Olbia

Olbia is where North Sardinia connects to everywhere else — an international airport with direct flights across Europe, and a port that has carried trade and travellers for centuries. It sits a short drive from the Costa Smeralda, close enough to reach its beaches without living inside a resort.

It is also, simply, a working Sardinian city: modern infrastructure, a full calendar of markets and festivals, and neighbourhoods that stay quiet after the tourist season moves on to somewhere else.