Sardinia, Italy

Aethos Sardinia

Price per night from$1,059.92

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR913.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Aethos Sardinia Photos

Style

Hilltop holiday playground

Setting

Coastal Cannigione

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For a quieter side to Sardinia’s most famous costa, Aethos Sardinia is close to all the millionaire maritime action over the water, but happily settled in snoozy Cannigione, a fishing village across from Baja Sardinia.  This terracotta-toned resort is stacked up a hillside, with gorgeous gardens, various swimming spots and a sea-facing restaurant. And the locale is laidback in the way the best holiday towns are, with seafood restaurants, beaches and sailing trips all ready when you are. 

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Facilities

Photos Aethos Sardinia facilities

Need to know

Rooms

64, including 19 suites.

Check–Out

11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.

More details

Rates usually include breakfast.

Also

There are lots of steps and steep paths at Aethos Sardinia, and so it is unfortunately not easily navigable if you have limited mobility — though there are two Classic Deluxe Rooms in the main building, with access to the restaurant via a lift.

Please note

The hotel’s national identification code (CIN) is IT090006A1000F3136.

Hotel closed

The hotel opens for the extended summer season, from mid-April to mid-October.

At the hotel

Private deck area for sea swims, shuttle service to a local beach with prior reservation, gym and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: TV, air-conditioning, minibar, tea- and coffee-making kit, free bottled water, beach towels and bag, bathrobes and slippers.

Our favourite rooms

The further up the hillside you go, the more secluded your room will be — but be warned that some of the paths are almost vertical. An Ocean Pool Suite or Mountain Pool Suite will feel the most hidden away. A room at the end of a ‘street’ will only have terrace neighbours on one side, so will afford more privacy.

Poolside

There are two pools at Aethos Sardinia, one on a terrace next to the restaurant and bar area, another hidden away at the top of the resort, with cabanas up the hillside. Both are open from 8am to 6pm.

Spa

There’s no dedicated spa, but a menu of wellness activities is on offer, from sound baths to yoga, alongside massages and facials.

Packing tips

Chinos and deck shoes if you’re planning on blending in with the yacht crowd; general Italian-summer fabulousness (D&G, Versace, Etro, Pucci) otherwise.

Pet‐friendly

Small dogs weighing less than 5kg are welcome to stay for €50 a day. See more pet-friendly hotels in Sardinia.

Children

All ages are welcome. Extra beds can be added to several room categories, and the Grand Three-Bedroom Pool Suite sleeps six.

Sustainability efforts

The hotel works with Sardinian farmers, fishermen and producers to source the ingredients for its restaurant; and there’s a zero-single-use-plastic policy in action. For the design, locally made ceramics and furniture were used. Also, you can embark on boat trips with a focus on marine conservation in La Maddalena archipelago.

Food and Drink

Photos Aethos Sardinia food and drink

Top Table

The sea-facing terrace is lovely, but the local wasps may have other plans for your alfresco supper, in which case, sit as close as you can to the view indoors.

Dress Code

Zaïa is a casual affair, with lots of guests still lounging by the pool next door during early sittings — so you can keep it effortless.

Hotel restaurant

The breakfasts at Zaïa include a considerable buffet of all the usual suspects, à la carte options and nods to the more modern-minded luxury traveller in the form of flat whites, chia seeds and chai. For all-day dining, the menu spans linguine with sea urchin and yellow tomatoes, tuna carpaccio with marinated ginger and yuzu, and herb-crusted monkfish with saffron mashed potatoes. There are also lots of specials to keep an ear out for — the chef gets creative with whatever the fishermen bring in that day.  

 

Hotel bar

There’s a bar by the lobby for pre- or post-excursion hydration and another by the main pool, both serving refreshments and light bites.  

Last orders

Zaïa is open for breakfast between 7.30am and 10.30am, and then all-day for meals from 12pm to 10.30pm. The pool bar opens from 8am to 6pm, and the lobby pours drinks until 10.30pm.

Room service

Available around the clock.

Location

Photos Aethos Sardinia location
Address
Aethos Sardinia
Via Monti Corru
Cannigione SS
07021
Italy

The hotel is in the sleepy village of Cannigione, just across the bay from Baja Sardinia and close to the glitzier shores of the Costa Smeralda.

Planes

Olbia’s airport is closest, a 45-minute drive away. The hotel can organise transfers, from €120 each way.

Automobiles

Though a yacht is the preferred mode of transport in these parts, a car will also come in handy for exploring this most glamorous of coastlines. There’s free valet parking at the hotel.

Worth getting out of bed for

The centre of Cannigione is a short walk from Aethos Sardinia, with everything you need for a classic Italian summer holiday on hand, from pizzerias to sailing trips. It’s one of the main embarkation points for boats setting off for La Maddelena archipelago, in the Strait of Bonifacio between Corsica and Sardinia — you can charter your own vessel with a skipper or join a group half- or full-day excursion. It’s also possible to take a ferry from Palau up the coast over to La Maddalena herself, the only inhabited of the isles, and then pick up a boat and captain there for a tour around the others, which include the famously pink shores of Budelli island. If snorkelling and scuba-diving are on the agenda, make sure your list of island pitstops includes Scoglio di Mortoriotto. Drive around the bay to Porto Cervo to see the super-yachts in the marina, or secure a sunlounger at Phi Beach club in Baja Sardinia. For shopping and a scenic stroll, San Pantaleo offers a more authentic side of the Costa Smeralda. A short walk downhill from the hotel will take you to its private dock, where sunloungers are set up for swims and sunbathing; or you can hop in a hotel shuttle to local Barca Bruciata beach, just let reception know ahead of time.  

Local restaurants

Down the shore in Cannigione, Brezza di Mare sensibly focuses on seafood, with a crudo sub-section on the menu, alongside oysters, squid-ink tagliolini and Catalan-style monkfish. For Michelin-starred magic, head to Smith stablemate Petra Segreta and its Il Fuoco Sacro restaurant. Or for the oligarch-approved international faves, such as Zuma and Novikov, Porto Cervo should be your first port(o) of call.  

Local bars

Settle in for sundowners and snacks with a view of the coast at Cutter Lounge on Via Nazionale in Cannigione; or head to hilltop Moma to take in the Gulf of Arzachena over colourful cocktails.  

Reviews

Photos Aethos Sardinia reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this seaside hotel in Sardinia and unpacked their olive oil and Orlebar Brown a full account of their island break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Aethos Sardinia in Cannigione… 

The super-yachts may be moored on the other side of Baja Sardinia, but for a more peaceful, less showy side of the Costa Smeralda, make Aethos Sardinia your next nostalgic summer-holiday stay. This Cannigione casa has reimagined a classic hotel, with decades-old terracotta-topped buildings and tiers of gardens ascending the hillside to a secluded swimming pool. Modern additions courtesy of the recent makeover came in the form of gently revitalised rooms, and most have a terrace at the edge of a lawn — plenty have sea views, too.  

Cannigione itself is Porto Cervo’s laidback little sister, eschewing glitz and glamour in favour of good old-fashioned holiday fun — there’s a promenade you can stroll along, passing locals as you go, and assorted low-key bars and restaurants at the waterfront. And as if your agenda of sun couldn’t get any better, it’s also the perfect jumping-off point for excursions over to the photogenic La Maddalena islands.  

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Price per night from $1,048.31

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