sardinia as everywhere in the country — are described in the national guide on buying property in Italy as a foreign buyer, published on the sister portal Sicily Real Estate.

Frequently asked questions

Where are current flight and ferry timetables published?

By the operators: for flights, the management companies of the three airports — SO.G.AER. S.p.A. (Cagliari Elmas), GEASAR S.p.A. (Olbia) and SO.GE.A.AL. S.p.A. (Alghero Fertilia); for crossings, the ferry companies and the Autorità di Sistema Portuale del Mare di Sardegna. This portal deliberately lists neither timetables nor fares, because they change with every season.

Which ports connect Sardinia with Corsica and the minor islands?

According to the port authority, Santa Teresa Gallura is the berth for the ferries to Bonifacio on Corsica, and Portovesme handles the ro-ro ferries to the Isola di San Pietro (as of August 2026).

Does the portal state how far a property is from the nearest airport?

No. Listings show the location as stated by the seller; Terra Mia Immobiliare does not verify listing data and does not calculate distances. Travel time to Cagliari Elmas, Olbia or Alghero Fertilia — or to a ferry port — is best determined by the buyer for the specific address.

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