villa rental in Costa Paradiso, Sardinia, Italy

A stunning location for the villa. All facilities in working order and very clean. Costa Paridiso has the benefit of feeling secluded, but has access to restaurants and shopping facilities, and a great local bar. Lots of other sights to see within easy reach by car. Kids loved the swimming, snorkelling, and rock pools. There was a great waterpark within 10km of the villa too. Take your phrasebook, and use the opportunity to polish your Italian. Stock up on provisions and enjoy the view.

We spent one week in Costa Paradiso and spent our second week in Alghero as we wanted a quiet relaxing week and then a livlier week. We decided against hiring a car and upon arrival soon regretted our decision once we stepped of the bus in the middle of nowhere! We embarked on a long walk up to the Costa Pardsio barrier. Thankfully someone took pity on us and delivered us to our meeting point. Upon meeting the owner he drove us all (did 2 lifts as there were 6 of us) to the villa. They were very welcoming and gave us all the information that we needed. It reflected the pictures and although it is not what you would call a luxury villa, it was adequate and has beautiful views!! Beware though that whilst it has a shared pool, during siesta time, you must be quiet and this is between 1 and 4 I believe. As a group of 6, we were not expecting this restriction, but it didnt affect the holiday as it was a nice deep pool with a diving board and very relaxing without screaming kids everywhere! A car is definitely required as the beach is a long walk down a long windy road and an even longer walk back up it!! This long walk doesnt even lead you to the sandy beach, it leads you to a rocky beach which was not great for sunbathing but fun for jumping of rocks etc and swimming in clear water. You would definitely need a car to get to the sandy beachj and thankfully we were able to hire one in Costa Paradiso a few days in as it was really needed! It would definitely have been cheaper to have hired this prior to the hol though! The supermarket is about a 10 minute walk away, but again you would need a car in order to stock up on water etc!! Again someone took pity on us and drove us to a supermarket in the next town where everything was so much cheaper! This demonstrates just how kind everyone in this place are!! We had such a lovely stay and loved the sea and the pool and missed it greatly upon moving to our second week in Alghero which is much more commercilaised and whilst livlier, didnt quite compare to our 1st week in Costa Paradiso! There is also a brilliant club just down the road and a sporting club- would definitely go back, but with a car!!

Being an avid fan of customer reviews, I am keen to be as accurate as possible. Our stay at Villetta Mariarte was fantastic. The arrival information and welcome from the owner was excellent with extremely rapid response to any queries. The villa was simply stunning-a great size for 4 adults with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, and great outside spaces with barbecue areas and front porch with a breath-taking view and lovely shared pool. You definitely need to have a car as it is a 5minute drive to the beach and very hilly, but this also gives you the freedom to explore other wonderful beaches. There is an extremely handy supermarket where the staff couldnt be more friendly and helpful, which is true for all of Costa Paradiso. My only recommendations would be to brush up on your Italian and come with some mosquito repellent as there were a few at night-but we found Limoncello worked well. It was also quite hot at night as the villa didnt have air-conditioning, but the wonderful sea breezes cooled things down. Overall we had a great time, many fantastic evenings outside enjoying the gorgeous sunsets and we look forward to going back.

Great location with lovely views!

A fabulous week in an ideal setting. This is the getaway from it all break, the complex is clean and very tidy, you will need to stock up on provisions before you arrive, and then just chill. Great for walking and doing nothing. I will be back here soon..........................

We went there between 1stOct - 6th Oct. Since it's the low season, the village was not crowded. This was a bonus as the sea tempature was still warm enough to swim but we only needed to share the beach with a few other tourists. The beach is only about 5 mins drive from the villa to the carpark and then 10mins walk to the beach from the carpark. The sea is crystal clear and the villa has a very nice view, esp when it's sunset time. Scuba diving is excellent there. The facilities in the villa are sufficient. Bring your own washing powder, coffee,etc though. Since it's the low season, the village supermarket only open for a short period of time and so make sure you get all you need. There are a few restaurants outside the village within 15 mins drive. The one just before you get to Isola Rossa is particular good. If you order in advance, you may get to try to famous suckling pig dish. It's also worth to take a drive to the nearby town as they are beautiful. This place will give you an ideal relaxing holiday if you go in the low season.

VILLA MARIARTE, COSTA PARADISO, 9-16 Sept 06 This is a lovely two-bedroom apartment/villa to spend a week of Sardinian summer, set in truly amazing scenery. Costa Paradiso is a little town cunningly built with the contours of the land to blend in with the fantastic sculpted pink rocks and cliffs. Though most of the villas are probably holiday homes, you feel like it’s a village not a tourist development. It’s ideal for a couple, who might have children (there are one double bed and two singles, and one bathroom.) No air-con, but that wasn’t a problem for us. I recommend those plug-in anti-mosquito (zanzare) things that you can get from the supermarkets. The apartment is modern and comfortable with lots of light and is spacious for two, with a rear patio to dry your clothes, barbecue, sunbathe etc and a front patio with great views where you can eat. It was very clean, as it should be considering the large cleaning charge! There are all the pots and plates you could need. There are only two TV channels in English, one news and the other pretty random, but we did not care – it was our honeymoon! Mariano is very friendly and helpful and speaks great English. He lives a little way down the coast in Valledoria and pops by to clean the pool a couple of times a week or if you had any problems (we didn’t). The pool is lovely, right next to the macchia (the resinous scented rough scrub that grows everywhere) down a few steps with wonderful views of the sea and rocky cliffs, and a little diving board. It’s shared with about 5 other apartments but when we were there we were the only ones swimming. If you like cats, there’s a family of sleek and friendly cats who run wild, eating whatever you will give them, but if you don’t feed them they won’t bother you. You can also toss your stale bread to the little wild pigs and their cute stripy piglets, who live in the macchia but will visit in the evening. There are a few restaurants in the town, which you will need to drive to (5-10 minutes at most, though the roads are quite narrow so go slowly). The quality of food, wine and service is very high everywhere in Sardinia, and mostly a lot cheaper than in the UK. But you might want to barbecue at home some nights with sea bass from the fish-shop in town! There are several little shops to buy bread every day, fresh pasta, the famous bitter honey (corbellozo) etc, or coral souvenirs, and there are two supermarkets. For your morning cafe latte and cornetti, Bar Jolly’s is very nice, and so is Lino’s. Costa Paradiso’s beach is small but truly beautiful, completely undeveloped, hidden in a cove backed by a little river winding back into the rocky hills, and with a crescent of soft sand. I’d really recommend getting a snorkel and a mask as there are loads of fish to check out, and once we even saw a huge yellow jellyfish-type thing about 20 m away underwater, that’s how clear it is. My prescription goggles made all the difference if you wear glasses. Also a beach umbrella, as it can be incredibly hot! The sea was warm in September. Most supermarkets sell them cheaply. The beach is reached only on foot along a beautiful winding rocky path with steps up and down through the cliffs (about 15 minutes). Get to the parking lot early though! If you would rather swim directly off the fabulously scenic rocks along the coast, there are plenty of little coves easily accessible to snorkel off. If you want a giant beach then drive a half-hour along the coast road (either direction), or for shopping and wandering in the old town, Castelsardo is very nice as a daytrip. Inland you should see some of the many nuraghic ruins – weird and atmospheric. But on the whole there is not a lot to do in the way of museums and such - this is a beach holiday with fabulous food and scenery. A little holiday italiano would be very helpful, as most of your fellow holidaymakers are mainland Italians and the Sards seem to speak very little English. We really only spoke English to each other and Mariano the whole week. The handiest phrases you’ll need are ‘Posso avere...?’ (may I have) and ‘Avete...?’ (do you have), besides normal greetings and words for food/days and times/open and closed etc. Also remember to keep your headlights on and dipped during the day. Enjoy!