Tour Guide: Sardinia by Motorcycle

Many of you have written us wanting to know how to replicate writer Stanley Stewart’s motorcycle drive through Sardinia’s North Coast. So we asked him to dish the details. Stewart’s article, “Sardinia’s Carefree Coast,” just appeared in our September issue, but you can find the full story here, as well as a photo gallery online.

To book a motorcycle, contact Central Italy Motorcycle Tours (+39 339 1556988) who have a range of bikes including the the Ducati ST3, a good touring bike, from $916 for five days. A slightly cheaper option would be a Suzuki DL650 at $715 for five days. Bikes can be collected in Rome, Milan or Pisa, allowing you to cross by ferry from Civitavecchia, Livorno, Piombino or Genoa. Owned and run by Francesco Venzi, who speaks excellent English, CIMT also offer a range of group or private tours in Sardinia and elsewhere in Italy that include guides, support vehicles, and accommodation.
 
“Sardinia is a biker’s dream,” Stewart tells us. “The roads are excellent but curvy enough to make the whole thing good fun, and the Mediterranean on your shoulder is a great companion. Inland you can get some wonderful straight runs though it is difficult to keep your eyes on the road as the mountains begin to loom.
 
“What Francesco doesn’t know about touring Sardinia, isn’t worth knowing,” he continued. “He is not only biker, he is a traveler and an excellent guide and has seen parts of the island only the shepherds know. He supplies bikes but he also points you in the right direction, and his group tours, with support vehicles, are one of the most congenial and sociable ways to tour the island.”

[Central Italy Motorcycle Tours]

Photo: Stewart rides a Ducati along the coastline, shot by Dave Yoder for the September 2009 issue of National Geographic Traveler