EuroVelo 8 in Sardinia: Pedalling Along the Forgotten Coast of Sulcis

EuroVelo 8, the Mediterranean cycle route, crosses Sardinia through its least known corner: the Sulcis-Iglesiente, in the island's far south-west. This is a land of abandoned mines, sheer cliffs, white beaches without a single sun lounger and villages where tourism has never truly arrived.

The route starts from Cagliari and heads west, leaving the city and the crowded beaches of Poetto behind. After Capoterra you enter a different world: the coast turns wild, the road narrows, traffic disappears. You pass through Pula and Chia — the only concessions to coastal tourism — and continue toward Teulada and the military coast, where the most beautiful beaches are the ones you cannot access.

The most striking section runs between Teulada and Portoscuso, where the coastal road rises and falls between headlands and hidden coves. Spanish watchtowers punctuate the landscape, basalt cliffs drop sheer into the sea, the wind is a constant companion. You ride with the sun in your face and the sea always to your left, with the feeling of being at the edge of the world.

The Sulcis hinterland is equally surprising. The disused mines of Monteponi, Masua and Porto Flavia are monuments of industrial archaeology embedded in the clifftops. The abandoned mining villages — Ingurtosu, Montevecchio, Buggerru — tell a story of labour and hardship that coastal tourism has erased from living memory.

The full route from Cagliari to Portoscuso is around 120 km and fits into two or three days. There are climbs — the Sulcis is not flat — but they are short and steep rather than long. You sleep in farm stays along the coast, eat Carloforte tuna and Sulcis pecorino. The best time is April–June and September–November: in summer the heat is ferocious and the maestrale wind can turn riding into a battle.

Cycling through the Sulcis is discovering a Sardinia that guidebooks ignore: not the Costa Smeralda, not the Instagram beaches, but a land of rock and wind where the Mediterranean is still wild.