Punta sos Nidos

Overview

Punta sos Nidos is the highest summit in the north face of the Supramonte Mountain Range in Sardinia / Sardegna. Rather unspectacular to look at it is a great lookout summit - probably the best within the range. Its location between Punta Carabidda and Punta Ortu Camminu to the west as well as Punta Cusidore and Bruncu Nieddu to the east makes it a perfect mountain to catch pictures of these mountains. To the southwest there is Supramonte's highest summit, Monte Corrasi, which surmounts sos Nidos by about 150m.

To the north of the Supramonte Range stretches the long chain of the Monte Albo Massif. Both mountain ranges are closely related - in fact were part of a single mountain region but due to tectonic movements of the earth's crust drifted away from each other by about 40km. Even worther to the north east there is Tavolara Island, which also shows the same kind of limestone rock formations with vertical walls.

Punta sos Nidos is relatively easy to ascend from the western side by hiking the forest road to Scala 'e Pradu and then hopping along the spiky rocks on the Spramonte high plateau. The eastern ascent along Scala di Sovena is much more demanding, the Scala being a large gravelly couloir which demands serious attention from each hiker. Once in the saddle east of Punta sos Nidos, the karst hopping also begins but with a rather larger elevation difference to surmount.



Interactive overview Map of Supramonte. The summits (and gorges) which have been submitted to SP are marked in red.

Getting There

Sardinia can be reached either by plane or by ferry. The main ports are Porto Torres and Olbia in the north and Arbatax and Cagliari in the south. Airports are at Alghero and Olbia in the north as well as (again) Arbatax and Cagliari in the south. For exploring the north eastern part of the island where most of the mountains are the best entry point is Olbia, which is where most flights go anyway.

Approaching the mountain from Olbia airport
Get on motorway SS 131 south in the direction of Siniscola / Nuoro. At the exit Lula / Dorgali get off and turn on SP38 south (again direction Dorgali). Shortly before you reach the town turn right on SP46, direction Oliena. In Oliena follow the signs to Monte Maccione, which - if I understand correctly - is the larger mountain of which Punta Carabidda is a part of. The road leads to a restaurant at which you can park your car.