La Maddalena Archipelago

Between Sardinia and Corsica, in the Strait of Bonifacio, the La Maddalena archipelago is a national park at sea: granite islands carved by wind, sheltered anchorages and water of extraordinary clarity. Caprera, where Garibaldi spent his last years, Spargi, Budelli and Santa Maria make it one of the Mediterranean’s great places to discover by boat.

The archipelago lies just off the north-eastern tip of Sardinia, facing Palau across a channel of a few kilometres, with Corsica visible to the north. La Maddalena is the only island with a town of any size, and a causeway bridge links it to Caprera. Spargi, Budelli, Razzoli, Santa Maria and Santo Stefano complete the main group, protected since the 1990s as the Parco Nazionale dell’Arcipelago di La Maddalena.

The town of La Maddalena grew around a naval base founded in the late eighteenth century; its waterfront, piazzas and pastel houses keep the air of a small Sardinian port. On Caprera, Garibaldi’s house is now a museum, the Compendio Garibaldino. Budelli’s Spiaggia Rosa, coloured by fragments of coral and shell, is protected and may be seen only from a distance, never walked on.

The season runs from May to October. June and September are the most rewarding months: sea warm enough for swimming, light clear and the anchorages less crowded than in high summer. July and August bring heat, busy ferries from Palau and a flotilla of yachts from the Costa Smeralda, and the park regulates access to some of its most fragile coves.

The archipelago is shaped by wind. The mistral blows from the north-west, sometimes for several days, roughening the Strait of Bonifacio and closing the more exposed beaches; the sheltered side shifts with it, and local skippers read it every morning. From November to March most hotels and restaurants close, and the islands return to their residents.

The archipelago itself has only a handful of small hotels, mostly in the town of La Maddalena, so most travellers stay on the facing Sardinian coast and explore the islands by private boat. Near Palau, Hotel Capo d’Orso Thalasso & Spa looks across to the islands from its own cove; to the east, around Porto Cervo, stand the classic houses of the Costa Smeralda: Hotel Cala di Volpe, Hotel Pitrizza and Romazzino, A Belmond Hotel.

LVXVRY books Hotel Cala di Volpe, a Luxury Collection Hotel, and Hotel Pitrizza, a Luxury Collection Hotel, through Marriott STARS & Luminous — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges the programme attaches to the stay. For Romazzino and Capo d’Orso, LVXVRY advises on and arranges the stay, together with the boat and skipper for days among the islands of the national park.