Modest, harbourside, seafood-driven, unpretentious

Golfo Aranci

An unshowy crab-and-catch fishing town on the headland, where the menu follows the morning boats.

A small fishing and ferry town on the headland north of Olbia, Golfo Aranci keeps a more modest, harbour-side register than the Costa Smeralda just around the cape. Its name is a Gallurese mishearing rather than a reference to oranges — golfu di li ranci, the gulf of crabs — and crustaceans and the daily catch remain the point here. The restaurants cluster near the port and along the lungomare, family-run places where the menu turns on what came off the boats that morning: raw red prawns, spaghetti with sea urchin, whole fish under salt. It is the kind of unshowy seaside dining that the glossier resorts have largely priced out.

Highlights

Raw red prawns and sea-urchin pasta straight from the boats Family-run trattorie along the port and lungomare The 'gulf of crabs' — crustaceans as the local signature Whole fish baked under salt, cooked to order Costa Smeralda quality without the Costa Smeralda price

3 places

1 Categories