Summer in Sardinia at Chia Laguna Resort

Nick Valentine discovers Sardinia's overlooked South Coast...

It’s my first time in Sardinia, so I'm full of eager anticipation. We glide through customs at Caliari Elmos airport and exit into a clear, sunny evening. I’ve been told the journey to the hotel takes in some beautiful scenery and untouched landscapes, so I’m hoping the light holds.

As if pre-planned, the sun sets as we pull up to our destination. The five-star superior Conrad Chia Laguna Hotel is part of a three-choice option resort, located at the tip of the stunning southern coast. It overlooks a flamingo-dotted lagoon and then out further to the shimmering, warm waters of the Med.

The Chia Laguna is the only Conrad Hotels & Resorts by Hilton facility in Italy and underwent a total refurbishment 3 years ago, under the guidance of noted Italian architect Marco Piva. It’s a stylish hotel with incredibly gracious and accommodating staff.

My spacious, second-floor junior suite, one of 107 rooms and suites (including two presidential retreats), has a shower, separate bath, king-size bed, lounge area, sun terrace and coffee machine. It’s chic, marble, minimalism, yet still imbued with an essence of Sardinia and overlooks a rather inviting pool, the lagoon and the sea, so has a remarkably aquatic vista.

Breakfast is taken either dentro or alfresco at the on-site La Terrazza restaurant, with a buffet selection or bespoke option. I am playfully reminded that Sardinians tend not to adulterate their cherished coffee with milk. And so we begin, our grand tour of this fascinating resort.

First, to the Conrad Spa. Billed as a “haven of healing,” it features five indoor and out hydrotherapy pools, a panoramic rooftop infinity pool, a gym with a view to die for, that’s open 24 hours a day and an array of treatments and beauty services from candle massages or reiki healing to pedicures and epilations.

It’s then a short stroll to the neighbouring four-star Village Hotel complex, which is more family-oriented and spread over a vast area. There are 240 rooms, a variety of outdoor pools and sporting facilities, a huge choice of dining options, an enormous entertainment stage, a kids club, a purpose-built 700 capacity conference centre, a stand-alone piazzo, that feels like a mini town, packed with an assortment of shops and an enticing ice cream parlour.

We pass the snake-like, Laguna guest, road train and hop on an eight-seater, golf-type buggy, which transports us in around five minutes to the Baia di Chia Resort, Curio Collection by Hilton, a five-star, super-chilled, third alternative vacation stay.

The site features 73 rooms and suites with terraces and scenic gardens, two restaurants, a bar, an Olympic-sized outdoor pool, two tennis courts, two padel courts and a beach volleyball area. All the coastline hugging rooms and suites are spread out over local flora and fauna inhabited hills, with designer spartan, muted, rustic interiors and breath-taking views. You are immediately hit with a sense of peace and calm, and the charm of the unspoilt nature around you. I absolutely love it. If you are looking for a totally relaxing refuge, this is the place.

Two of Sardinia’s most beautiful, award-winning beaches, Monte Cogoni and Dune di Campana, are a short walk or buggy ride away. Think ultra-fine Sahara sand, golden dunes, crystal-clear turquoise water and a smattering of beach loungers, and you are halfway there.

For the more active holidaymaker, there is an option of paddleboarding and snorkelling, while for the more sedentary traveller, there is a special beach sunbathing area reserved for hotel guests, with towels provided by the lifeguards.

We head for lunch at Baia di Chia’s on-site Le Dune restaurant. The décor is beach breezy, and the food of a very high quality. I forgot that Latin cuisine tends to stretch over a multitude of courses, and just when I think I’m stuffed to the gills, yet another mouth-watering dish appears at the table. Well, it would be rude not to…

The resort’s guest experience team can book you in for a multitude of tours via guestexperience@chialagunaresort.com. From a Cagliari City tour, a Nora Archaeological and Jeep tour, visiting some of the most well-preserved Roman sites, the Fishing Village of Carloforte, to Coastal Rowing, Rib Boat and Motor Yacht rental with a skipper, Fiv Sailing School, Horse Riding and imbibing Vineyard Tours.

We have chosen the latter and happily head off along, almost deserted coastal roads, passing secluded coves and dramatic cliff formations to the picture-postcard Mesa winery, situated on top of a hill that slopes down towards the valley of Porto Pino.

We begin with an informative talk on their wine-making process in the huge, contemporary, three-storey production plant. Next, a sommelier-led tasting of their delightful rosé, which continues with their whites and reds, over a delectably immersive, food-pairing lunch, in an unimaginably beautiful setting. Namely, a wine-laden table under a willowing tree, alongside the vines.

Back at the hotel, an afternoon lying on a sea-breeze-kissed sun-lounger, with an occasional cool-off dip in the pool, has given me quite an appetite. A pre-dinner gin and tonic at the Conrad’s Bollicine Bar leads to a convivial conversation with a local, who informs me that although Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean after Sicily, it only has a population of just over 1.5 million. By contrast, the sheep population is nearer 4 million.

I start tonight’s proceedings at La Terrazza restaurant with salted salmon in a citrus and juniper marinade with low-fat yogurt, green lemon and dill. It’s a deliciously light, simple dish and ignites my pescetarian taste-buds. To follow I choose the seared cuttlefish risotto with saffron, lime and sun-dried tomato. A great choice as it turns out. The ink both colours and flavours the perfectly al dente Carnaroli rice and is the perfect briny main for such a wonderful, Sardinian coastal dining experience. I abstain from dessert, already subconsciously thinking ahead to my buffet, breakfast, blowout.

The aircon has worked its magic, and with my suite at the perfect temperature, and a quick nightcap of Mirto, a regional liqueur made from the myrtle plant, I fall asleep before my head even hits the…

I managed at least three laps of the breakfast dining room, so waddle, rather than walk to the spa, for my five-hydrotherapy pool workout. Well, admittedly, it’s hardly a workout, plonking yourself in front of each muscle kneading hydra jet, but I did at least take a photo of the gym.

More R&R at the pool. The attendant even lays out your towel and positions your pillow for you. I’m making lazy look lazy. And it’s only a three-metre walk to the Bioquam restaurant for lunch. Swordfish to start, clam linguini to follow, and a kind of lemon sorbetto to finish. All washed down with a chilled glass of Terresinis, a local white wine. It’s a poolside eatery, yet with no loss of culinary excellence.

I give our early evening, Bay of Chia, electric bike tour, a reluctant swerve. I’m so accident-prone, I once, having crashed a motorbike on Mykonos on the first day of my trip, unwisely decided the following year on Paros, to forgo my previous holiday week on crutches experience and instead take a bus around the island. The bus went over a crater, I hit the roof and ended up having to wear a hospital administered, corset-type contraption for the whole of my trip, which gave me a rather unusual tan-line to say the least.

And so, our final dinner at II Ginepro restaurant, over at Baia di Chia. It’s the perfect venue to end a perfect trip. Grilled squid in a salmoriglio sauce and spicy mashed potatoes should fill me up, but just makes me even hungrier. Though a succulent Monkfish in almond crust, smoked paprika and thyme, and lemon sauce follow on, satiates me beyond belief. I swear I’m growing fins. I can always skip our morning flight, stay another week and swim home.

Grazia Maria Cosima Damiana Deledda (what a name), the Nobel Prize-winning Sardinian writer, eloquently stated that “…we are an ancient land of long silences, of wide and pure horizons, of dense and thickset brush, of mountains scorched by sunshine… We are Sardinians.” I think I’ve found my tribe.

Conrad Chia Laguna Sardinia

Viale dei fenicotteri 52,

Localita Chia 09010 Domus de Maria, Cagliari

0039 070 92393000

www.chialagunaresort.com 

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