eSIM for Sardinia: from the ferry to the wild coves of the south
Sardinia is really two islands in one: the glamorous north-east around Costa Smeralda with its yachts and villas, and a completely different, wilder south and west, where the best coves are reached only by car along narrow mountain roads. You can fly into Olbia, Cagliari or Alghero, or take a ferry from Civitavecchia, Genoa or Livorno โ and it helps to have connectivity sorted before you board. The eSIM installs at home via QR code before departure, and you switch on data roaming once you actually arrive, while your home SIM stays in the phone for calls and texts.
The mainland ferry: why it pays to set up the eSIM in advance
Ferries to Sardinia from Civitavecchia, Genoa or Livorno take anywhere from seven to twelve hours, and a good part of the crossing is spent in open water, where cellular signal fades or drops out.
Departure ports get crowded in high season and onboard Wi-Fi is often slow or paid, so it makes more sense to install the eSIM at home by QR code beforehand and turn on data roaming once you land in Olbia, Cagliari or Porto Torres.
If the crossing is overnight or involves a connection, it's worth saving an offline copy of your cabin and ticket booking beforehand โ hunting for an email from the ferry company at sea, where signal comes and goes, is not much fun.
Install the eSIM a day or two before you travel, so you're not relying on a weak terminal Wi-Fi signal at boarding.
Costa Smeralda: staying online for yachts, villas and remote work
The north-east โ Porto Cervo, Olbia, Baia Sardinia โ is full of villas and marinas, and plenty of visitors come not just to relax but to keep working remotely from the terrace.
Video calls and file uploads eat through far more data than a regular beach trip, and hotspot sharing to a laptop is supported on most plans, though it's worth checking the exact limits on the plan page.
Restaurants and boutiques around Porto Cervo take cards almost everywhere, but small cafes on the more remote beaches are sometimes easier to pay through a mobile banking app or with cash withdrawn in advance โ checking the exchange rate and finding a cash machine is easier with a stable connection too.
The road to the wild coves of the south and west: hairpin bends with no signal
Sardinia's most striking coves โ Cala Goloritzรฉ, the Ogliastra coast, the Costa Verde โ are invisible from the main road: they're reached by narrow mountain roads where signal can vanish for twenty to forty minutes at a time.
Before a drive like this, it's worth downloading an offline map of the region and your destination in advance, so you're not stuck without navigation at a mountain fork.
Many of these roads are single-lane with passing bays, and navigation apps tend to lose signal right as you approach the trailhead car park โ exactly when you need to work out where to leave the car and which path to take on foot.
- Download offline maps of Ogliastra and Costa Verde before leaving town
- Share your route with travel companions โ signal can disappear for long stretches
- Fill up the tank in bigger towns rather than hoping to find a station by GPS in the hills
- Save your hotel address and the owner's number as a note on your phone
Cagliari and Alghero: cities, taxis and paying around town
Cagliari is the island's lively capital with a busy centre and port, while Alghero in the west has its own Catalan heritage โ a local dialect of Spanish is still spoken there.
In both cities a ride-hailing app, contactless payment and a translation app come in handy, since menus and signs away from the main tourist streets are often only in Italian.
Cagliari's fish market and the evening promenade in Alghero are worth exploring without rushing, and it helps to save a few reviews and opening hours in advance โ re-reading them later over a cafe's slow Wi-Fi isn't always practical.
If Sardinia is part of a longer Italian trip
If you're combining the island with mainland Italy โ flying via Rome or continuing on to Sicily, say โ a regional plan covering several countries can be more convenient than switching eSIMs at every border.
If the trip is Sardinia only, a local Italy plan is enough, and if you run low on data towards the end of the holiday you can top up straight from the app without leaving your hotel.