CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Alghero it runs 388 km to Alghero; allow about 7 h 06 of riding. It goes by way of Domus de janas of Orto del Beneficio Parro, Petroglyph Park-a, Necropolis of Ispiluncas and Necropolis of Istevéne. The line favours views over speed.
Not far from Alghero, on the flat land behind the coast, lies the largest group of domus de janas in Sardinia. Anghelu Ruju is a necropolis of more than thirty rock-cut tombs, dug into the sandstone with stone tools around five thousand years ago and later reused for burials into the Bronze Age. The site was found in 1903 when workers were preparing land for a vineyard, and excavations revealed chambers with carved bull's horns, false doorways and painted ochre, together with pottery, figurines and personal ornaments now displayed in museums in Sassari and Cagliari. The bull motifs are thought to have been linked to fertility and protection, and they give these dim chambers a surprisingly powerful presence.
Read the complete Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju is where the day begins. Next is Domus de janas of Orto del Beneficio Parro.
Most prehistoric tombs in Sardinia sit out in the countryside behind a gate and a dirt track. The domus de janas of Orto del Beneficio Parrocchiale are different: they are in Sennori itself, a few steps from the houses, carved into the soft limestone in what was once, as the name suggests, a garden belonging to the parish. A handful of chambers opens out of the rock, small rooms with low doorways, the work of Neolithic farmers who lived on this ridge thousands of years before anyone thought of building a church here.
Read the complete Domus de janas of Orto del Beneficio Parro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Domus de janas of Orto del Beneficio Parro comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Petroglyph Park-a.
The north-west of Sardinia is a country of low volcanic hills, pasture, cork oak and stone, and the villages of the Logudoro are small, quiet and far older than they look. This area, around Cheremule and Giave, is dotted with traces of a world that predates the Romans by a very long time. The island's prehistoric people carved tombs into soft rock, the domus de janas, which translates as fairy houses, and built round stone towers called nuraghi, of which there are thousands.
Read the complete Petroglyph Park-a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 90 km into the recorded legs you reach Petroglyph Park-a. Next is Necropolis of Ispiluncas.
In central Sardinia, on a slope above the village of Sedilo, a cluster of rock-cut tombs opens into the hillside like a row of small dark doorways. These are domus de janas, "houses of the fairies" in the local language, burial chambers carved into the soft rock by the island's prehistoric inhabitants several thousand years ago. Ispiluncas is one of the larger groups, with tombs of varied plans, some with multiple chambers and carved details imitating the beams and doorframes of houses. In 2025 the domus de janas were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list, recognising one of the most distinctive funerary traditions in the Mediterranean.
Read the complete Necropolis of Ispiluncas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Necropolis of Ispiluncas, about halfway. Next is Necropolis of Istevéne.
In Sardinian folklore, the little rock-cut tombs scattered across the island were the homes of janas, tiny fairies or witches who wove on golden looms and came out at night. Archaeologists call them domus de janas, fairy houses, and date them to the Neolithic and Copper Age, thousands of years before the famous nuraghi towers. The necropolis of Istevéne, near Mamoiada in the heart of the Barbagia, is a group of these chambers cut into the granite, some with carved details imitating the beams and doorways of real houses, and it belongs among the prehistoric Sardinian tombs that have gained UNESCO recognition.
Read the complete Necropolis of Istevéne write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Necropolis of Istevéne sits at 184 km, about halfway. Next is back through Necropolis of Ispiluncas.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Necropolis of Ispiluncas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Necropolis of Ispiluncas comes up about 245 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Petroglyph Park-a.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Petroglyph Park-a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 299 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Petroglyph Park-a. Next is back through Domus de janas of Orto del Beneficio Parro.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Domus de janas of Orto del Beneficio Parro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Domus de janas of Orto del Beneficio Parro, late in the day. Next is Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 388 km.
Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju → Domus de janas of Orto del Beneficio Parro is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Domus de janas of Orto del Beneficio Parro → Petroglyph Park-a is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Petroglyph Park-a → Necropolis of Ispiluncas is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Necropolis of Ispiluncas → Necropolis of Istevéne is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Necropolis of Istevéne → back through Necropolis of Ispiluncas is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Necropolis of Ispiluncas → back through Petroglyph Park-a is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Petroglyph Park-a → back through Domus de janas of Orto del Beneficio Parro is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Domus de janas of Orto del Beneficio Parro → Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.