TranSardinia

location Europe, Italy
  • Distance

    277 Mi.

    (446 KM)
  • Days

    9

  • % Unpaved

    53%

  • % Singletrack

    1%

  • % Rideable (time)

    97%

  • Total Ascent

    34,263'

    (10,443 M)
  • High Point

    4,281'

    (1,305 M)
  • Difficulty (1-10)

    7?

  • 8
    Climbing Scale Strenuous124 FT/MI (23 M/KM)
  • 6
    Technical Difficulty Moderate
  • 8
    Physical Demand Difficult
  • 5
    Resupply & Logistics Moderate
About Our Ratings

Contributed By

Tristan Bogaard -

Tristan Bogaard

With a two-decade-old origin and distinguished history, the TranSardinia is an enduring European route. It spans the length of Sardinia's eastern massifs, emphasizing the varied natural and agricultural landscapes and culture of a relatively unknown side of the island that proudly maintains its bucolic atmosphere, traditional principles, and simple way of life...
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I’ve always thought of Italy as one of the world’s most attractive countries for bikepacking. Still, I’d never regarded Sardinia as part of that, as I’d never heard anyone’s riding stories of this vast Italian island hiding in plain sight in the Mediterranean basin. It’s a bit strange since not only is it an island that enjoys fair weather year-round at the easily reached southern-central point of broader Europe, but it also shares the elements and history of, in particular, southern Italy, mixing rural and traditional culture with the pleasant Mediterranean environment. Of course, many riders have seen the beauty Sardinia offers, and one took it upon himself to connect segments he’d mountain biked over many years between Olbia and Cagliari, eventually creating the TranSardinia.

However, throughout more than a decade of existence, not quite as exposed to the modern bikepacking trend, it never got the opportunity to be recognized by a larger audience. While I’ll tell the broader story another day, I was fortunate enough to meet him in his hometown of Cagliari to directly propose I’d ride, document, and iron out aged kinks in the route file to help make its official publication a reality. His name is Giorgio Pupillo, and with his permission and help, I rode the route solo in October of 2024 with this goal in mind. Today, the result is here to stay!

Starting in Olbia, Sardinia’s northeastern ferry hub with mainland connections, where Giorgio made the first steps in creating the route, you’ll follow his tracks out of the city, immediately venturing onto mountainous terrain with ample challenges awaiting you. I think it’s special to find yourself surrounded by nature’s tranquility a mere hour after leaving a bustling city centre, and it’s something you’ll experience here often. The beauty of this route is its connection to all the satisfying human infrastructure you could need, with a swift and spectacular way to escape it on command. Nevertheless, much of the route requires serious physical input. It will often leave you huffing and puffing as you push your bike and luggage over rocky paths and singletrack out in the midday sun or through sudden spells of rain since Sardinia’s mountain microclimate can be unpredictable. Alternating between idyllic nature and rural outcrops of old civilization lies at the core of the TranSardinia.

  • TranSardinia Bikepacking Route
  • TranSardinia Bikepacking Route
  • TranSardinia Bikepacking Route
  • TranSardinia Bikepacking Route
  • TranSardinia Bikepacking Route

In creating the original route, Giorgio intended to offer an unforgettable and physically extreme undertaking of about seven days—in staged sections and by mountain bike—mostly avoiding asphalt and villages. My take on his foundation is a little different, as I believe that a balance between pleasure and suffering must always be achieved through route design that favors inclusivity. I’ve made sure you’ll get a break from the trails where I felt necessary to compensate, or when there was no sensible alternative into or out of a village I desired to include. Take Orgosolo, a little town shrouded in melancholy and political opinion expressed through impressive murals, which now serves as a great place to rest up before you have to be self-reliant until Arzana or Ulassai.

Throughout the route, you’ll get to experience the rural side of life, mostly alone and other times shared with shepherds, villagers going about their day, rangers from the forestry service, the occasional dirt biker or one of the many 4×4 Fiat Pandas roaming the island. You’ll be enveloped by large swaths of broadleaf forest, submerged in deep agrarian valleys, lifted by granitoid rock plateaus, and crossing right underside the mighty Supramonte and Gennargentu massifs, always able to savor the rich smells and aroma of Sardinia’s hinterland cuisine along the way. Whether you take on Giorgio’s original staged challenge or follow my slower pace, we both hope this journey will be one for your books.

  • TranSardinia Bikepacking Route
  • TranSardinia Bikepacking Route

Route Difficulty

The original concept of the TranSardinia was a seven-stage MTB adventure taking riders across the island with set indoor places to sleep—a timed challenge those who complete it remember all their life. However, blending my more relaxed bikepacking pace with Giorgio’s original concept, I have given this route an overall difficulty rating of 7. The recommended number of days is higher, and there’s more emphasis on connecting with the land and its people (as the slower-paced bikepacking experience so beautifully provides). If you’re using the many lodging opportunities along the way, I believe you’ll also be able to rest up longer, balancing your physical efforts a little more.

Most importantly, I’ve rerouted certain sections of the original TranSardinia to include more village stops, lowering the rating for resupply and logistics. The mountainous Sardinian inland may be rural, but it has more fountains, bars, shops, camping, and lodging infrastructure than you may assume.

Route Development

The TranSardinia was first founded by Giorgio Pupillo two decades ago. His motivation was to connect the city of Olbia in the north with his hometown of Cagliari in the south in a way that was to be ridden by mountain bike, ideally in seven timed stages. Throughout the 2010s, his route and concept gained pace in the local mountain biking community, eventually allowing him to team up with a travel agency to provide the intended experience as guided tours. At the end of the decade, nearing 2020, he moved to Vietnam for his job, the tours went quiet, and the route slowly aged. When I first discovered the TranSardinia with my partner Belén in 2021, she was able to track down the GPX but only in bits and pieces, and we contacted Giorgio to obtain the complete version. We found it difficult to stick to, as in many places, land ownership seemed to have changed, and our way forward was frequently blocked by padlocked gates, fences, and damaged trails. When I returned solo in 2024, I intended to update the route to fix these issues, and after meeting Giorgio and receiving his blessing to share it here on the bikepacking world map, it’s finally been done.

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  • Highlights

    camera

  • Must Know

    alert

  • Camping

    home

  • Food/H2O

    drop

  • Trail Notes

    signpost

  • Getting acquainted with the flora and fauna of Sardinia’s lowlands, just outside Olbia, as you head south. Make small stops to smell the plants, touch nature’s textures, and see the marvelous backcountry you’ll so quickly find yourself in.
  • Taking a break in the town square of Bitti with a cold drink at hand, taking in the architecture and atmosphere of this quiet and fairly isolated village.
  • Wild camping on a mountain plateau’s edge, overlooking the southern coastal peaks and the twinkling warm lights of the surrounding villages built on their slopes.
  • The views to Supramonte from Oliena and subsequent ride along the singletrack right underneath its precipice.
  • Orgosolo’s mural pieces. You’ll see these wall paintings across the island, but in this town specifically, they stand out for their political nature, making one reflect on events in Italian and world history through melancholic, sometimes satirical drawings.
  • An insatiable appetite for pizza finally being answered in Orgosolo’s Pizzeria Su Lizu. Make sure to stay the night in town and treat yourself here!
  • Counting Fiat Pandas, seriously! The classic 4×4 version is beloved here, and so many locals use one to commute between towns and farms and even go up and down sketchy trails with ease. Can you spot them all?
  • Don’t miss the way up and around Monte Fumai, where you’ll ride over the highest point of the route at 1,305 metres.
  • Between Taquisara and Osini, you’ll ride the “Vecchia sede Ferroviaria,” a smooth gravel greenway with spectacular views to the valley below and the village of Gairo on the other side.
  • Make an overnight stop at Camping Theleme, open mid-March to late November. Check the extended review and photos I uploaded to Google Maps to let me convince you on this one.
  • Cycling the extensive network of smooth gravel roads spanning the base of the Gennargentu Massif between Ulassai and Seui. The climbs here are steep and tough, and the weather can change fast, but the tracks are terrific.
  • When in Seui, stay the night at Angela’s place (La Rosa Gialla). I called her on very short notice, and she welcomed me not even 10 minutes later. Once again, you can check my review on Google Maps to see why this is worth the stop.
  • The sections between Seui and Perdasdefogu, as well as Perdasdefogu and Armungia, are properly wild bikepacking memories in my book. Gradients are gnarly, and good route design proved a fair challenge here. Input on changing route conditions here is always welcome.
  • The small open plateau at the last climb’s summit near Monte Tronu, before descending into the bay of Cagliari, is a must for an overnight pitch. Even when the weather is a bit rough, the prolonged view you’ll get here is a glorious reward for pushing through the entire route.
  • Upon arriving at Cagliari’s Poetto beachfront, do yourself a favor and celebrate your win with a bitter San Pellegrino in the same bar Giorgio and I first met, Caffe de Mar Cagliari.

Weather and When to Go

  • When to go: Without a doubt, the best seasons to ride the TranSardinia are late summer and fall, between late September and early November. During these months, the weather is usually soft and forgiving, summer tourists disappears, and pastoral life returns to the mountains, not to mention you’ll find lower-priced accommodation. I lived several days on the trail, just seeing a few souls (most of them in Fiat Pandas), and even small towns still had open lodging and bars.
  • Weather conditions: Sardinia is sunny and dry year-round, with occasional cold spells and rainfall depending mostly on Mediterranean Sea temperatures. In general, you can expect the summers to be really hot and water to be scarce in those months, whereas the months outside of summer are all calm and mild, with occasional heavy rainfall across the island.
  • Check the weather: Even if it looks like you’ve caught a great weather window, conditions can change rapidly across the route, as the eastern massif catches and traps moisture easily. Heavy rainfall in the south impeded my continuation for about a full day and caused some trails to flood mildly, but just like the Fiat Pandas do here, there’s always a way to keep on pushing through!

What bike

  • I would strongly recommend you ride tubeless, as the flora of Sardinia is rather prickly, and the route has certain sketchy sections on which I was happy not to be running tubes at high pressures.
  • Frame wise, you’ll be fine with a rigid mountain bike, although any form of suspension will soften the gnarlier backcountry sections. Some of you will want to ride a gravel bike, and while it is always a possibility, I’d recommend that if you do so, you spec at least 42mm tires and a good amount of gears for long, steep climbs.

Travel basics & logistics

  • Sardinia belongs to Italy and is therefore part of the EU, following its visa rules for international visitors (see flight tips below). For Europeans, it’s as easy as getting on a flight or ferry to Olbia, with the latter being convenient as you can simply roll your bike on board. From Cagliari back to Olbia, you can travel via regional train until Ozieri Chilivani, where buses currently complete the last leg due to rail maintenance (last verified October 2024). It depends on the driver, but you should be able to put your bike in the luggage department of these buses.
  • Annoyances: The weather can be terribly hot in Sardinia, so if you can, avoid the hottest months (July and August). On the coast, you’ll be eaten by mosquitos, but as long as you stay up high, there shouldn’t be that many.
  • Get there by flight: Flying from European capitals, Olbia is but a few hours away thanks to its geographic central point in the Mediterranean. Flying internationally, you should have no trouble finding flights to Olbia via another European capital.
  • Get there by bus/train: If you’d like to get to Sardinia by bus or train, you’ll have to transfer onto a ferry at some point. Direct ferry routes to Olbia can be found in Livorno and Civitavecchia. If coming from Spain or France, Barcelona and Toulon offer routes to Porto Torres. As for trains on the island itself, Trenitalia services the main routes, ARST the domestic ones, and “Trenino Verde” a special spring/summer touristic route. This page contains a handy map showcasing them, sorry in advance for the incessant ads.
  • Get there by car: Just like the bus or train, you’ll have to board a ferry if you come to Sardinia by car. The difference is that your car can travel with you on the ferry, and you’ll have to leave it in Olbia whilst you ride the route. To be worry-free, you could consider paying for long-term parking at the outbound ferry terminal.
  • Get there by bike: Easy! Undertake a bikepacking trip to the ferry, roll on, sit back, and roll off again to be on your way exploring Sardinia.

Other Things to Know

  • Cooking: If you resort mainly to your own cooking besides the occasional stop at a bar, you’ll be glad to know that almost every town you pass has at least a small shop with the bare basics. Expect to always find packaged bread, sweet spreads, a limited veggie selection, animal products, salty snacks, canned food, and basics like pasta, rice, and potato mash. Decathlon Olbia sells gas canisters, and you may be able to find cooking alcohol in pharmacies when asking for “Alcool Etilico Denaturato 90%.”
  • Steepness/hike-a-bike: As the TranSardinia is originally a pretty brutal MTB undertaking, the route proves to be a challenge, even to complete in 8-10 days. You’ll find many steep sections that you may have to walk depending on your bike’s gears—with singletrack, loose riverbed gravel, and muddy tracks adding to the difficulty. However, most of the route is perfectly ridable.
  • Route alerts: Be prepared for muddy conditions along the route, especially after rainfall. The trails can become slippery and challenging to navigate, so here are a few tips:
  • Stay on designated paths: The route has been crafted in such a way that you’ll avoid padlocked gates, fencing, and damaged trail sections, but they are still present as Sardinian pastoral land ownership comes with a fair bit of gates in place, some of which can be unexpectedly locked. You may have to lift your bike and luggage over one or two fence stiles used by hikers to cross fences around the island.
  • Other remarks: You can check the GPX file above for route segments that veer off the original TranSardinia route, as well as the reasoning behind them. Additionally, any sections I deemed tricky, dangerous, or containing some other kind of risk have been marked with either a general information or caution pin.

As long as you’re visiting outside of high summer, Sardinia is extremely well suited for the needs of any bikepacker. You’ll find official campsites, relatively affordable lodging, and plenty of opportunities for a scenic overnight pitch with clanging cattle bells in the distance.

  • Consider spending a night in a village, absorbing the Italian afternoon and evening life, sipping wine and munching pizza, or learning about the village’s history and natural surroundings through conversation with the inhabitants. I found Sardinians to be exceptionally friendly and open to the international public that floods their island each year, so it’s worth trying to learn some Italian and attempting a conversation.
  • Most accommodations can be found and booked online, but keep an eye out on the recommended places to stay along the route GPX, as I found some places that are privately run by wonderful people. It’s almost always better to call them, so I’ve included phone numbers in the pins.
  • Wild camping in Italy is generally not permitted, but in Sardinia, nobody minded my little tent in the woods, and I can recommend trying it out, as those evenings were some of my favorites in all of my time on the bike. There’s something very special about being on a huge chunk of rock in the Mediterranean and feeling so small under the starry sky.
  • There’s one great campsite along the route, that I highly recommend you to stay at. Just north of the scenic town of Ulassai lies Camping Theleme, perched between the iconic rock formations the town is known for and subsequently loved by climbers. A pitch is just €10 a night per person, including your tent and a hot shower, and the atmosphere is extremely friendly. A bar sits at the entrance, where you can order pizza delivery from Ulassai’s main pizzeria and hot breakfast croissants and coffee in the morning. Open between mid-March and late November, fitting the all-around riding season, I’d love to send some more bikepackers their way.

Sardinian cuisine is in many ways a perfect copy of the Italian mainland, albeit closer to the rural south of Italy in offering many products derived from animals and typical pasta and pizza dishes. Food is a passion here, sweets are treasured in any form, and coffee is, of course, universally exceptional.

  • For breakfast: I’ve incorporated a strategy of camping close to or staying in a village to be able to find an open bar as daylight breaks, as Sardinian pastries and coffee are fast fuel to get you up another mountain. Savory treats are harder to find, so you’ll most likely be having cream-filled, deep-fried, sugar-coated croissants galore. Pro tip: ask for some to be wrapped as a takeaway so you can enjoy one more halfway through your morning trajectory!
  • For lunch: Unless I was able to find a restaurant or bar for lunch, I usually relied on my own stash of bread, spreads, and cans. Opening times can vary, and I found it hard to encounter anything open before 7 p.m., generally speaking. But keep an eye out in the villages along your way, and you may score a hearty plate of pasta or other local delicacies.
  • Water: Depending on the season, water is available from town fountains, many of which I’ve marked on the route GPX. The fountains outside of towns are a hit or miss—one year, they provide cold, pristine water; another they’re dry—but the next one is never too far out. Be sure to carry two or three litres, and you should always be fine.
  • Stocking up: Supermarkets and small shops sell all the basics, and you’ll encounter them frequently. I’ve marked some easy-to-reach shops on the route GPX.

For a day-by-day summary on the trail and what to expect, take a look at this GPX collection of my first ride in Sardinia that has plenty of information and photos attached. Belén and I didn’t follow the TranSardinia very much back then, but it’ll give you a good first impression. For actual TranSardinia details that matter, check the RWGPS route pins above.

Original route

  • Giorgio’s TranSardinia website is currently down but may come alive again in the future, possibly offering his own tracks: TranSardinia.net
  • Alternatively, if you think the bikepacking edition of the TranSardinia is still a little too tough for your liking, consider riding the softer version Belén and I first discovered and rode in 2021. It contains much more asphalt and fewer climbs.

Terms of Use: As with each bikepacking route guide published on BIKEPACKING.com, should you choose to cycle this route, do so at your own risk. Prior to setting out check current local weather, conditions, and land/road closures. While riding, obey all public and private land use restrictions and rules, carry proper safety and navigational equipment, and of course, follow the #leavenotrace guidelines. The information found herein is simply a planning resource to be used as a point of inspiration in conjunction with your own due-diligence. In spite of the fact that this route, associated GPS track (GPX and maps), and all route guidelines were prepared under diligent research by the specified contributor and/or contributors, the accuracy of such and judgement of the author is not guaranteed. BIKEPACKING.com LLC, its partners, associates, and contributors are in no way liable for personal injury, damage to personal property, or any other such situation that might happen to individual riders cycling or following this route.

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