Porto Cervo. Olbia to the marina in about half an hour, with the August peak planned months ahead.

The Costa Smeralda runs for about twenty kilometres of inlets and headlands between Porto Rotondo and the Maddalena channel, and it is served by one airport at Olbia. There is no second option within a sensible drive, which concentrates all the demand in one place at the same time of year. In May, June and September that is barely noticeable. In late July and August it is the defining feature of the trip.

We arrange the aircraft, the transfer from Olbia by car or helicopter, the yacht and the cars you use while you are here. Our own chauffeurs take you to the London terminal; in Sardinia, cars are arranged through operators we know.

Through the high season, roughly May to September, slots are required at Olbia and the field runs close to saturated at weekends. Parking is the harder constraint: in July and August many aircraft are accepted on a drop and go basis, which means passengers disembark and the aircraft repositions empty, typically to Cagliari, Alghero or the Italian mainland, then returns for the departure. It is a normal way to operate here and it is not a sign that anything has gone wrong, but it changes the shape of the quote and it must be settled in advance.

Eccelsa Aviation handles business aviation on the field, with customs and immigration on site and helicopter movements coordinated from the same place. If you want the helicopter onward to Porto Cervo rather than the car, say so when you ask for the flight, because in August the aircraft and the helicopter are booked in the same conversation or not at all. See Olbia airport and helicopter charter.

Marina di Porto Cervo sits at the head of the inlet with the village above it, and between its basins it holds several hundred berths, including a substantial number for yachts of a size that few Mediterranean marinas can take at all. The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda is on the same water and gives the place its rhythm, most visibly in early September when the maxi yacht regatta brings the largest racing boats in the world into the bay. Berths for July and August are committed a long way ahead, and transit space in the peak weeks is scarce.

Much of what makes this coast worth the journey is a short cruise away: the granite islands of the Maddalena archipelago, and beaches along the channel that can only reasonably be reached by tender. We plan the cars around where the tender lands rather than a hotel address. See Porto Cervo marina and yacht charter.