The islands of Tavolara & Molara

The islands of Tavolara and Molara off the Northeast coast of Sardinia can be reached by boat with a journey of about 20 minutes from Porto San Paolo, Olbia and Golfo Aranci. Tavolara with its stretched rectangular shape is a large limestone rise resting on an underwater granite base. The island is 4 km long with the rocky part in the middle reaching levels as high as 565m above sea level. The coastline is characterised by high vertical cliffs, which are very difficult to reach, unfortunately a large part of the island is not accessible due to a military restricted area. The side of the island that faces Sardinia, which is also the part where the boats arrive and is called “Spalmatore di Terra”, is flat with a little marina, a small built-up area with a few restaurants and some nice beaches.
The island of Molara, set South from Tavolara, has a slight circular shape and is rather flat with only 150m at his highest point. It is the emerged part of a large underwater granite base surrounded by beautiful beaches. The ruins scattered on the island show signs of human presence since ancient times, like the ruins of the Medieval village of Gurguray. On a hillock called Monte Castello, one can see the ruins of Medieval fortification walls, built to defend the island from the Saracens.
For the joy of the nature lovers, this paradise still has about 150 mouflons, rare wild goats that only leave in Sardinia and large flocks of Cormorans.
The crystalline water and the interesting coastline make the two islands a very popular destination with divers.