Beaches and Sea
The most striking beaches of the Sinis Peninsula and of the Province of Oristano
TORREGRANDE
The beach of Torregrande, about 3 km long, extends from the mouth of the river Tirso to the small tourist harbour to the north of the Gulf of Oristano.
The length of the sandy beach and the gradual depth of the seabed make the beach of Torregrande perfectly accessible to children and fully suitable for any kind of pastime. This resort is one of the most popular in the area, thanks to its fully equipped beachfront promenade, featuring numerous leisure activities and sporting events, as well as offering several refreshment points, bars, pizza places, supermarkets, and bakeries.
You can rent beach umbrellas, deckchairs and twin hull rowboats, but also go for a variety of excursions, as the seabed is full of pleasant surprises for those who like diving and snorkelling. Finally, you can practice any surfing variety.
Torregrande beach received the prestigious international Blue Flag award, an environmental quality symbol, which is assigned taking into account the general conditions of the resort, and in 2015 the Green Flag award, assigned by the Italian Society of Preventive and Social Paediatrics, which declared Torre Grande and ideal beach for children.
SAN GIOVANNI DI SINIS
The seaside resort of San Giovanni is famous for its typical fishermen's cabins, made of rush, of which some specimens have survived, not far from the Punic excavations of Tharros. At the entrance of the village of the same name rises the early Christian Church of St. John (Chiesa di San Giovanni), dating from the 5th century and later restored. In this landscape of dunes and rocks, stands the Spanish coast tower, likewise named after the Saint. The beach, just because of its location, is very well equipped: it has a large parking area also suitable for caravans. There are plenty of refreshment points and bars. The seabed is rich in pleasant sceneries for those who like practicing diving and snorkelling.
SEU NATURE RESERVE (FUNTANA MEIGA)
The Nature Reserve of Seu (Oasi di Seu) covers an area of just under 100 hectares, but characterized by a high naturalistic value. The different habitats of the Seu Nature Reserve blend with one another: from Mediterranean scrub to sea dunes, from coastal habitat to vegetation. Shrubs and small evergreen trees, shaped by the wind, make up a thick, sometimes impenetrable Mediterranean scrub, which is the perfect hiding place for many small animals. The ideal location to spend unforgettable moments surrounded by the nature of the area.
MAIMONI
The beach of Maimoni, like the nearby beach of Is Aruttas, is characterized by very clear sand mixed with tiny pink and white quartz pebbles that, featuring the most varied shades, embellish it and make it unique. Do not forget, however, however, that it is strictly forbidden to take away quartz granules from the beach. The origin of this place name is linked to the god of water, Maimone, whose worship is also connected with the Church of San Salvatore, built in the 17th century upon the remains of a hypogeum. In the neighbourhood of the beach there is the village of San Salvatore, long used in from the 60s to the 70s as a film set by the Cinecittà troupe for the shooting of western movies. The length of the sandy shore and the moderate depth of the seabed make Maimoni beach kind-friendly and fully suitable for any kind of pastime.
IS ARUTTAS
The beach of Is Aruttas, which extends for several hundred metres, owes its peculiarity to the sand, consisting of tiny rounded quartz granules, with shades of colours alternating between pink, light green and white. Like the other beaches of the Sinis-Montiferru, it is one of the places most frequented by surf enthusiasts who plough its water with their boards. The seabed, quite deep right from the shore, takes an intense blue colour that turns blue, offering a marine life scenery that is well visible right from the first few metres, with small shoals of fish. In certain of the little coves scattered along the long beach of Is Aruttas, you can admire stretches of coastline with sand made up of snow-white rice-shaped grains and very clean and crystal-clear water.
MARI ERMI
Mari Ermi offers the tourist a long sandy beach with a bright white quartz bottom and stretches of very fine ochre sand. The beach is enclosed between high dunes and low vegetation skimming the ground, and extends between the sea and the pond of the same name. Its configuration is similar to that of the more popular beach of Is Aruttas, although it features a greater variety of colours, ranging from the crystal-clear and light-blue sea to the snow-white sand, alternating with golden ochre.
PUTZU IDU
Putzu Idu beach is made up of very fine white sand with shades of grey. It is surrounded by the Salt Works, which lie immediately behind it, and stretches between S'Arena Scoada and Mandriola. It is a long and narrow sandy beach, very welcoming, especially thanks to the crystal-clear and very shallow water, especially suitable for children.
S’ARCHITTU
The cliff of S'Archittu is composed of promontories and coves and lies along the southern coast of the Montiferru region. This iconic element of the area is a tourist destination of considerable interest for its bare and limestone landscape, which is often called lunar because of its particular reflections. It is especially famous for its natural monument, consisting of a small arch (archittu) or rocky bridge over the sea, about 15 m high, moulded with shapes sub-rounded by the erosive marine and atmospheric action.
SA MESA LONGA
The beach of Sa Mesa Longa has a bottom of reddish yellow, moderately thick sand, with pink fragments on the shore-line and smooth rocky stretches. Between Capo Mannu and Su Pallosu, this particular sandy beach is also called La Laguna (The Lagoon) due to a long flat rock appearing on the surface in the shape of a long table (sa mesa) reachable by swimming. The beautiful beach offers a varied and multicoloured stretch of sandy shore, with the alternation of the ochre of the sand, the pink-red of the shore-line and the black of the rocks that cut the sandy shore in two along the shore-line. Its shape, which recalls a huge shallow swimming pool, makes this beach very impressive and spectacular.
MAL DI VENTRE ISLAND
Located in front of the Sinis Peninsula, the island of Mal di Ventre extends over an area of 80 hectares, now protected by the Authority that qualified it as a protected marine area. The island is made up of a flat, granite expanse. Its geological nature is very interesting: in fact, it is different from the nearby Sinis coast, which confirms an origin dating back to an ancient geological era. It is covered with a dry steppe, occasionally interrupted by areas of Mediterranean scrub including cistus (rockrose), mastic, rosemary, and dwarf palm trees. The west coastline stretch is dominated by a steep granite cliff, while the eastern slope is surrounded by enchanting beaches washed by crystal-clear water. The island is also a destination of numerous migratory birds, which go to nest there, namely: cormorants, Scopoli's shearwater and Manx shearwater, yellow-legged gull, Audouin's gull, and Eleonora's falcon.
