A Guide To Renting A Car In Cagliari: 19 Best Things To Know

Are you thinking of renting a car in Cagliari? Then, you are reading the right post.

I live in Cagliari – born and raised here – and drive around all the time, rent a car all the time, and know all the tricks that will help you land the best deal on a Cagliari car rental. I also know what it’s like to drive in the city and in its surroundings, so I can give you a very detailed account and help you understand what to expect.

Let me be clear on one thing: if you are sticking to Cagliari on your trip, you probably don’t need to rent a car. You can get to the city from the airport very easily by train, and the historic center is easy to explore on foot.

However, if you want to explore the surroundings and further afield, it is definitely a good idea. Renting a car in Cagliari is easy and while it may not be nearly as cheap as it is in other parts of Italy (that’s because of the somewhat limited availability), having a car rental in Cagliari remains the most convenient way of getting around.

When renting a car in Cagliari (and anywhere else I travel) I use Discover Cars. It’s mu favorite comparison site, with a powerful search engine that looks for local and international companies and finds the best deals for you. They offer free cancellation up to 48 hours before you are due to pick up the car, and a budget-friendly full coverage policy.

Continue reading this post for my guide on car hire in Cagliari. I will explain why you should do it, and give you my expert tips on how to rent a car in Cagliari.

Is Renting A Car In Cagliari A Good Idea?

Renting a car in Cagliari is definitely a great idea. Let me tell you why.

Public transportation will only take you so far

We locals complain about it, but public transportation in Cagliari is actually quite good. City buses take you pretty much anywhere in the city, including the beautiful city beaches of Poetto and Calamosca.

Renting a car in Cagliari, however, is still the best option if you are planning to explore what’s outside the city.

While buses go to most places near Cagliari, sometimes there are just one or two buses in a day – which is simply not convenient and will limit your movements if you want to take a day trip out of town.

When you rent a car in Cagliari, you aren’t tied to the bus schedules and can drive around at a whim. If you are enjoying a place, you can stay as long as you like without worrying about the bus schedule to take you bak to town.

Finally, if you travel with a lot of luggage or if you are visiting Sardinia with your family, traveling by bus or by train in Sardinia is not the best thing to do.

For a more accurate idea of what you can expect when traveling by bus or train in Sardinia, read my post How To Travel By Public Transport In Sardinia.

There are a lot of places to visit just outside Cagliari

Cagliari is a great base to explore the south of Sardinia, and there are tons of places that you can visit on day trips from Cagliari, but you will be way better off renting a car in Cagliari for that.

Don’t get me wrong: there are buses to most places – but often catching a bus back won’t leave you enough time to explore. There also are guided tours to the most popular sites, but these can be fairly expensive (especially if you are traveling with your family) or simply not run for the day and time you’d like.

Say you want to visit the magnificent UNESCO World Heritage site Su Nuraxi in Barumini, and then explore the Giara Plateau to see the famous Giara horses: having a car will save you a lot of time and hassle.

If you want to visit the ruins of Nora, and then spend some time exploring Pula or hanging at the beach, a car will give you more flexibility.

Likewise, if you want to do wine tasting tours in the nearby Serdiana and Dolianova (for example at Argiolas Winery), having a car will allow you to be more flexible.

If you want to do some beach hopping outside of Cagliari (for example in the area of Villasimius, or to the west of Cagliari to the Chia beaches) a car is your best option and often your only one. Believe me, getting out of and coming back to the city on public transportation if you want to go beach hopping is simply not doable.

Have I convinced you? Head over to Discover Cars to check the prices of car rental in Cagliari and see what you can get for a very reasonable fee.

How To Rent A Car In Cagliari

Now that you know why renting a car in Cagliari is a great idea, I am ready to share my expert tips: I regularly rent cars in Sardinia, Italy and elsewhere in the world and know all the tricks. Car rental in Cagliari is easy and straightforward, but you’d better go prepared.

Quick overview

I will get into more details – meantime, for those of you that want to go straight to the point here are the steps to follow to rent a car in Cagliari.

Rent a car online via Discover Cars

My first tip when looking for a rental car in Cagliari is to use a comparison site to look for the best deals. Not all comparison sites are good. After trying many with different success (read: often quite bad), I have settled to use only Discover Cars: they have the best booking experience and the best customer support.

Here is a step by step guide to snatch the best car rental in Cagliari:

After you open the Discover Cars page, fill in your details: the dates you will be renting a car in Cagliari, the pick up location (for example you can rent a car in Cagliari Airport) and the drop off location, which can be different from where you pick it up (for example, you can drop it off at Alghero Airport, one of the other airports in Sardinia).

The system will pull out a number of deals on car rental in Cagliari, but then you need to apply a bunch of filters to find the best car for your needs.

First of all, you need filter your search by ratings. I recommend going for 8 out of 10 as a minimum. There are good reasons some car rental companies in Cagliari have low ratings: their service is not good. For example they may have hidden fees. Normally, paying a bit more means a better service too.

Then, you can filter by the kind of car you wish to rent. If you are only exploring the surroundings of Cagliari and are traveling alone or with a friend / partner, an economy car like a Fiat Panda or Fiat Cinquecento is more than enough. If you are traveling with your family and have lots of luggage, you will need something bigger.

Finally, select Full Coverage. It’s an additional €10 daily fee to cover any damage you may cause to the car – for example broken windows or mirrors.

At the end of the process, you will have a list of all the car rental companies in Cagliari that offer a car matching your needs. You can adjust the list by price or by review score too.

Discover Cars is my favorite comparison site for car rental in Cagliari and elsewhere. It searches the prices of all car rental companies – they can bit large multinational or even local operators – and gives you the best prices for your requested filters. You can cancel your rental car within 48 hours of your pick up time.

Do you need Full Coverage insurance when renting a car in Cagliari?

I like to say it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Cagliari is a safe city, but anything may happen during your trip. Most people who visit Cagliari have a wonderful time, but nuisances and accidents can happen and that’s when an extra insurance policy will be helpful.

Some credit card companies give you their own insurance. But rental car companies in Cagliari may refuse to accept it and in any case having insurance is a legal requirement whenever you rent a car in Italy.

Discover Cars Full Coverage insurance policy covers you for any liabilities (for example if you get into a car accident with your rental car). It costs about €10 per day, which is cheaper than getting insurance directly with the car rental company.

Here is a list of what Full Coverage insurance actually includes:

• Collision Damage Waiver (CDW), which protects you in case of accidents;
• Personal Liability insurance;
• Medical expenses for all passengers in case of an accident;
• Theft protection;
• Damages to the body of the car;
• Towing expenses.

Full Coverage does not include the following:

• Damage to the interior parts of the car;
• Cleaning fees;
• Damage caused by the driver when not adhering to the terms and conditions of the car rental policy.

Will car rental companies in Cagliari accept Discover Cars Full Coverage policy?

This is something you need to be very watchful about, because in my experience some car rental companies in Cagliari – well, anywhere really – will ask you to get their own insurance policy even if you have already paid for Full Coverage with Discover Cars. It certainly happened to me a few times.

Let me stress that if you already have full coverage, you don’t have to buy the car rental company’s own insurance. However, the company will hold an additional deposit (usually around €3000) that will be returned once you drop off the car (as long as it has no damages).

It’s also worth noting that if you drop off the car with some damages, you must file a claim with Discover Cars. It’s very easy: you can do it via their website – the same you used to rent a car – or via their app which is available for free on both Android and iOS. Within 48 hours you will get your reimbursement.

Best pick up location when renting a car in Cagliari

I recommend you rent a car in Cagliari Airport. It’s the best thing to do even if you don’t do it as soon as you land. In that case, you can simply take the train to the airport to go get your car.

I have heard all sorts of theories by people who believe that car rental in Cagliari Airport is more expensive and you should travel to town or even to a smaller nearby town is cheaper, but I disagree.

First of all, in my experience the prices are more or less the same.

Secondly, getting to a smaller town to find a good car rental doesn’t come at no price: you’d have to dodge the public transport system or hire a taxi to get there, and it can be expensive.

Honestly, save yourself the hassle and rent a car in Cagliari airport.

I also need to add that you really should not leave your search for a car rental in Cagliari to the last minute.

In fact, you should always book your car beforehand, especially if you are planning to visit during the peak summer months (June to September) and the when the big festivals – such as Sant’Efisio – are held.

Landing at the airport with no car rental reservations and expecting to rent a car in Cagliari Airport at a decent price is a bit of fantasy. You might even end up not finding any car at all. Don’t forget that being on an island which is scarcely populated the availability of car rental in Cagliari is definitely more limited than in other parts of the country!

Head over to Discover Cars to check the prices of car rental in Cagliari Airport and see what you can get for a very reasonable fee.

Anyway, once you have booked your car and landed at Cagliari-Elmas airport, finding the car rental in Cagliari Airport is very easy.

Once you are out of the arrivals area, you just have to turn left, following the “To The Trains” signs: some of the rental car offices are on your left, along the corridor, while some others are outside. Keep following the signs, cross the street and you will find them on your right.

Once you get to your car, make sure to check it thoroughly while the car rental employee is still with you. Look for any scratch and tiny bump (and take photos of them) that might be there before you actually drive the car – you don’t want to pay for damage you didn’t do once you give the car back to the office.

Alternatively, make sure to get full insurance so you won’t have to worry as much!

Remember that you don’t have to give the car back to the same office where you took it: as long as it’s the same car rental company, you can leave it in another location – best if another airport once you are ready to fly home.

You can use Discover Cars to check the prices of car rental in Cagliari Airport and see how much it would be to drop off in a different location.

What if you are arriving by ferry?

If you are arriving to Cagliari by ferry you will be docking at the harbor which is right in the heart of Cagliari, and faces via Roma. From there, it’s an easy walk to Piazza Matteotti, where there are some car rental companies too.

If you want to rent a car in Cagliari city center, simply input “Cagliari Downtown” or “Cagliari Port” when selecting your rental car pick up location on Discover Cars.

Best car rental companies in Cagliari

You will find all major international, Italian and even local car rental companies in Cagliari – Herzt, Locauto, Sicily by Car, Budget, Avis, Sixt and Europcar all have offices at the airport, along with some lesser known companies such as Noleggiare, Autonoleggio Sardinya, Ichnusa Rent and others.

Checking out the prices of car rental on each and every of these companies can be time consuming, so I recommend using a comparison app that will help you with that. My go-to company in this case is Discover Cars – that’s where I normally find the best deals.

How far in advance should you rent a car in Cagliari?

So many people email me in the summer saying that renting a car in Cagliari is too expensive and they can’t afford it, and asking me for more affordable car rental options.

I don’t have any more tips other than what I have already said in this post: don’t leave the task of looking for a car rental in Cagliari at the last minute.

It’s true: the prices of car rental in Cagliari skyrocket in the summer when availability is more limited – and you may even find it hard to get a car altogether.

I suggest looking for a Cagliari car rental as soon as you have booked your flights, especially if you are traveling to Sardinia in the summer. Don’t expect to land in Cagliari and drive out of the airport with a luxury car that you paid peanuts, because that is highly unlikely (read impossible), especially if you are traveling in the peak season.

Which car should you rent?

Finding the right car for you greatly depends on the type of holiday you are planning and the number of people coming with you. Of course, if you are having a family trip, you will need a larger car than if you were traveling solo.

If you are planning to visit Cagliari and not leave the city, a smaller car might be the best option. Many streets (especially in the historical center) are quite narrow and not suited for bigger cars – you might end up scratching or damaging them.

You could even consider a hybrid or fully electric car: they are small, easy to drive and there are plenty of recharging stations around: every parking lot in Cagliari has at least a recharging station.

A small (economy) car is more than enough if you are taking day trips out of town.

If your itinerary around Sardinia is more complex and includes lots of movement, or day trips to the beach for which you need to fit lots of equipment, a bigger car is the best choice: you can fit more luggage (and people, if needed) and will be sitting more comfortably.

Another issue you need to consider when renting a car in Cagliari is parking: staying inside the city will mean limited parking spots and lots of rules to follow. It can be a real nightmare and a small car is way easier to park than a larger one.

Ready to rent a car in Cagliari? Check out the prices of car rental on Discover Cars.

How much does it cost to rent a car in Cagliari?

When someone complains that renting a car in Cagliari is too expensive, I just know that they left the search for a rental car to the last minute and / or they are looking to rent a car in Cagliari in the summer months.

Yes, renting a car in Cagliari (and in Sardinia in general) is more expensive than renting a car in Italy. As I said at the beginning of this post, being an island Sardinia has more limited availability.

If you are looking to rent a car in Cagliari in the peak summer months, you can expect to pay around €30 per day, and an additional €10 per day for full coverage.

Renting a car in Cagliari in shoulder or low season (for example in January or November) is much cheaper. There are deals for just €10 per day.

The following items may increase the price of your car rental in Cagliari:

• Additional driver;
• GPS system;
• Automatic transmission car (cars here are manual by default);
• Child or infant seat;
• Drop off location different from the pick up one.

How old do you need to be to rent a car in Cagliari?

The age requirement to rent a car in Cagliari is the same as in the rest of Italy: you must be 21. Some companies may allow you to rent a car even if you are just 18 years old, as long as you have had your license for at least a year.

There usually is a surcharge for drivers under 25 years old. On the other hand, there is normally no maximum age limit but some companies do not rent cars to drivers who are 75 or 80 years old.

Documents needed when renting a car in Cagliari

Many people show up to the car rental offices to pick up their car and realize only then that they don’t have all the necessary documents.

This is a list of the documents you need to bring with you when you pick up your car:

• A valid driving license.
• If you don’t have an EU driver’s license, you are required to have an International Driver’s License. This is a requirement in all of Italy. The rental car company in Cagliari may not ask for it, but you still have to have it.
• A credit card – some companies (very few) will allow you to rent a car with just a debit card but this is usually more expensive.
• Your passport.
• Insurance policy.

Useful Tips When Renting A Car In Cagliari

Inspect the car before driving off

I can’t stress this enough. Do not rush when you pick up your rental car.

Some companies for whatever reason will suggest you sign the contract remotely and leave the car keys in a safe place so there won’t be someone with you to inspect the car – but you can refuse to do that and demand that someone is there to check the car with you.

Someone from the car rental company needs to take notes of every scratch or bump in the car, and you must take photos if relevant so as to avoid any dispute over scratches or bumps when returning the car.

This is also when you must note down how much fuel is in the tank – to avoid this extra task, select a full-to-full car.

Be on time when you return the car

Cagliari Airport isn’t big, and getting there from the city is a breeze. However, if you are staying elsewhere and traveling in the summer months, traffic may be an issue. If you have a flight to catch, you want to leave plenty of time to return your car and check that everything is fine.

Driving to and from Cagliari Elmas Airport

Getting from Cagliari Airport to the city center is super easy. The airport is only 10 km (6.2 miles) from the city, in the neighboring town of Elmas.

To get to Cagliari, follow State Road E25 and the road signs. Of course, the traffic will hugely influence the duration of your drive, but you will reach your destination in a fair amount of time anyway.

I know that Google Maps suggests there are tolls on the way, but there aren’t. On the other hand, there may be speed detectors so make sure not to go above the speed limit.

Where to park your car in Cagliari

Parking in Cagliari can be tricky. The historic center areas of La Marina, Stampace, Castello or Villanova have a shortage of parking spaces so you will likely need to find a parking spot outside the area and walk to your accommodation. Make sure to ask your hotel upon booking for suggestions on a parking spot – unless the hotel has its own.

One of the largest paid parking lots in Cagliari is right by the train station, in Piazza Matteotti. From there, it’s easy to reach the Marina and Stampace historic districts where I recommend to stay.

There is also a large covered paid parking lot along Viale Regina Elena, from where you can take the elevator to the Castello district or walk down Villanova district; and one in Via S. Alenixedda from where you can access the San Benedetto district. On the same road you will find an underground parking lot close to the Teatro Lirico of Cagliari.

If you plan to stay closer to Poetto Beach, you should not have issues finding a parking spot near your accommodation.

Pay attention to the lines on the ground: white parking lines indicate free parking; blue lines are for paid parking; and yellow lines are reserved parking spots for disabled people.

Never park on a yellow parking spot, even if you couldn’t find any other parking: leaving aside the fact that it’s an extremely selfish and rude gesture, you can be fined up to €700 and your car will be towed.

Driving in Cagliari

When you drive in Italy, you have to pay attention to a lot of rules: the same goes for Cagliari.

Driving in Cagliari means you will be dealing with traffic, roundabouts, and traffic lights and will likely struggle to find parking sometimes. Free parking is a rare treat even for us locals who know where to look, but luckily, there are plenty of places where you can park for a small fee.

Local drivers are often impatient – don’t be bothered and don’t feel obliged to speed if you notice they are tailgating you.

Speaking of that, watch out for the speed limit as it changes quite frequently and suddenly. Some areas in Cagliari have a 30 km/h speed limit, whereas the general speed limit in the city is 50 km/h.

The speed limit on the “Asse Mediano” (the road that cuts through the city, connecting the inner areas to Poetto Beach) is 70 km/h, though most drivers in Cagliari don’t seem to respect that.

Speed cameras are scattered around town – we never really know if they are working or just placed as a deterrent, but just in case don’t go above the speed limit. If you get a fine the car rental company will make sure to forward it to you, and you will have to pay.

There are also speed bumps in many area.

Finally, cities in Italy have some specially designated areas where it’s forbidden to drive at certain times unless you are a resident, except for electric cars and some other cars with a special permit.

These areas are called ZTL (Limited Traffic Zones) and are usually located in the historic city center and alongside beaches or other crowded promenades.

The areas are marked with a clear sign that specifies the times you can drive through (it’s usually forbidden to drive there at night, or in the early afternoon hours). Sometimes, there is something similar to a traffic light that suggests whether you can drive through (Varco Aperto) or not (Varco Chiuso).

In doubt, it’s best you avoid driving in these areas entirely.

ZTL areas in Cagliari include:

• The historic district of Castello;
• The historic district of La Marina;
• Most of the historic district of Stampace;
• Most of the historic district of Villanova;
• The waterfront at Poetto Beach.

Further Readings

Traveling to other destinations in Sardinia and want to rent a car? Then, these posts are for you:

• A Guide To Renting A Car In Sardinia
• A Guide To Renting A Car In Olbia
• A Guide To Renting A Car In Alghero
• The Best Sardinia Road Trip Itinerary
• The Most Complete 10-Days In Sardinia

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