Sardinia · Gallura Nord-Est Sardegna
Palau
The Gallura port with a weather-shaped granite bear on the headland that gave the town its emblem.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Palau is on our list
It holds Bandiera Blu.
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Visiting
- Best time
- May–Oct
- By car
- 4 h 13 min from Cagliari
- Population
- 4,084
- J13°
- F15°
- M15°
- A17°
- M21°
- J27°
- J30°
- A30°
- S26°
- O22°
- N18°
- D15°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Going to the sea? How to find the free beaches in Italy.
Why come
Palau is young by Italian standards. The first houses went up in the first half of the 19th century, when shepherds from Tempio Pausania came down to the coast for summer pasture. The dialect spoken is Gallurese, the same as inland Tempio, a trace of where the town's founders came from.
The town's shape follows its coast: a working port at the center, the headland with its granite outcrop to the east, the fortress on the high ground behind, and the windsurfing peninsula out to the west. None of these sit far from each other, so a settlement built for shepherds' summer pasture became, in the same stretch of shoreline, a naval lookout, a ferry gateway, and a wind sport venue without much distance between any of them.
How to get there
From Cagliari (CAG), about 4 h 30 min by car.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Roccia dell'Orso
Recorded by Greek and Roman navigators as a landmark for the strait. The climb up to it gives a view over the port and across to La Maddalena.
Fortezza di Monte Altura
Built 1887-1889 as part of the defensive belt protecting the naval base across the water. Open for guided visits, standing above the town rather than in it.
Isola dei Gabbiani
A tied-island peninsula, meaning it connects to the mainland by a low sandy bar rather than open water. The shallows on the sheltered side make it navigable even for beginners.
Porto Palau
Crossings to La Maddalena run every 30 minutes in summer, close enough that the archipelago is visible from the quay for most of the wait.
Porto Pollo
The two bays sit back to back: calm and shallow on one side, open to the mistral on the other, so the same stretch of sand serves both a swimming beach and a launch point for sails.
From the guides
Where to eat and stay
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Il PaguroRistorante
Two Gambero Rosso forks (80/100) for Il Paguro, and a spot in the Michelin Guide.
La GrittaRistorante
La Gritta carries one Gambero Rosso fork (76/100), plus a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Hotel Capo D'Orso Thalasso and SpaHotel
Hotel Capo D'Orso Thalasso and Spa holds a La Liste score of 93.5 and a Leading Hotels of the World listing.
Before you sit down: how to order at a restaurant, how to spot a tourist trap, what aperitivo is and how the Italian bar works.
Living here
Could you live here?
Palau is at the end of the road.
- A village of 4,084. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Arzachena, is 23 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Olbia, a city of 61,681, is 48 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 4,084, down 1.3% since 2015
- Nearest city Olbia, 48 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital La Maddalena, 6 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,700 to €2,400 per m² to buy, €7.10 to €10.00 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 50% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 4, very low hazard
- Olbia airport (OLB), 57 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Cagliari, 4 h 13 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
12% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Ukraine and Albania, against 9% across Italy. 54 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany, the United States and France. There are 250 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 72% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. The old province of Sassari ranks 74th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in La Maddalena, 6 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Sassari, 98 km away. The nearest IB school is Viterbo International School, 264 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Sardinia International School, 29 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 0.9% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. 7% pensioner tax: this town qualifies, for someone with a foreign pension who has lived abroad for five years: 7% on foreign income, for ten years.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Sardinia spends about €1,790 a month, €530 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €539 a year for water, on the Sardinia average. In Sassari, the capital of the old province, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.31, a meal in a pizzeria €15.08 and a man's haircut €19.33.
Climate and risk
1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 2% in a high or medium one. They show no residents in a high landslide zone.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
LA MADDALENA GATEWAY
Main embarkation point for the seven-island Maddalena archipelago, with year-round ferry service across the strait.
ROCCIA DELL'ORSO
The 122-meter granite bear on the headland east of town, weathered into shape over millennia and the town's emblem.
PORTO POLLO WINDS
Isola dei Gabbiani and the Porto Pollo bays host international windsurfing and kitesurfing events thanks to consistent mistral exposure.
VERMENTINO DI GALLURA
The commune lies inside the Vermentino di Gallura DOCG production zone.
Common questions
- What is Palau known for?
- Palau is the Gallura port with a weather-shaped granite bear on the headland that gave the town its emblem.
- Where is Palau?
- Palau is a comune in the province of Gallura Nord-Est Sardegna, in Sardinia, at 5 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Palau?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Olbia (OLB), about 57 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Palau?
- Best in May–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 11 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Palau?
- Santa Teresa Gallura, Orosei and Castelsardo.
- How many people live in Palau?
- 4,084 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Palau a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Palau is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Arzachena, is 23 min away. The nearest city, Olbia, is 48 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in La Maddalena, 6 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 50% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 5 m
- Population: 4,084
- Surface area: 44.44 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Palau appears in
Similar
Towns like Palau
What all six share with Palau: between 3,000 and 10,000 people · near sea level
Santa Teresa Gallura
Province: Gallura Nord-Est Sardegna
both on the Sardinian coast
Orosei
Province: Nuoro
both on the Sardinian coast
Castelsardo
Province: Sassari
both on the Sardinian coast
Carloforte
Province: Sulcis Iglesiente
both on the Sardinian coast
Favignana
Province: Trapani
Posada
Province: Nuoro
both on the Sardinian coast
The letter
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