Ogliastra – the wildest and least-known part of the island

Most visitors to Sardinia see the Costa Smeralda in the north, the beaches around Cagliari in the south, and the road between them. Ogliastra – the landlocked province on the central east coast – receives a fraction of those visitors. This is not because it is inferior. It is because it is harder to get to. And the people who do get there tend to come back.

Ogliastra is the landscape that Sardinia kept for itself. The mountains of the Gennargentu come down to the coast with an abruptness that leaves almost no room for the flat coastal developments that have occupied other stretches of the island. The cliffs are limestone and porphyry. The sea is the deep, clear blue of deep water close to shore. The villages – Baunei, Urzulei, Talana, Villagrande – have been inhabited continuously since the Bronze Age and still carry the weight of that continuity in their architecture, their food and their silence.

This is also, by the reckoning of population scientists, one of the five places on earth where people live longest. The Blue Zone of Ogliastra – a designation that emerged from research into exceptional human longevity – has produced the highest concentration of male centenarians ever recorded. The reasons are debated. The diet, the movement, the social cohesion, the clean air and the clean water all play a role. What is certain is that arriving in Ogliastra, you feel the difference before you can explain it.

Arbatax Park Resort – what winning seven times actually means

The World Travel Awards Best Eco Resort of the World has been awarded to Arbatax Park seven times. The significance of that number is not in the trophy cabinet – it is in what it says about consistency. Winning once is a campaign. Winning seven times is a way of operating.

The eco concept at Arbatax Park is not a set of policies. It is the physical structure of the resort: 60 hectares of protected nature reserve on the Bellavista peninsula, into which six hotels have been built rather than built upon. Nothing on the resort footprint exists outside the nature park. The resort’s own kitchen garden supplies the restaurants directly. Composting converts organic waste into soil. Solar panels contribute substantially to the energy demand. The native Sardinian animals – including the Sardinian deer and Sardinian wild boar – live within the resort grounds in semi-wild conditions, encountered on walks rather than in enclosures.

In 2026 a new chapter opens. The Falkensteiner Michaeler Tourism Group (FMTG), an international hospitality company with deep Italian roots, takes over the operational management of the resort. The intention is not to change Arbatax Park – it is to give its sustainable model the management infrastructure to grow. By 2027, four of the six hotels will be consolidated into a new entity, Club Funimation by Falkensteiner, while the resort’s character and ecological commitment remain the operational foundation.

Six hotels – each with a different relationship to the landscape

Choosing a hotel at Arbatax Park is less a question of stars and more a question of what you want to see when you open the curtains. The six hotels share the same nature reserve, the same sports facilities, the same restaurants and the same wellness centre – but their relationship to the sea, the forest and the light is entirely different.

The Blue Zone – the science of longevity on your doorstep

The term Blue Zone was coined by explorer and author Dan Buettner after a demographic study identified five regions where the population consistently outlives the global average by significant margins. Ogliastra in Sardinia was one of the five – and the one with the highest concentration of male centenarians ever recorded anywhere.

What makes Ogliastra a Blue Zone is not a single factor. Researchers point to a combination of plant-rich diet (minestrone, pecorino cheese from sheep milk, sourdough bread, Cannonau red wine in moderate quantities), lifelong natural movement (the terrain demands it), strong family and community bonds that persist into old age, a sense of purpose that does not retire at 65, and a relationship with the land that still involves physical labour and seasonal rhythms. The Arbatax Park Resort sits inside this zone – not adjacent to it.

Wellness – the Bellavista Wellness Centre

The Bellavista Wellness Centre is the spa infrastructure of the resort: 2,000 square metres combining indoor and outdoor pools, a saltwater pool, sauna, hammam, steam room, treatment rooms and a beauty salon. The outdoor area opens directly toward the sea, giving the wellness experience an atmospheric backdrop that no urban spa can manufacture. Monte Turri guests have direct access from their hotel building; all other hotels are within a short walk.

Sport – an unusually complete programme for an eco resort

Arbatax Park’s sport offering stands out from comparable properties because a significant proportion of it is free – included in the room rate rather than charged as an additional daily levy. This is not universal in Mediterranean resort sport programmes.

Hiking – some of the finest walking in all of Italy

The trails that begin at or near Arbatax Park include some of the most spectacular walking terrain in the Mediterranean. This is not a claim that requires qualification. Cala Goloritzé is among the most celebrated natural sites in Italy. The Gorropu Canyon is widely described as the deepest gorge in Europe. The Supramonte plateau is one of the last genuine wilderness zones of the Italian peninsula. All three are accessible in a single day from the resort.

Cycling – Ogliastra by two wheels

Ogliastra is underrated as a cycling destination. The coastal road south of Arbatax is quiet, flat and extraordinarily scenic – one of the few stretches of eastern Sardinian coast where you can cycle at the water’s edge for kilometres without significant traffic. The interior, by contrast, is serious mountain biking territory. Bicycle hire is available at the resort for a supplement.

Families – the nature park as the world’s best children’s resource

The Arbatax Park Resort’s approach to children is unusual for a resort that also takes its ecological seriousness seriously. Rather than containing children in an air-conditioned activity room, the resort treats the 60-hectare nature park as the children’s resource – a place where Sardinian wildlife is encountered, the kitchen garden is explored and the sea provides the structure for the day.

Dining – the shortest food chain in Sardinian hospitality

The dining philosophy at Arbatax Park is not complicated: grow what you can, source the rest from the people who produce it around you in Ogliastra, and cook it in ways that respect the ingredient. The result – across up to 12 restaurants in high season – is a consistent expression of what Sardinian food actually is rather than what it is assumed to be.

Sardinia’s best luxury hotels – which one is yours?

MICE – meetings with a purpose, in a place that means what it says

There is a particular kind of company that comes to Arbatax Park for its events – the kind for which the venue choice is itself a message. Holding a leadership retreat or an incentive trip at the world’s best eco resort, inside a Blue Zone, on a peninsula that has won seven consecutive global sustainability awards, is not a neutral act. It tells your delegates, your partners and your competitors something about what you value. For some organisations, that statement is worth more than the conference room square footage.

Getting there – and why the journey is part of the experience

Arbatax is on the east coast of Sardinia, which is not where most flights arrive. The effort required to get there is, in a sense, structural to the experience – Ogliastra has stayed itself precisely because it is slightly harder to reach than the north or south of the island. The reward is that when you arrive, it feels earned.

What to do around the resort – the region in brief