Lunch on board
A Sardinia lunch cruise around the La Maddalena islands comes down to four boats. Of the twelve full days on this site, four serve lunch on board as part of the fare, at $67 to $191 per person. Three listings name the dish, and it is pasta each time; on the fourth, reviewers describe seafood pasta. The other eight leave lunch out: you buy it at the bar or bring your own. Below: what is on each plate, where drinks come from, and how the fares compare.
Quick answer
The short answer. For a Sardinia lunch cruise with the only start from Santa Teresa Gallura, book our top pick at $70: a local lunch is cooked on board, and there are two swimming stops of 1.5 hours each. In Palau, the pasta boat at $67 serves pasta with mussels and prawns. If you would rather pay less and choose your own food, Palau days without lunch start from $56 per person.
What lunch means here
Four boats put lunch in the fare. Eight sell it on board or ask you to bring it.
All twelve boats here spend a full day among the islands, and lunch falls in the middle of it. What changes is who pays. On four of them, the Sardinia lunch cruise days, the plate is part of the fare. On the other eight a bar or a small kitchen on board sells food, or you bring your own.
Pasta is the common thread. The Palau pasta boat serves pasta with mussels and prawns; the Olbia day, tomato pasta served by the crew; the day from Laconia, Cannigione or Baja Sardinia, a pasta dish cooked on board. Our top pick from Santa Teresa Gallura promises a local lunch cooked on board without naming it, and reviewers describe seafood pasta.
Drinks are separate. None of the twelve listings puts them in the fare, and the Palau pasta boat asks you to buy yours at the bar. Whichever Sardinia lunch cruise you pick, keep some money for water and coffee.
Between the stops
Three frames from a day on a Sardinia lunch cruise.
A white canvas awning and loose ropes frame a turquoise bay full of motorboats and sailing boats, with a red rock islet and low hills behind.
People swim and snorkel in clear turquoise water beside the white side of a boat, below a shore of pale granite boulders and green scrub.
Pastel houses with red tiled roofs line a stone quay with parked cars, and a grey inflatable boat cuts a white wake across dark blue water.
The four lunch boats
Lowest price first. Each Sardinia lunch cruise below is a full day, priced per person.
Pasta with mussels and prawns at the Budelli stop by the natural pools; drinks from the bar, at your cost. Two hours at Santa Maria; 7 hours in all. Rated 4.0 by 2,104 reviewers.
A local lunch cooked on board. Two swimming stops of 1.5 hours each at Santa Maria and Spargi, with a walkway onto the beach, about an hour in La Maddalena town, and back around 5:00 PM. Rated 4.3 by 1,571 reviewers.
A pasta dish cooked on board. Stops at Spargi and Santa Maria, then time ashore in La Maddalena town to shop and look around; 8 hours. Rated 4.4 by 1,387 reviewers.
Tomato pasta served on board by the crew. The Olbia minibus runs from a meeting point the listing does not name to Cannigione and back; 9 hours. Rated 4.5 by 527 reviewers.
The price gap
Lunch on board against lunch from the bar, in plain numbers.
Side by side, lunch looks good value. In Palau, the pasta boat costs $67 and the lowest Palau fare without lunch is $56: a gap of $11 per person for a plate of pasta with mussels and prawns. On the Cannigione side, the pasta trip at $70 costs less than half the dinghy day at $157, where you bring your own lunch and pay for Caprera by dinghy.
Two lunch fares need a closer look. Our top pick at $70 is the one start from Santa Teresa Gallura, so weigh the port against your base as much as the menu. The Olbia day at $191 is the highest fare here, and it carries the Olbia minibus to Cannigione and back as well as lunch. Its docking fee, five euros a person, is paid in cash to the driver.
On the eight days without lunch, the listings name what the bar sells, not what it costs. If you want lunch settled before you step aboard, a Sardinia lunch cruise takes that question off the day.
Every trip, current fare
Four fares put lunch on board; eight do not. Every price is per person, and the landing fee is paid on top of the fare in each case.
| Trip | Price | Price is for | What the price covers | Drinks | Where it starts | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palau, with pasta | $67 | per person | Pasta with mussels and prawns, served on board | Bought at the bar | Palau, by the port | 4.0 · 2,104 |
| Santa Teresa, our top pick | $70 | per person | A local lunch cooked on board | Not stated | Port of Santa Teresa Gallura, 8:00 to 8:15 | 4.3 · 1,571 |
| Laconia, Cannigione or Baja Sardinia | $70 | per person | A pasta dish cooked on board | Not stated | Your choice of the three | 4.4 · 1,387 |
| Olbia, with a minibus | $191 | per person | Tomato pasta served by the crew; the Olbia minibus to Cannigione and back | Not stated | A meeting point the listing does not name | 4.5 · 527 |
| Palau, Spargi and Santa Maria | $56 | per person | No lunch; lunch or snacks can be bought on board | Not stated | Palau, check-in 9:00 to 10:00 | 4.4 · 2,876 |
| Palau, the wild islands | $56 | per person | No lunch; snacks sold on board | Bought on board | Palau, check-in 9:00 to 9:45 | 4.3 · 2,827 |
| Palau, with an audio guide | $59 | per person | Food not in the fare; a bar-restaurant sells Sardinian products | Bought on board | Palau or La Maddalena | 4.5 · 2,982 |
| Palau, with a live guide | $62 | per person | No lunch; bring a packed lunch or buy on board | Bought on board | Palau or La Maddalena | 4.6 · 6,436 |
| Palau, four stops | $64 | per person | No lunch; pasta, salads and sandwiches sold at the bar | Bought at the bar | Palau, check-in 9:00 to 10:00 | 4.5 · 2,597 |
| Palau, four islands | $65 | per person | No lunch; buy on board or bring your own | Bought on board | Palau, at 9:30 | 4.6 · 2,522 |
| Caprera, 1956 motorship | $80 | per person | No lunch; bar and kitchen on board | Bought on board | Palau or La Maddalena | 4.7 · 657 |
| Caprera by dinghy | $157 | per person | No lunch: bring your own; an aperitif with a Sardinian snack | One glass of white wine | Cannigione, check-in by 9:15 | 4.9 · 558 |
In reviewers’ words
Quoted word for word, with names and countries.
On the lunch boats, reviewers talk about the plate. Marianne from Norway, on our top pick: «A seafood pasta was served as lunch after the first beach stop.» Stephanie from Germany, on the Palau pasta boat: «The lunch was delicious, pasta al dente». Rachel from Malta, after the day from the Cannigione side: «the pasta served was delicious.» Pierre-Luc from Canada, on the Olbia day: «the boat and the lunch were great.» One honest note on portions, from Olivier in France: «Food was not that much but for what we have paid it was enough».
The bars on the other boats get kind words too. Maurice from the Netherlands, on the wild islands day: «Lunch was well arranged (freshly made on the boat sandwiches) and pricing was not expensive.»
Before you book
A few minutes now make your Sardinia lunch cruise easier on the day.
A landing fee of up to five euros a person is paid in cash on the day; it is not in the fare. On most listings children under seven do not pay it.
No listing puts drinks in the fare. Several listings warn that card payments may fail on the islands, so carry cash.
From Cannigione by dinghy, pack lunch before you leave: the listing says no food can be bought on the islands.
Our top pick meets in Santa Teresa Gallura from 8:00 to 8:15; four Palau boats sail at 10:30. Allow an hour for traffic into Palau.
Several Palau listings do not refund a late arrival. Be early.
Our verdict
Book our top pick if lunch on board is the point. For $70 this Sardinia lunch cruise from Santa Teresa Gallura cooks a local lunch on board, gives you two swimming stops of 1.5 hours each and about an hour in town. It is rated 4.3 by 1,571 reviewers.
Starting in Palau? The pasta boat at $67 puts pasta with mussels and prawns in the fare. If you would rather choose your own food, the $56 day sells lunch and snacks on board.
Book direct
Our top pick first. All four serve lunch on board; prices are per person.
★ 4.3 · 1,571 reviews
★ 4.0 · 2,104 reviews
★ 4.4 · 1,387 reviews
★ 4.5 · 527 reviews
Common questions
On four of the twelve listings: our top pick from Santa Teresa Gallura ($70), the Palau pasta boat ($67), the day from Laconia, Cannigione or Baja Sardinia ($70) and the Olbia day ($191). On this Sardinia lunch cruise shortlist the plate is pasta or a local dish. On the other eight you buy food on board or bring it.
Pasta, in practice. Three listings name it: with mussels and prawns, with tomato sauce, or a pasta dish cooked on board. The Santa Teresa listing promises a local lunch cooked on board without naming the dish, and reviewers describe seafood pasta.
None of the twelve listings says so. The Palau pasta boat asks you to buy a drink at the bar on board. The dinghy day from Cannigione, which has no lunch, offers one glass of chilled white wine with its aperitif. Bring money for water and coffee.
Yes on the Palau day with a live guide and on the four-islands boat from Palau. On the dinghy day from Cannigione you must, as no food can be bought on the islands. The other listings do not say.
Yes. The landing fee is paid in cash on the day, and several listings warn that card payments may not work on the islands.
No. It is up to five euros a person depending on the month, paid in cash, and on most listings children under seven do not pay. On the Olbia day it is a docking fee of five euros, paid to the minibus driver.
Go deeper
Twelve full days around the archipelago, side by side: port, stops and what the price covers.
From PalauThe harbour most boats leave from, and the days that start there.
From Santa TeresaThe day that sets out from the northern tip of Sardinia.
The day outFrom the morning departure to the return: timing, stops and what to bring.
A day cruiseA day on the water in northern Sardinia, against a ship cruise.
From Santa Teresa Gallura: La Maddalena Full-Day Boat Tour
★ 4.3 · 1,571 reviews · 8 hours