Picturesque historical districts with sea views, elegant shopping streets and panoramic terraces, including the  bastione di Santa Croce, a great place for a romantic evening after a fiery sunset. Cagliari is Sardinia's main and most populous city, at the center of an urban area that counts 430,000 inhabitants (150,000 of them in the capital city alone) as well as the island's gateway port and main Mediterranean cruise liner hub. The city's history goes back thousands of years, from pre-historic times to the reign of the Savoy.

The  Castle  quarter sits perched on its highest hill and boasts ancient bastions that today are the heart and soul of nightlife, and picturesque streets lined by grand old homes:  Royal Palace  and  Town Hall, as well as the  Cathedral of  Saint Mary. The medieval towers -  of the Elephant  and  San Pancrazio  - that stand guard at the entrance to the castle are well worth notice.  Villanova  connects to the Castle quarter via the stairway of the  bastion of Saint Remy. A passionate air of religious devotion takes over the quarter every year at Easter, during  Holy Week, while during the rest of the year the elegant boutiques and churches welcome you with somewhat less ado: the  cloister of San Domenico, the  Church of San Saturnio, and the  Basilica of Our Lady of Bonaria, the Christian temple of Sardinia. Below Castello you'll find the  Marinaquarter, which will impress you with lovely buildings and the porticos of Via Roma, including the  Civic Palace. Settled as a village of fishermen and merchants, it is the symbol of the town's multi-ethnicity. Here you will find the  Church of Sant'Eulalia, home to precious remains from the Roman era. The  Stampace  quarter is the venue of the colorful yearly  festival of Sant'Efisio  in May, an event the entire island enjoys. Its narrow streets are home to the baroque  Church of Sant'Anna. Don't forget to visit the nearby  Anfiteatro, one of Sardinia's most important Roman ruins, and the  Botanical gardens, a green oasis in the city's center. Just outside of town is the  Castle of San Michele  and  Tuvixeddu, the Mediterranean's largest Phoenician-Punic necropolis (VI-III century BCE). When you are ready to surround yourself with nature, you can head towards a thousand different natural attractions: the  Cagliari lagoon, the  Molentargius-Salinepark, which you can visit on a mountain bike, to see the pink flamingos take flight, and, of course, the sea. Take a dip at  Poetto, the city's 8 km long soft sandy beach along which there is a walking trail and cycling path. Even at night, when it reveals its more glamorous side, it is a delight. You can take an excursion to  Calamosca  and  Saddle of the Devil  from Poetto. And, finally, there is the local cuisine to be enjoyed, spaghetti with  bottarga (cured mullet or tuna roe) and artichokes,  Burrida  made with catshark and walnuts, and  fregula con cocciula, balls of semola with clams.