The beautiful Cala Luna

I have a video call at 11 o’clock. So, we have to find a shorter afternoon’s walk. I suggest a walk to Cala Luna. Not only because it’s a short walk, but because it’s one of the most beautiful beaches along this coastline! And a definite favourite of mine.

We set off shortly after midday. A short drive takes us to Cala Fuili. Parking is at a premium today. We watch a somewhat arrogant tourist squeeze into a space where pedestrians walk, shake our heads, and go and find parking a little way down the road where we won’t get in people’s way…

It’s seriously hot as we start our walk. We follow the path into the ravine, where we get lost. Out comes the map, to see how to get onto the path that leads to Cala Luna. We see what we did wrong, and backtrack to where we came down. Directly opposite this should be the path.

We finally spot the sign and start a slow uphill walk. Through junipers, yews, oaks, oleander, and a few dozen other trees which help to keep us cool on this little uphill trek. When we get onto the ridge, the sun starts clobbering us. It’s a typical ridge path. Uneven. Up and down. And as we start descending to the beach at Cala Luna it becomes quite steep and narrow with all kinds of obstacles. We navigate these little obstacles carefully. No wonder the tourism site describes it as a hike for experienced hikers only. Then, as we exit the rocky path leading from the forest, we find ourselves on a path covered in beach sand… a few minutes later we’re laying out our towels on the narrow beach and changing into swimsuits.

The beach, despite all the people, is just as beautiful as I remember it from previous visits. Since my last visit, they’ve added a bridge to get across the sweet water lagoon. And, a large rifugio serving cold drinks, but otherwise it remains unchanged. And yes, Barbara tasted the water to check that it really is sweet water! Somewhat incongruous given that it’s separated from the sea and its salty water by a very narrow beach – probably in the region of about 20-30 metres.

Either side of the beach people are climbing on the solid rock. The caves on the left offering hard sport routes, some of which traverses across the roof of the caves. The prominent outcrop on the right offers some steep face climbing routes, and we watch a few people making their way up.

A cold drink halfway through the afternoon at the rifugio tastes good! Barbara and I agree that we’ll hop on one of the ferries taking people back to Cala Gonone rather than walk back in the heat. Good decision. They even provide a shuttle back to our car at Cala Fuili. On our way back to the beach and our towels, rucksacks, cameras, etc., we buy tickets for the boat, then settle down and enjoy the sun for a little while longer.

We get onto the ferry ahead of the hordes (being in the right place when it landed helped). And get a seat on the front left where we have great views across the sea cliffs protecting the eastern shores of Sardinia. The shuttle from the pier drops us a couple of hundred metres from our car where it’s parked next to a camper van who had lit their braai-fire (barbecue fire). As we were leaving, they were being spoken to by local police. Not sure if they were being reprimanded about their open fire next to a wooded area or for looking like they were settling for the night in their camper van…

Getting to and back from Cala Luna

There are several ways to get to here. Boatloads (no pun intended) carted in every day by multiple ferries and ferry companies. Dozens more people arrive in private dinghies, which have to be anchored off-shore, and chartered with skippers as tour guides. Most of the people seem to arrive in the middle of the day and leave in the mid-afternoon. We arrived on foot from Cala Fuili, which in the heat of the day made for a tough walk. Fortunately, the views made up for the sweltering heat. There are also walks approaching from Cala Sisine and from a point somewhere along the SS125 near Baunei. This latter one means you have to walk from and back to your car.

Trail map and GPX