Ferries from Porto Torres (ITPTO)

Sardinia's northwestern port is the alternative to Olbia, and the choice between them is not about the ships — it is about which half of the island you are going to. 31 active sailings, and one of them goes somewhere most people do not expect.

Where the ships go

• Asinara — about 75 minutes, 6 sailings, operated by Ensamar.
• Civitavecchia for Rome — about 7 hours 45 minutes, 4 sailings, Grimaldi Lines.
• Genoa — 4 sailings, Grandi Navi Veloci.

Asinara

The island off the point was a quarantine station, then a high-security prison holding mafia bosses, and since 1997 a national park with a population of feral white donkeys. Access is controlled, and the 6 sailings from here are more than either mainland route gets.

That inversion is the most interesting thing about this port: the busiest service is a seventy-five-minute run to a former prison island, not the overnight to Rome.

⚠ Fewer mainland sailings than Olbia, and that is the real trade

Olbia carries far more traffic and far more choice of departure time. Porto Torres has four crossings on each mainland route, which means the sailing you want may simply not exist on the day you want it.

Driving across Sardinia from Olbia to Alghero takes around two and a half hours on decent roads. If a convenient Olbia sailing exists and a Porto Torres one does not, take the drive.

The town

Porto Torres is industrial and Roman in roughly equal measure: a petrochemical plant on one side, the basilica of San Gavino and a Roman bridge on the other. Most people drive straight through it.

Sassari is twenty minutes inland; Alghero and its airport around fifty minutes southwest.

Season

Both mainland routes run year round for freight. The Asinara service is a summer operation and the island's visitor numbers are capped.