San Teodoro with kids: all you need to know to plan a perfect stay and love Sardinia with kids

Essential travel guide to planning a stay in San Teodoro with kids: best thing to do, family friendly accommodation, best family friendly beaches in San Teodoro and why I consider it one of the best towns in Sardinia for families.

San Teodoro is a pretty and family friendly small town in North Eastern Sardinia and one of my favorite places for a sea and sun summer vacation in Italy with the kids.

It is the kind of town where relaxation just comes easy. The town center is pleasant and walkable, with playgrounds, an evening market, many restaurants, cafes and a mellow atmosphere.

Its vibe is upbeat but kid-friendly, and you see families out at all hours, making the most of the beautiful summer nights and lively town life, something I really love: nothing says ‘vacation’ to me, than the sense you don’t need to live by the clock!

San Teodoro is also an area of great natural beauty which you can explore by boat and by car and, most of all, it has something very special: stunning beaches that are picture perfect, amazing for kids and close to the town – a large one is in the town itself, so you don’t even need to drive to it!

So, as you can see, there is a lot to like here and let me tell you: this is not easy praise from me for a beach destination, as I am really not a huge beach person at all and neither are my kids. So, for a beach place to receive high praise from us, it means the beach town is pretty special and San Teodoro is!

So here it comes: my essential guide to visiting San Teodoro with kids!

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Why visit San Teodoro with kids – San Teodoro at a glance

San Teodoro is a pretty beach town with a strong tourism vocation.

The area immediately above it, the so called ‘Emerald Coast’, has been a playground of the rich and famous for decades and San Teodoro developed somewhat in parallel with that growth, while managing to maintaining more of a local feel.

This means that the town now feels mostly modern but not in an ugly, overdeveloped way: quite the opposite. San Teodoro feels very much like the town locals choose to get a summer house: a place of cute homes, small gardens, residential roads you can leisurely stroll during long summer evenings.

Geographically, the town is mostly flat: part of the town is close to the beach, while the more buzzy part of the center with the market, shops and restaurants is not immediately on the seafront and develops around a few main streets teeming with restaurants, cafes and music.

The town is stroller friendly and has all the shops and essential facilities you may need.

I recommend you visit San Teodoro with kids if you are looking for:

>> A pretty, child friendly beach town

>> Easy access to sandy beaches, with and without a car

>> Easy option for boat tours

>> You are coming to Sardinia in summer, especially late June to September when the water is usually warmest

Why not visit San Teodoro with kids

San Teodoro may not be the best place for you if:

>> You plan on coming without a car (we have done it, I tell you all about it later in this post!)

>> You come outside of summer but still hoping for beach time – the beaches of San Teodoro, like all in Sardinia and Italy in general, area seasonal and easier to fully enjoy for kids especially in the summer months.

>> You are hoping for a place with large theme parks, malls, arcades etc. San Teodoro has a lively town life but it is very much about enjoying the beautiful nature around it.

Where is San Teodoro and how to get there

San Teodoro is a beach town in the North- East of Sardinia, in a beautiful area called Gallura. The closest airport / port to San Teodoro is Olbia, which is immediately to the north of San Teodoro and one of the best served arrival points into Sardinia.

The drive between Olbia airport and San Teodoro takes about 30 minutes by car with no traffic; a little longer, closer to one hour, if you do it by bus.

If you are renting a car, I recommend you do so well in advance (demand is high): I use Discover Cars to find the best deal – you can select by size of car, transmission, deposit needed, you can add car seats etc.

Please note: if you do not have a EU/UK driving licence, you most likely need an international driving permit to legally drive in Italy. If you do and do not have it, you may be denied collecting the car and/ or fined. Make sure you check all the driving requirements they may apply to you well in advance. For instance, this is the official source for US visitors.

If you prefer to use a local driver to bring you to your resort, my go-to company is Welcome Pickups which is reliable, easy to contact and use and offers child seats on request.

If you prefer to go by bus, buses stop just outside Olbia airport and bring you to the main terminus in San Teodoro, which is in the town center.

Where to stay in San Teodoro with kids

San Teodoro has lovely accommodation options. Depending on what you prefer, you can choose between hotels, resorts and rentals. For instance:

Amasea resort -lovely for families, with excellent facilities for all ages from babies (cribs, bottle sanitisers etc), to primary school age kids and teens (playground, sport facilities)

Hotel Bonsai – pretty, with family rooms, pool and option of pick up to/from airport

Villa Il Sole – for bigger families who want total privacy and a villa setting

The best time to visit San Teodoro with kids

The best time of year to visit San Teodoro with kids is the summer, and more specifically the months between mid June and late September.

Mid June tends to have better air temperatures than later in the summer, but you may find the water still a little on the chilly side: I may be particularly sensitive, but this last time we went, in June, I fond the water too cold to be pleasant – I could swim and many others did, including my kids, but it was on the colder side, the type of water you want to move into, to generate some heat.

July and August can be super hot and busy, yet stay among the best ones for water actives.

September is usually bliss as the water had the summer to warm up and the outside temperature is usually warm but not scorching.

The best things to do in San Teodoro with kids

San Teodoro is a beach town and the best things to do here are a mix of beach, enjoying the town life and structured tours and activities.

Go to to the beach – the beast beaches in San Teodoro for kids

San Teodoro is close to several wonderful beaches:

La Cinta is a big, stunning beach in San Teodoro itself, a large crescent of soft, light coloured sand with shallow waters and stunning. The beach is equipped with cafes and lidos but also has large parts of free beach you can just enjoy by bringing towels and your own umbrella

Lu Impostu is another fantastic beach in San Teodoro area, maybe my favorite really, and you can reach it by a shoer car ride or by the excellent ‘beach bus’ which operates as a shuttle between here and the town.

The beach has regulated access and in high season you need to book to enter: this is to safeguard and area of great natural beauty and fragile ecosystems – read below how to book and how it worked for us. The beach has parts with umbrellas, a basic cafe, and large parts of free beach.

Cala Brancichini is a beach that often makes the list of ‘best beaches in Sardinia’ and it is also very close to san Teodoro by car or by the above mentioned beach bus. Cala Brandichini is indeed wonderful: access is regulated and it is harder to find a space here than in Lu Impostu as it is more popular as the ‘best beach’ label attract many. If you do, you’ll tell me if you think it deserved it!

Other stunning beaches in San Teodoro you can reach nay car are Isuledda and Puntaldia – then of course by car there are also many more, once you leave the immediate San Teodoro vicinity and inch closer to Olbia.

Good to know: hotels in Sardinia are usually happy to lend you a beach umbrella and this is a lovely and budget friendly option if you want to be on a free beach and not avail of loungers and umbrellas from a lido. If you set yourself in a location without a lido, please be advised that facilities may / may not be there or may be quite basic and food offering may also be limited so you may want to bring a picnic (plenty of nice shops in town to stock up) and changing gear for the kids. Make sure you also bring bags and whatever you may need to bring your rubbish with you when you leave. Please also be advised it is illegal to remove beach, shells etc from the beach.

Enjoy the town

San Teodoro town is lovely, especially in the evening. The town center develops around a cluster of streets with cafes, restaurants, shops and bars and the atmosphere on summer nights is buzzy and upbeat.

The crowds in the town is a mix of families and younger age group, and this means you have a mix of entertainment options, from restaurants to pubs with live music, but we always found the overall atmosphere to be mellow and family friendly – so, if you read about San Teodoro as a place for nightlife, I feel like reassuring you: it is not dominant at all in the city as a vibe and you can completely ignore it!

A lovely thing about summers in Tan Teodoro is the evening market. One of the main streets closes to traffic at night and hosts stalls selling jewellery, honey and other one of a kind things. Very popular with families and a lovely way to spend the evening.

Take a boat tour of Tavolara

Very close to San Teodoro you find the stunning island of Tavolara, which is wonderful to see by boat. Many people come to this part to Sardinia thinking of taking a boat trip around La Maddalena, which is wold famous, but from San Teodoro, Tavolara is very much the islands you want yo go to and I promise: it is stunning!

The island itself offers fantastic views and the water is top. With kids, look at this small group tour kid friendly and lovely

Take a cooking class

I find cooking classes in a local home one of the best ways to connect with locals and get a glimpse of a place beyond beach life and in San Teodoro there is this lovely one hat is suitable also for kids.

The class teaches you to make pasta for scratch and tiramisu and while I know tiramisu is not originally from Sardinia, it is very much an authentic Italian dessert we all eat everywhere, so it very much counts as a local experience. I am myself a great fan of tiramisu so I am always happy when I see it on the menu!

See the flamingoes

Sardinia is a paradise for flamingoes and San Teodoro is no exception! Flamingos are ins several areas and it is not uncommon to find colonies of them around Sardinia: near san todoro, they are usually in the stagno di san Teodoro, specifically in the more remote area, further from al Cinta beach. Flamingoes are really cute and fun to see and you can reach their area by car, then taking a walk along the local trains to get to good observing distance.

Where to stay in San Teodoro with kids

Where to eat in San Teodoro with kids

We had several lovely meals in San Teodoro, but best of the best were:

Il Mangiatutto – lovely restaurant with pretty outdoor seating. Not massive, so booking is recommended

Da Luigi – large, really delicious restaurant. Do not be put off by the empty tables outside, the places hides a wonderful inner courtyard and everyone is in there!

How to book San Teodoro Beaches

As I mentioned above, some of the beaches near San Teodoro require booking. This may be annoying and inconvenient from a planning point of view but it’s a measure that has reason to exist as these beaches really are fragile and making sure they are not stampeeded out of existance is the way to help them survive.

Thankfully, the booking process is easy. Your hotel will give you all the info but, basically, you just need to go to this website >> https://santeodorospiagge.it and follow the instructions on screen: you can toggle to English on the top left corner of the screen. You can book for up to 2 days in advance and applies to the summer months, June to September. Booking comes with a small access fee: after your booing is confirmed, you will receive a confirmation and QR code – make sure you keep it as you’ll need to show it to access the beach.

How to use the San Teodoro Beach Bus

Several beaches in the San Teodoro area are served by a ‘beach bus’ which works as a shuttle between them and the town in the high season. The bus is very handy and we made good use of if: it goes regularly during the day, you can get tickets as you board and you can carry your beach stuff with you. The only downside of the bus is that it may not stir close to your hotel and anyway only serves some beaches: so, while it is a great resource, if you want to explore further afield I strongly recommend a car.

San Teodoro without a car – and why you want one

San Teodoro itself doesn’t require a car but the area around it does and without your own vehicle you truly are very limited in what you can do here. In high season, as well as the town, you can enjoy beaches such as Lu Inmost and Cala Brandichini by bus but outside of the summer months and if you want to get anywhere else, buses and private drivers are not really an option.

Buses are not really an option for where they go: they are ok to get to the airport or to Olbia, but they are not suitable to bring to hiking or to agriturismo or even smaller towns as they just do not get there or take ages.

Private drivers may be an option but are very pricey and must be booked in advance: it is therefore not feasible to arrive here without a plan hoping to get a car on the day as, in reality, there may be none available / affordable.

Driving in and near San Teodoro

The area of Sam Teodoro doesn’t pose particular issues in terms of driving. If you stay on the main roads, you will find they tend to be narrow and bendy, so you will want to take your time, but I have not found them to be particularity challenging. If you want to venture towards more secluded natural areas however, I recommend you ask your host beforehand about driving conditions and parking areas – maps are not always reliable, always trust local knowledge and your eyes over what an online map days!

I hope you enjoyed this essential guide to San Teodoro with kids and it helped you plan your stay! Safe travels!