Cala Coticcio, the guarded cove on Caprera, and how to actually get in

Overview

Cala Coticcio lies on the far shore of Caprera, the island joined to La Maddalena by a short causeway rather than a ferry: two scoops of pale granite sand and water graded through improbable blues, which is how it earned the nickname Tahiti of Sardinia. It is also the beach here you can set foot on and still cannot simply walk onto — Spiaggia Rosa, further out in the archipelago, is closed to landing altogether; this one is open, but only on the park’s terms. The cove sits inside a protected stretch of the national park, and access on foot is capped at around sixty visitors a day, split into guided parties of no more than twelve at a time and only with a guide the park has authorised. Turning up on your own is not a matter of a fine — walking in unaccompanied is a criminal offence. None of that makes Cala Coticcio a place to skip; it makes it a place to arrange ahead of time rather than a stop you improvise on a day out.

The sand and the water

The cove is really two small bays divided by a low spur of rock, each holding a short crescent of coarse, pale sand ground from the same granite the whole archipelago is built from — paler and grittier underfoot than a resort beach, not the fine white powder the photographs suggest. The water is the reason people make the effort: it shelves gently over sand close in, then deepens quickly enough that the colour runs from pale turquoise to a much darker blue within a short swim, with visibility that is usually excellent given how sheltered the cove is from the open sea. Snorkellers do better here than sunbathers with children in tow — getting into the water at the edges often means a few careful steps over rock rather than a clean sandy entry. Bring your own shade rather than counting on what the low scrub behind the beach throws, and expect no facilities of any kind on the sand itself; whatever exists is back at the point where the guided walk begins, not at the cove.

Getting there

Reaching Caprera from the town is covered in this city’s own guide — the causeway means it is never a ferry crossing — but Cala Coticcio adds a further, separate leg once you are on the island. The cove has no road to it: visits start from a gathering point within the park, where the authorised guide collects the day’s group before setting out on foot across open, rocky coastal ground to the bay itself. Private cars and unaccompanied walkers are turned back before the cove, and there is no way to shorten this stage. The walk’s own length and the going underfoot are exactly the kind of detail that varies with the route in use that season, so ask when you book rather than assume a figure — and wear proper shoes, since this is a walk, not a stroll from a car park.

Practicalities

Everything about visiting Cala Coticcio starts with the booking, not with the day itself. Numbers are capped at roughly sixty people daily, in parties of twelve, and the whole system exists to protect a cove that would not survive open access. The months to aim for are April to June and September: July and August carry the heaviest demand against the same small cap, and for those weeks you should be contacting guides months rather than days ahead. The park publishes the list of authorised guides, and you book with one of them directly. Two costs, and only one of them is knowable in advance: the guide’s own fee varies, while the park’s environmental contribution is three euro a head, paid after the booking is made. Bring water, sun cover and food with you, since none of it is sold at the cove itself. The rock and scrub give little shade, so the middle of a summer day is the hardest stretch of the walk as well as the hottest time on the sand; an earlier slot, if the shift times allow a choice, is the more comfortable one. Respect for the setting is not optional here — this is one of the more strictly managed corners of the whole park, and the cap is the reason the water still looks the way it does in the photographs.