Costa Rei is a tourist beach resort in southern Sardinia that began its development in the early 1970s. In fact that part of the coast was completely virgin until the 1960s, when a small group of Belgians have understood its extraordinary potential.
The origin of its name has various interpretations which, however, are not found in written documents. In most cases these are legends, although some of them may appear particularly fascinating. The most accredited between them is the one that maintains that the name may have originated from the presence of a penal colony established in 1875 in the territory of Castiadas, in which prisoners were sent to serve their sentences even with forced works. According to this more logical and credible interpretation, Costa Rei would be the “Costa dei Rei” that means the “Coast of the Guilties”. Indeed, the remains of that penal colony have arrived to the present days, recently restored, made accessible and present today as a place of certain historical and cultural interest.
Costa Rei has to offer an endless beach of fine sand, a crystalline sea with surprising colour shades, a pristine nature essentially made of Mediterranean vegetation which is the ideal to resist the action of the wind and salt. It also has two features that makes it climatically special: the south-east exposure and a promontory behind called Monte Nai, preserve it from the climatic changes that sometimes characterize the hinterland. This allows to have longer beach seasons thanks to better microclimate conditions.
This tourist destination has developed over time knowing more and more visitors, not loosing those peculiarities of main importance such as the beauty of the territory, the beach and the sea, also thanks to the fact that the urban settlements have remained rather contained compared to the vastness of the territories in which they gradually have arose.
Costa Rei is not a holiday spot where returning visitors look for worldliness and nightlife typical of other places in Sardinia in particular and in other Mediterranean resorts in general. All the loyal customers choose Costa Rei precisely because they do not appreciate the chaos of crowding and look for a dream sea, relaxation, an authentic holiday spot on the sea out of beaten routes. They also choose it out of the season peak, because it can be an excellent starting point for excursions for discovering fascinating places for history, culture, landscapes and food and wine traditions.
