Cala Goloritzé

Cala Goloritzé sits at the southern end of the Golfo di Orosei, on the east coast of Sardinia in the commune of Baunei. It formed in 1962, when a landslide off Monte Caroddi deposited the rock that became the beach — which makes it one of the youngest well-known beaches in the Mediterranean.

The pinnacle is the landmark: a limestone spire around a hundred and forty metres high standing at the southern end of the cove, climbed since the 1980s and now a fixture of Italian climbing. The cove was declared a national monument in 1995, and the protections that followed are what shape a visit.

The beach is white pebble and coarse gravel, small, with water that is very clear and deepens quickly. An arch of rock stands in the shallows. There is no sand, no shade beyond the cliff's own shadow, and nothing on the beach at all. The Golfo di Orosei holds a series of these coves along forty kilometres of unbroken limestone — Biriola, Mariolu, Luna — and none of them has a road. Goloritzé is the southernmost and the only one with a walk-in route of its own.

Access is deliberately awkward. The walk in from the Su Porteddu plateau takes around an hour and a half each way, descending some five hundred metres through holm oak and limestone. Boats may approach but may not land, and swimmers from boats must anchor offshore. Daily numbers are capped and a fee is charged at the trailhead, with booking required in the main season.

A cove that has decided to stay difficult. The walk in is ninety minutes each way and steep, the daily cap is enforced, boats may look but not land, and climbing the pinnacle is prohibited. All of that is why the place is worth the walk, and anyone who wants the same water without it should take a boat along the Golfo di Orosei and swim off it.