Cagliari travel guide

Top 10 sights in Cagliari

Ranked by Wikipedia language editions — proven fame.

1. 

   1

   Cagliari Cathedral

   The cathedral of Cagliari in the Castello quarter, begun by the Pisans in the thirteenth century, refaced in baroque in the 1700s and given a neo-Romanesque front in 1933. Two Pisan marble pulpits of 1162, carved for Pisa's own cathedral and given away, flank the entrance.

   TiqetsKlook
2. 

   2© Ugeen · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Basilica of San Saturnino

   One of the oldest churches in Sardinia, raised in the fifth century over the grave of the martyr Saturninus. Its domed Greek-cross core survives among ruins of the surrounding monastery, in the middle of modern Cagliari.

   TiqetsKlook
3. 

   3© Gianni Careddu · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria

   A Marian sanctuary of the 1320s on a hill above the harbour, holding a statue of the Virgin found floating in a crate washed ashore in 1370. Sailors called her Our Lady of Fair Winds, and Buenos Aires was named after this title.

   TiqetsKlook
4. 

   4© trolvag · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Torre di San Pancrazio

   A white limestone tower of 1305, thirty-six metres high, guarding the northern gate of the Castello quarter. Pisa built it as part of the walls; the top gives the widest view over the city, the lagoons and the gulf.

   TiqetsKlook
5. 

   5© Unukorno · CC BY 4.0

   National Archaeological Museum of Cagliari

   The national archaeological museum, holding the finest collection of Sardinia's Bronze Age nuragic culture — bronze votive figures, ship models, and the reassembled Mont'e Prama statues, the oldest large stone figures in the western Mediterranean.

   TiqetsKlook
6. 

   6© cristianocani · CC BY 2.0

   Tuvixeddu necropolis

   A Punic burial ground on a hill inside the city, in use from the sixth century BC and the largest Phoenician-Punic necropolis in the Mediterranean. About a thousand shaft tombs are cut into the limestone; development has repeatedly threatened it.

   TiqetsKlook
7. 

   7© fpittui · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Dolianova Cathedral

   A former cathedral at Dolianova north of Cagliari, built in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in Romanesque with Pisan banding and Islamic-influenced detail. It is considered one of the finest medieval buildings in Sardinia.

   TiqetsKlook
8. 

   8© Municipality of Cagliari · CC BY-SA 3.0 it

   Palazzo Regio

   The viceregal palace in the Castello quarter, built in the fourteenth century under Aragon and remodelled by the Savoys in the eighteenth. It is now the seat of the provincial administration; the painted ceilings of the state rooms are open to visitors.

   TiqetsKlook
9. 

   9© A. Saba · CC BY-SA 2.5

   torre dell'Elefante

   A tower of 1307 guarding the western gate of the Castello, named for the small elephant carved beside the entrance. Under Spanish rule the heads of the executed were displayed on it; the portcullis and its wooden gate still work.

   TiqetsKlook
10. 

    10© Pi.Gra · CC BY-SA 2.0

    Castle of San Michele

    A medieval castle on a hill west of the city, triangular in plan with three towers, held in the fourteenth century by the Carroz family who contested control of Cagliari. It was later a plague hospital and is now used for exhibitions.

    TiqetsKlook

Popular tickets & tours in Cagliari

Live products and prices are provided directly by Klook.

KlookOpen Cagliari activitiesBrowse tickets & toursKKdayOpen Cagliari activitiesBrowse tickets & tours

Trending now

Based on 2025 Wikipedia pageviews — popular places beyond the top 10.

1. 

   1© FollowingHadrian · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Roman Amphitheatre of Cagliari

   A Roman amphitheatre of the second century cut directly into the limestone hillside, so that most of the seating is living rock and has survived. It held about ten thousand people, and the underground service passages are still traceable.

   TiqetsKlook
2. 

   2© No machine-readable author provided. Giancarlodessi assumed (based on copyright · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Molentargius - Saline Regional Park

   A regional park of salt pans, marsh and lagoon east of Cagliari, worked for salt from Roman times until 1985. It is one of the few places in Europe where greater flamingos breed, and several thousand winter on the water within the city boundary.

   TiqetsKlook
3. 

   3© Giova81 · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Santa Igia

   The site of the medieval city on the Santa Gilla lagoon, capital of the Giudicato of Cagliari from the eleventh century until Pisan and Sardinian forces destroyed it in 1258. Its inhabitants were moved to the new Pisan town on the hill, which is the city today.

   TiqetsKlook
4. 

   4© Mago Tecnologico · CC BY-SA 3.0

   botanical garden of Cagliari

   A five-hectare botanical garden founded by the university in 1866 in a Roman quarry, using the cisterns and cut faces as planting beds. Mediterranean and dry tropical collections make it one of the more important gardens in Italy.

   TiqetsKlook
5. 

   5© Gianni Careddu · CC BY-SA 4.0

   The Basilica of Our Lady of Bonaria

   A large basilica on the Bonaria hill, begun in 1704 and finished in the twentieth century, next to the older sanctuary church. It is the principal church of the Sardinian bishops' conference, and John Paul II and Francis have both visited the shrine.

   TiqetsKlook
6. 

   6© Sailko · CC BY 3.0

   Santa Maria, Uta

   A Romanesque church at Uta northwest of Cagliari, built about 1140 by Victorine monks from Marseille, in alternating courses of dark volcanic stone and white limestone. Over a hundred small carved animal and human figures run under the eaves.

   TiqetsKlook
7. 

   7© Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Torre dello Sperone

   A medieval tower in the Stampace quarter, raised in the fourteenth century to cover the southern approach to the Castello. It now serves as a terrace on the walk along the bastions, looking down on the port.

   TiqetsKlook
8. 

   8© http://pierluigimontalbano.blogspot.it/2011/04/pubblicazione-scavi-nuraghe-antig · CC BY-SA 3.0

   nuraghe Antigori

   A nuragic complex at Sarroch south of Cagliari, built around the fourteenth century BC. Mycenaean pottery found inside it is evidence of trade between Bronze Age Sardinia and the Aegean, which is why the site matters beyond its size.

   TiqetsKlook
9. 

   9© Angelo73 · CC BY-SA 4.0

   S'acqua 'e is dolus

   A rock-cut chamber at Settimo San Pietro north of Cagliari, a domus de janas or fairy house, cut between 3400 and 2700 BC. Sardinia has thousands of these tombs; this one is associated with a nearby nuragic well temple.

   TiqetsKlook
10. 

    10© Xoil · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Necropolis of Is Calitas

    A prehistoric necropolis of rock-cut tombs at Soleminis north of Cagliari, attributed to the late Neolithic Ozieri culture. The chambers were cut into a limestone outcrop and reused into the Bronze Age.

    TiqetsKlook