Parco Naturale Molentargius Saline — Attraction in Cagliari

Boat tour: Pointless, Painful and a waste of 2 hours and 30 euros. We took the official boat tour of the Parco Naturale Molentargius-Saline.

The primary issues were: no visibility of the surface of the salt basins from the boat - surely the point of the boat tour? (photos attached) absence of protection from the full mid-day sun (photo attached)

The secondary issues were concerning the captain of our tour. We may have been unlucky. Another captain may have been excellent. Safety issue when disembarking. Bad allocation of seating when boarding.

No visibility: When sitting down (as required) in the boat the salt basins are simply not visible (apart from one place). There are views of the embankment, weeds and shrubs. Walking, cycling or taking the e-bus provides views of the basins. Even the municipal PF / PQ bus running along the coastal roads provides views. What is the point of the boat tour if you do not see the basins and the wildlife feeding on the basins?

Mid-day sun: The boat had no cover from the full mid-day sun. My wife and I were starting to suffer from sunburn even though we were wearing hats and had applied 50 factor sunscreen. A young child on the boat was in difficulty with the sun and heat.

Poor safety: The last, but not least, concern was safety. As the young child was disembarking from the side of the boat, the boat drifted away from the dockside with a gap of about 30 cms opening up at the point of disembarkation. For a few moments she was in a precarious position especially with nobody on the dockside to assist her.

Allocation of Seating: The seating was strictly allocated by the skipper when boarding. 11 passengers for 11 seats - sounds simple. 9 Italian speaking passengers were allocated to the 9 best seats first. We were allocated one seat on a 3 seater bench next to another couple - so no social distancing there. I was given the option of sitting on the storage box (visible in the photo) which I eventually moved to. The 11th seat by that time had been taken by a lady who preferred it to her rearward facing view, allowing her partner to spread out across two seats.

The winners in this saga were the people who were turned away from the boat tour as it was fully booked. They will have seen much more than we did and still have their money in their pockets to fund the e-bus or bikes or simply enjoy...

uuumm, listen, this is a waste of time. It’s ugly. It’s not taken care of there’s not many flamingos there, trash is everywhere, there are no beautiful views, end of story. Everywhere you go in this park you can hear the cars on the highway, you cannot escape the urbanization of this town anywhere. I brought a camera with me and I haven’t taken a single shot because everything is ugly - it’s like somebody build a prison or some kind of concentration camps everywhere because of the wires around the entire park and the weird structures that were left here from the 60s it’s really really not pleasant. It doesn’t give the vibe of the nature at all. You still feel like you’re in some kind of movie (not a good one) it’s just left alone to be whatever it is and nobody cleans it nobody is taking care of the plants nobody is taking care of the roads. The way here is super long from the city center- if you don’t have a car it’s very painful and, the cars literally driving through the park all the time and people seem to be OK with it, which seems weird to me. The information center of the park looks like a concentration camp left abandoned and even though the park opens at 6:30 AM the information center with all the bikes you need to ride opens at 9 AM. And the cherry on top - there are very few flamingos here (we came in August) I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PARK OR...

If you happen to be in the area, I would definitely visit. It’s kind of a weird place but with a certain charm. There is no entrance fee (though you can rent bikes or get various guided tours for an expanded experience) so you can just drop by briefly to visit the flamingos, no need to spend hours exploring the park. I wouldn’t come specifically for this though from a distance. There are only a handful of flamingos and at quite a distance (though still really cool to see in the wild!). There are many other places to see them in Sardinia so if that’s your main reason, just pick a place closest to you rather than coming here. I did enjoy the experience though and really like the surrounding architecture many seem to be complaining about - it makes it unique to see the wildlife in such an urban setting.

Edit: since I stayed in the neighbourhood, I came back another time and I would suggest if you’re by car and don’t have luck with flamingos, might be worth driving to a different entrance. You also have a higher chance of seeing various birds in early evening (or morning) than middle of the day. And it’s probably worth it to get a bike or a guided tour. There is so much more to see than what I managed on foot. If you’re bothered by the buildings in the background at this entrance, explore the park further. There are many far more...