We rode the West Coast Sardina Tour from Alghero to Pula May 2023. This was an exceptional trip. I rented a Canyon Road bike, not electric, than had Shimano Ultrega mechanical parts. The bike was great, and worked flawlessly. My wife Paula rented a Canyon road e-bike. It worked great but was not the right bike for her (more about that later). On a couple of rides she got down to one "bar" on power but never ran out. One woman ran out of power on the 6th day of riding for the last few flat miles. 7/10 of our riders were on e-bikes.
First off our riding Guide Marco was excellent. Marco was encouraging, and funny.Led us in a nice, fun exercise session to warm up every day. Knew the area. Never was lost. Was very safety-minded. And he knew a lot about the history of the area and took us to special places of historical importance. In addition he has made good contacts in the region and arranged an Aquavit (Grappa like liquor) tasting in the basement of a friend who makes Aquavit. Also a tour of a knife making factory where we met the owner (4th generation) and had another impromptu Grappa session. A basket weaving observation morning with a woman who is the last in her community with these skills. All Fun. Knives and Grappa....What could go wrong?!.
The accommodations were all wonderful. After the third day of riding we could schedule and get wonderful massages in the town of Cabras. DO DO THAT!.
Food along the way was excellent. Lots of seafood options. Mussels are amazing!
Our second guide Sara drove the van, and schlepped our luggage, and met us at remote intersections and pointed the correct way. She was an incredible bright light the whole trip. Helpful in an infinite number of ways.
If you go on this trip ask for Marco and Sara. You can not go wrong. I guarantee that!
Accommodations were all excellent. All Clean. Some with small refrigerators. All breakfasts were provided. Lunch and snacks were generally purchased en route. Three dinners were provided. Two were excellent and one very good. The first involved a very dedicated wine sommelier who taught us a lot about the local wines. The nights we went out on our own , we were provided with lots of good options. We did have one disappointment, that being the restaurant in the hotel in Bosa the second night. SO SLOW. But every other restaurant, everywhere else was fantastic.
Rides were about 25-54 miles each day. The biggest elevation day was a vertical of 4000'. Four other days were around 2500-3000 feet vertical Four days were quite hilly, two were very flat, and one moderately hilly. Steepest inclines were small stretches or 12% but most hills 5-6%.
Only issue for us was in large part my fault. I gave Simona at the office my measurements for my non-electric road bike and I was very specific for me, but I said for my wife simply "She wants an e-bike". I was not asked specifics about that. I should have pursued the specifics. You must review the bike rental page and study it carefully and be explicit about what you want. There are road e-bikes, mountain-bikes, and an upright handlebar utility type e-bike. My wife rides the latter at home, but got the drop bar road e-bike for this trip which was quite uncomfortable for her. Her neck and shoulders, and wrists were not used to the drop bar body position. The office should make sure everyone who orders a bike is ordering exactly the one they want.
I hope to do this same trip again with couples, and to also book a longer and steeper trip different Sardinia trip with more hard-core bikers.
GREAT TRIP. GREAT Guides.
Oh, and the scenery. Fantastic. I have done group guided rides now on the Sardinia West Coast, the Croatian Dalmation Coast, and the Italy Lake Maggiore and Lake Como Region. This was my favorite trip BY FAR when considering Guides, scenery, food, hotels, and cost. And the weather. Perfect for six days, a little rain on the seventh.
You can't go wrong on this trip.
Bryan Sohl
Oregon, USA
Lieber Gast,