From Olbia airport:
to the beaches, and to the Costa Smeralda.

Olbia airport sits four kilometres from the town centre and is the gateway to the whole of Gallura. The rule of thumb is simple: if you are staying in Olbia or on the beaches just north of it, such as Pittulongu, you can manage on the bus. If you are heading for the Costa Smeralda, San Pantaleo, Portisco, Baja Sardinia or Cannigione, you need a car, and in August it needs booking months ahead.

These times hold in normal traffic. In August, add considerably, especially on Saturdays: the whole of Gallura changes guests on the same day and the road to the Costa Smeralda clogs up.

Into town: the city buses

The stop is about fifty metres from the arrivals exit, so there is nothing to hunt for. The lines into the centre are 2 and 10, running roughly every half hour.

A 90-minute ticket costs €1 if you buy it by SMS or in the app, and €1.50 on board: the difference is small, but the phone is easier when you are carrying luggage. The day ticket is €2.80 and pays for itself on the second journey.

For Isola Bianca port, where ferries to the mainland leave, you go via the centre: line 2 or 10 into town, then line 9 to the maritime station. By taxi it is about ten minutes direct, which is the sensible choice if you have a ship to catch.

To the Olbia beaches without a car

This is the thing almost nobody knows, and it changes the holiday for anyone who would rather not drive: the beaches around Olbia are served by city buses, and in summer departures increase.

Line 4 runs up the northern coast and serves Pittulongu, Bados and the beaches along that stretch: it is the one most visitors want, because Pittulongu has pale sand, shallow water and facilities. Line 5 heads south to Le Saline, Marina Maria and Porto Istana, quieter beaches that are excellent for snorkelling, with the island of Tavolara in front. Line 9 reaches Porto Rotondo and the gulf of Cugnana.

Which means anyone staying in Olbia or Pittulongu can have a beach holiday without hiring anything. It does not hold for the Costa Smeralda, where public transport is not enough.

To the Costa Smeralda: here you need the car

Porto Cervo is around thirty kilometres away, which in normal conditions means thirty-five to forty minutes. There are three options and it is worth choosing deliberately.

A taxi costs roughly €65 to 85 and makes sense if there are four of you with luggage or if you arrive late. A private transfer is booked in advance and the driver waits in arrivals with a sign, which is worth the money for a group or a night arrival. The direct coach exists but runs only a few times a day and takes over an hour: it works only if your timing matches, otherwise you wait at the airport longer than you travel.

For Golfo Aranci there is an alternative few people consider: a railway line runs there from Olbia, and it is the terminus. Anyone staying there who does not want to drive can move between train, ferries and a town you can walk across.

Car hire, and why to book it now

If your house is on the Costa Smeralda or in the villages around it, hiring a car is not a luxury: it is the condition for the holiday to work. The beaches are spread out, so are the shops, and without a car you sit still.

The advice we give every guest is one line: book it when you book the house. Between July and August the island genuinely runs out of cars and prices climb sharply against June or September. People who book the house in January and the car in June often pay twice as much for no reason. We cover this in the guide on getting to Sardinia.

If you land late, or leave at dawn

Olbia takes a great many flights in summer and some land late in the evening. City buses stop before the last arrivals, so a night landing leaves you with the taxi rank outside arrivals or a pre-booked transfer.

The real issue, though, is not the transport: it is getting into the house. If your accommodation depends on somebody waiting at the door, a delayed flight becomes everyone's problem and the holiday starts badly. In the houses we manage, entry is self-service and there is always someone reachable: you get in when you actually arrive.

For the return the reverse applies: with a dawn flight the first useful bus may not exist, so arrange the taxi the evening before.

The mistakes we see most often

The first is not hiring a car, planning to improvise, having booked a house on the Costa Smeralda. Without a car you can do nothing there, and by July there is nothing left to hire.

The second is underestimating August traffic: forty minutes on paper becomes an hour and a half on a Saturday afternoon, with knock-on effects on everything from arrival time to the dinner you booked.

The third is choosing the house without checking the distance from the airport. Gallura looks small on the map and is not: between Pittulongu and Baja Sardinia there are thirty kilometres and a good half hour of difference. If you are unsure about an area, look through our destinations, or send us your flight time and we will tell you how long it actually takes.

Where the figures on this page come from

This guide was last updated in August 2026. Lines, timetables and fares change by season, so rather than asking you to take our word for it, here is where we checked: ASPO for Olbia city bus tickets and its official 2026 update for beach lines 4 and 5. Distances are by road and times hold in normal traffic: in August, add to them. Taxi figures are indicative and the official tariffs are displayed inside the vehicle. If you find a figure that no longer holds, tell us and we will correct it.