There is no such thing as the best beach. There is only the right beach for the day you are having — and the great luxury of the coast below Pula is that it puts a dozen very different days within an easy drive of a single door. The morning after a late dinner, when the children are feral and no one wants to move, is not the day for the hour-long drive to the postcard cove; it is the day for the shallow, forgiving sand ten minutes away. The day the mistral is up and the flags are snapping is not the day for the exposed dune beach; it is the day for the sheltered pine-backed cove. Choosing well is the whole art of a beach week, and it has almost nothing to do with which beach is “best.”
So this is not a ranking. It is an index — eight beaches strung along the coast from Perd’e Sali, where Il Polpo Nero stands, south through Chia and on to Teulada and the wild Costa del Sud, each sorted by the mood it serves rather than by some meaningless podium. Read it as a menu: decide the mood of the day first — easy family sand, wild dune, snorkelling cove, bucket-list crescent — and let the index point you to the right stretch of coast. One practical thread runs through all of it, and it matters more each year: the most beautiful of these beaches are now busy enough that when and how you go has become as important as where. We will come to the capacity cap that every visitor to Tuerredda now needs to know about. First, the coast, from the door outward.
The doorstep and the easy days (10 minutes or less)
1. Perd’e Sali — the doorstep swim
Mood: convenience, low effort, the pre-breakfast or post-siesta dip. The beach at Perd’e Sali is not the one you drove to Sardinia to photograph, and that is precisely its value. It is the home beach — a short walk from the house, unshowy, local, the place for the swim you take without planning it: before breakfast while the coffee brews, or at six when the heat breaks and the day-trippers have gone. Every beach week needs one of these — the beach of no logistics — and the doorstep one is it. Save the expeditions for the days you have the energy; on the other days, this is the answer.
2. Su Guventeddu — the easy family day
Mood: family, shallow, shaded, zero drama. Just past Nora, about ten minutes from the house, Su Guventeddu is the coast’s great forgiving family beach: soft sand, water that stays shallow a long way out so the smallest swimmers can potter safely, and pine behind for the shade a long day with children requires. There is nothing dramatic about it, which is the point — it asks nothing of anyone, and it is close enough that you can go for the morning, come home for lunch and the pool, and return for the golden hour without the day feeling like a march. The default family beach, and rightly so. See how it fits into a full family week in southern Sardinia.
3. Nora — the heritage swim
Mood: culture-plus-sand, the swim beside a ruin. Also ten minutes away, the small crescent beside the ancient site of Nora is the beach for the day you want your swim to come with three thousand years of history attached. It is modest in size but calm and shallow, and it sits directly beside the Roman theatre and the sea-baths — so you can spend an hour among the ruins (and, on a calm day, snorkel over the submerged part of the city just offshore) and then fall straight into the sea. No other beach on this coast lets a family hold antiquity and a paddle in the same afternoon.
The Chia beaches (about 30–40 minutes south)
Drive south on the SS195 for a little over half an hour and you reach Chia, in the Domus de Maria, where the coast becomes genuinely spectacular — dunes, junipers, a lagoon with flamingos, a Spanish watchtower on the headland. Four beaches here, each a different mood.
4. Sa Colonia (Chia) — the classic, with the works
Mood: the full beach day, facilities and wow together. Below the Torre di Chia, the sixteenth-century Spanish watchtower that crowns the headland, Sa Colonia is the Chia beach that gives you everything at once: a broad sweep of white sand and emerald water set between two promontories, more sheltered than most, with kiosks and sun-lounger and umbrella rentals for the day you want to be looked after rather than to rough it. Behind it lies the Chia lagoon, where flamingos stalk the shallows — a genuine thrill for children, and worth the short walk to see. If you want one beach that combines the scenery of Chia with the comfort of a serviced day, this is it. Where to eat near Chia is worth reading before you go.
5. Su Giudeu (Chia) — the postcard, for families
Mood: iconic, shallow, wade-to-the-island wonder. Su Giudeu is the Chia beach on the postcards, and for once the fame is deserved: a long, wide arc of pale sand backed by dunes, water so shallow and clear you can wade a long way out, and a little rocky islet just offshore that older children can paddle or swim to — an adventure with a destination. It is family paradise on a calm day. The one caveat is the wind: Su Giudeu is open and unsheltered, so on a blustery day the sand travels, and this becomes a beach to admire rather than lie on. Check the forecast; on a still day there are few better places on the island to be.
6. Porto Campana (Chia) — the wild dune
Mood: space, drama, dunes, and the wind as a feature not a bug. At the western end of the Chia beaches, Porto Campana is the wild one — famous for its spectacular protected dunes (which you admire, never climb), backed by juniper, with room to find your own patch of sand well away from anyone else. The same exposure that troubles Su Giudeu is Porto Campana’s character: this is the coast’s breezier, bigger-skied, more elemental beach, the one to choose when you want the drama of the open Mediterranean rather than a sheltered pool — and, on the windier days that the Chia coast is known for, the stretch where the surfers and windsurfers come into their own. Bring less, expect more space, and let it be wild.
7. Cala Cipolla (Chia) — the snorkelling cove
Mood: intimate, sheltered, mask-and-fins. At the far end of the Chia stretch, tucked behind a pine and juniper grove, Cala Cipolla is the small, sheltered cove that is the antidote to the big open beaches — the least windy of the Chia options, and the one to choose for snorkelling and for the day you want intimacy over expanse. The clear, calm water over rock and sand rewards a mask, and the tree cover gives shade the bigger beaches lack. It is small, and its very charm makes it popular, so it fills — come early, bring your own water and shade (facilities are minimal), and have it at its best before the day warms up.
The Costa del Sud crown (about an hour south)
8. Tuerredda (Teulada) — the bucket-list crescent (book it)
Mood: the postcard swim, the once-a-holiday expedition. Continue past Chia onto the Costa del Sud — the protected coastal road toward Teulada that is one of Italy’s most beautiful drives — and you reach Tuerredda, the beach that launches a thousand screensavers: a perfect crescent of white sand between two headlands, water in improbable bands of turquoise, and a little island a confident swimmer or snorkeller can reach offshore. It is, by common consent, one of the most beautiful beaches in the Mediterranean, and it is about an hour from the house — the day-trip beach, the once-a-week expedition, the one you build a whole day around.
And it is the beach this index most wants you to plan for, because Tuerredda is now capacity-controlled. To protect it from being loved to death, the authorities have introduced a daily limit on bathers — in the region of 1,100 people — and a reservation system for the summer season, replacing the old first-come-first-served scramble. The exact mechanics (the booking app or website, the dates it runs, any small fee) have been evolving season to season, so the essential, citable advice is simple: do not just turn up in July or August — check the official booking system and reserve your spot, and your parking, well in advance. It is the single most useful thing to know about this coast in summer, and the reason the most beautiful beach here rewards the organised over the spontaneous. The house team can reserve your slot and arrange the day — go early in the day and early in your week, before the slots fill.
The index, at a glance
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Just want to swim, no effort → Perd’e Sali (doorstep).
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Easy day with young children → Su Guventeddu (10 min) or, for shallow wonder, Su Giudeu (Chia).
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History with your swim → Nora (10 min).
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Full serviced beach day, with flamingos → Sa Colonia / Chia (Torre di Chia).
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Wild, spacious, dramatic (and good on a windy day for surf) → Porto Campana (Chia dunes).
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Snorkelling and shelter → Cala Cipolla (Chia) or Nora (over the ruins).
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The bucket-list crescent (reserve ahead) → Tuerredda (Teulada, ~1 hr, capacity-capped).
How to read the coast like a local
Three habits turn a good beach week into a great one. Match the beach to the wind, not just the mood. The Chia coast is gloriously exposed, which is a gift on a still day and a sandblasting on a blustery one; when the flags are up, retreat to the sheltered coves (Cala Cipolla) or the closer, calmer Pula beaches (Su Guventeddu, Nora), and save the open dunes for the calm. Go early, everywhere. The best beaches here fill by late morning in summer and the parking with them; on the sand by nine, home for the fierce middle of the day, back out at five is the rhythm that gives you the beaches at their most beautiful and least crowded. And plan the far ones, take the near ones as they come. The doorstep and the ten-minute beaches are for the spontaneous days; Chia and Tuerredda are expeditions to build a whole day around — a chef-made picnic, an early start, and, for Tuerredda, a reservation.
This is where a house ten minutes from the first three beaches quietly earns its keep. A morning swim before anyone at Perd’e Sali, the Vespa down to Nora for a heritage dip, a family day at Su Guventeddu with lunch back near Pula — the near beaches become part of the daily rhythm rather than a daily operation. And for the expeditions south, the house team can do the organising that the good beaches now demand: reserve the Tuerredda slot before it fills, pack the picnic, point you to the sheltered cove on the windy day. The beaches are the reason you came. The base is what lets you have the right one, every day. For groups and multi-family parties, the same logic applies at scale.
The last swim
Eight beaches, one coast, and not a “best” among them — only the right one for the morning you woke up to. That is the real luxury of the shore below Pula: not a single perfect beach to fight the crowds for, but a whole index of moods within reach of the door, from the doorstep dip to the turquoise crescent an hour south. Learn to read the wind and the week, book the busy ones before they cap out, and let the coast give you the day you’re actually in the mood for. Do that, and you’ll never once have a dull day on the sand — because you’ll always, precisely, be on the right beach. September visitors will find the same beaches with half the crowds and water still warm.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best beaches near Pula in southern Sardinia?
It depends on the mood of the day. For an easy family day close to Il Polpo Nero, Su Guventeddu and the beach at Nora (both about 10 minutes) are shallow and gentle. In Chia (about 35 minutes), Sa Colonia offers a full serviced beach day beneath the Spanish watchtower, Su Giudeu is the shallow postcard beach, Porto Campana is the wild dune option, and Cala Cipolla is the sheltered snorkelling cove. An hour south at Teulada, Tuerredda is the bucket-list turquoise crescent — but it’s now capacity-capped, so reserve ahead.
Is Tuerredda beach really capacity-limited, and do I need to book?
Yes. To prevent overcrowding, Tuerredda has introduced a daily cap on bathers — around 1,100 people — and a reservation system for the summer season, replacing first-come-first-served. The exact booking method and dates have changed season to season, so check the official reservation system and book your spot (and parking) in advance, especially in July and August. The house concierge can handle the booking for you. Go early in the day and early in your trip.
Which beaches near Chia are best for snorkelling?
Cala Cipolla, the sheltered pine-and-juniper cove at the end of the Chia stretch, is the calmest and best for snorkelling on that coast. Tuerredda (further south at Teulada) has clear water and an islet to snorkel toward. And near Pula, the beach at Nora lets you snorkel over the submerged ruins of the ancient city on a calm day.
Which beaches are best for young children?
Su Guventeddu near Pula is the classic easy family beach — shallow, sandy and pine-shaded, and only ten minutes from the villa. In Chia, Su Giudeu has famously shallow, clear water and a little islet to wade toward, ideal on a calm day. Both reward an early start before the summer crowds and midday heat. See the full family week guide for more.
What’s the best beach near Pula on a windy day?
The Chia beaches (especially the open, dune-backed Su Giudeu and Porto Campana) are exposed, so on a windy day the sand blows. Retreat instead to the sheltered Cala Cipolla cove in Chia, or stay close to Pula at Su Guventeddu or Nora, which are calmer. Alternatively, embrace the wind — Porto Campana and the Chia coast are known spots for windsurfing and kitesurfing.
How far are the beaches from Il Polpo Nero?
Perd’e Sali is on the doorstep; Su Guventeddu and Nora are about 10 minutes; the Chia beaches (Sa Colonia, Su Giudeu, Porto Campana, Cala Cipolla) are roughly 30–40 minutes south on the SS195; and Tuerredda, at Teulada on the scenic Costa del Sud road, is about an hour. A car is essential to reach the further beaches.
When is the best time of year for the beaches near Pula?
The season runs roughly April to October. July and August are hottest and busiest (and when the Tuerredda cap bites hardest); June and September are the sweet spot, with warm water and thinner crowds — the sea holds its summer warmth into September. April, May and October are quieter and cooler, lovely for walking the coast and swimming on warm days.
