At a glance, if you are in a hurry
The Costa Verde is the stretch of western coast between Capo Pecora and Torre dei Corsari, in the districts of Arbus and Guspini. What sets it apart from the rest of the island: almost all of it is free beach, with very few services and no town facing the sea, and behind it stand the abandoned mining villages of the Arburese. If you want convenient seaside, this is not the place. If you want a landscape that resembles nothing else, it is.
| Beach | What it is like | Best for | Services | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Torre dei Corsari | High dune with a Spanish tower on top | A full day, families | Yes, the most on this coast | Paved road, parking |
| Pistis | Long free stretch north of the tower | Space to yourself | Few | Paved road |
| Portu Maga | Small bay among the rocks | Windy days | Some in season | Paved road |
| Piscinas | Sardinia's most famous dunes | Landscape, photography | Almost none | Last stretch unsurfaced |
| Scivu | Seven kilometres below a cliff | Walking, solitude | None | Walk down from the car park |
| Capo Pecora | Granite and deep water | Snorkelling, sunsets | None | Unsurfaced track |
Why there is nothing here, and why that was not an accident
The first thing that strikes you on arrival is the absence. No promenade, no row of beach clubs, no apartment blocks. The Costa Verde stayed this way because for a century it was not a tourist coast: it was a mining coast. The valleys behind produced lead and zinc, and the sea was where the waste material ended up, not where anyone went on holiday.
When the mines closed, in the 1970s and 1980s, mass tourism had already settled elsewhere. The result is that today you find seventy kilometres of almost untouched coast and, a few hundred metres inland, whole empty villages with the miners' houses still standing. It is not good luck, it is an industrial story that ended badly and left behind a rare landscape.
Torre dei Corsari: the easiest, and the one with the tower
If this is your first time on the Costa Verde, start here. Torre dei Corsari is the only place on this coast with a minimum of services: parking, a few bars, somewhere to eat, houses to rent. The beach is wide and above it rises a substantial dune, crowned by the Spanish tower that gives the place its name and from which you can see the whole gulf.
The climb to the tower is short and worth doing at sunset: here the sun drops straight into the sea, which never happens on the eastern coast. It is one of the few things here you can plan precisely, and it is what guests remember most.
Just to the north begins Pistis, a long free stretch where you can find space even in August by walking a few minutes. To the south, Portu Maga is a small bay wedged between rocks, sheltered when the mistral makes the rest uncomfortable.
Piscinas: the dunes, and how they behave
Piscinas is the reason the Costa Verde is known beyond Sardinia. The dune system covers roughly 28 square kilometres, according to the Ministry of Culture record, and the tallest dunes reach around ninety metres. These are not beach dunes: this is a small coastal desert, held together by centuries-old junipers bent by the wind.
The right way to be here is simple and worth stating: walk where someone has already walked. The vegetation that holds the sand in place grows more slowly than you would imagine, and shortcuts cut through it stay visible for years. Sand, as everywhere in Sardinia, must not be taken away: regional law forbids it and airport checks are real.
Practically: the last stretch of road is unsurfaced, you drive it slowly, and it is not the place for a low, heavily loaded car. There are no services, or nearly none. No natural shade either. Bring water and lunch from home.
Scivu: seven kilometres and nobody
Scivu is the longest and loneliest stretch: about seven kilometres of sand closed in by a cliff, with no beach club, no kiosk, nothing. You get there by leaving the car up top and walking down.
It is the beach to choose when you want to walk an hour along the shoreline without meeting anyone, which in August in Sardinia sounds impossible and here is not. In exchange you have to be self-sufficient for the whole day: two litres of water each is not an exaggeration, and a sheet or a low beach tent solves the shade problem, because shade here does not exist.
Capo Pecora and the mistral
At the southern end, Capo Pecora changes register: the sand ends and granite begins, with rounded boulders running into the sea and a seabed that drops away at once. It is not a parasol beach, it is a place for mask and fins, and for sunsets.
One honest warning about the whole coast: this is the western side, and it takes the mistral head on. In August that is an advantage, because it makes the heat bearable. In spring and autumn it can raise the swell and fill the air with sand. Surfers know this and come deliberately: between October and April this is one of the busiest stretches on the island for waves.
The mines behind: Ingurtosu and Montevecchio
Seeing the beaches without going up to the mining villages means missing half the place. Ingurtosu and Montevecchio lie in the valleys behind Piscinas: houses, offices, the management building, the church, and the remains of the plant. Some parts can be visited, others are pure ruin.
The stream that reaches the sea at Piscinas comes down from those valleys, and that is why the sand here has the shades it does. The area falls within the Geomining Historical and Environmental Park of Sardinia. If you only have one day, half an afternoon at the villages is worth more than another beach.
Getting there, and why staying nearby makes sense
From Cagliari to Torre dei Corsari is about a hundred kilometres and a good hour and a half, because the last part is not fast road. For Piscinas and Scivu, close as the crow flies, you have to go back inland and out again: allow at least two hours.
That is why the Costa Verde does not repay a day trip from Cagliari: you spend more time in the car than in the water. Staying nearby, every beach becomes twenty or thirty minutes and you can choose in the morning according to the wind. Public transport is not an option here: a car is the condition for seeing the place, and in July and August hire cars need booking well ahead.
If you are working out where to stay, our page on Torre dei Corsari describes the area. And for the seasons, see our guide on when to visit Sardinia.
Where the numbers on this page come from
This guide was last updated in August 2026. For the extent and height of the dune system and the characteristics of this coast we used the record published by the Italian Ministry of Culture. We measured the distances and driving times ourselves on these routes. If you find something that no longer adds up, write to us and we will correct it.
