Slow trip

14 slow days of nature and walking: Oliena

October light arrives in Oliena at a slant, turning the limestone cliffs behind town the color of honey and rust. From this base in central Sardinia, fourteen days unwind through the Nuoro province, where walking trails climb into granite peaks, descend past abandoned shepherds' huts, and follow the Cedrino River through formations older than anything on the mainland. The rhythms here—morning fog clearing to reveal the Gennargentu mountains, afternoons spent tracing stone walls between Galtellì and Dorgali, evenings returning to the same piazza—suit travelers who measure a place by what they walk through, not what they see.

14 days · October · nature & walking-first · moderate walking

Oliena

Oliena, 14 days

Base yourself in Oliena and make these your day trips.

5 towns · qualifying pool of 6 from 39 candidates

Hill towns in the provinces of Nuoro and Sassari. national park territory, TCI Bandiera Arancione, and wine territory.

Getting around

Rent a car for this corner. Oliena, your base, has no station, so plan to arrive by car. Only 0 of the 5 towns have a railway station; the day trips assume driving.

Your timing

October sits in this corner's best window: open, temperate, and short of the crowd months.

Day 1 · Arrive in Oliena

Settle in. Oliena is your base for the next 14 days. Take the afternoon to walk the centro, find your bearings, eat something local.

Province: Nuoro

Oliena

A Supramonte village at the foot of the massif's highest peak, source of Cannonau Nepente, base camp for Tiscali and the Lanaitto valley.

Picked for:nature and walking · hill town

Day 2 · Day trip to Galtellì

First outing. Head to Galtellì for the day. Take the slow road, leave time to wander, be back in Oliena for dinner.

Province: Nuoro

Galtellì

Grazia Deledda's 'Canne al vento' set: a 2,354-resident Baronia borgo in Sardinia's northeast, with the entire centro recognised as the Parco Letterario Grazia Deledda for being the literal setting of her 1913 Nobel-trajectory novel.

Picked for:nature and walking · plain

Day 3 · Day trip to Dorgali

Out again, this time to Dorgali. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Oliena.

Province: Nuoro

Dorgali

A Supramonte town at 387 meters, with a coastal frazione, a Nuragic village hidden in a sinkhole, and a limestone gorge cut through the massif to the south.

Picked for:nature and walking · hill town

Day 4 · Day trip to Gavoi

Out again, this time to Gavoi. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Oliena.

Province: Nuoro

Gavoi

A 777-meter Barbagia hilltop village above Lake Gusana with a Bandiera Arancione of the Touring Club, the country's most-attended summer literary festival (L'Isola delle Storie), and the PDO Fiore Sardo pecorino made here for at least three centuries.

Picked for:nature and walking · mountain

Day 5 · Day trip to La Maddalena

Last day trip in this corner, to La Maddalena. Make a day of it, then back to Oliena.

Province: Sassari

La Maddalena

The only inhabited town of a sixty-island granite archipelago between Sardinia and Corsica, and the place Giuseppe Garibaldi chose to die.

Picked for:nature and walking · island

Day 6 · Day in Oliena