On the Golfo di Orosei, where Sardinia's mountains fall straight into the sea, Mariolu is a curve of white marble pebbles under apricot cliffs, with visibility underwater that borders on the absurd. Most visitors come by boat from Cala Gonone or Santa Maria Navarrese; the hardy hike in from the plateau above. Numbers are capped in summer — book the boat a day or two ahead.
Featured in Ten hidden coves worth the scramble · Beach