The Costa Smeralda — the Emerald Coast — is a 55-kilometre stretch of northeastern Sardinia's coastline between the Gulf of Cugnana and the Gulf of Arzachena. The Aga Khan IV purchased the land in the early 1960s and developed it as a planned resort destination for the international wealthy, and it has remained one of Europe's most expensive holiday areas ever since. The granite-fringed coves, turquoise water, and pink-sand beaches are genuinely spectacular; the price levels are equally so.
Porto Cervo, the coast's main resort, centres on a superyacht marina that regularly hosts some of the largest private boats in the world. Porto Rotondo, a few kilometres south, is smaller and slightly less ostentatious. Both are largely closed out of season.
