Grotta del Bue Marino

Location

Cala Gonone
Italy
40° 14' 48.6204" N, 9° 37' 23.0844" E
IT
General info: 

The Bue Marino Grottos are considered some of the most beautiful grottos in all of Italy, with kilometers of galleries, rivers and subterranean lakes, stalactites and stalagmites, fossils and Neolithic graffiti.
The caves are among the biggest in Sardinia with total length of about 5km. On a guided tour only about 900m meters is visited however. The visitors follow the way the sea penetrates into the mountain creating a salt lake of more than 1squarekilometer of surface. The place is very rich of stalactites and stalagmites. Only underwater speleologists may go further from here.
The name of the cave comes from the presence of Monaca seal, the extremely rare Mediterranean seal (that local people call private://sea oxprivate://, Bue Marino), which till to the '80ies came to grow its puppies in this cave.

Getting there: 

In the harbour of Cala Gonone, there are several companies offering boat trips to the destinations along the coastline, including Grotta del Bue Marino (Bue Marine Cave).

Costs: 

There are many companies but here one price example: Bue Marino: round-trip from Cala Gonone €17, ages 6-12 €10. Bue Marino and Cala Luna: €24, ages 6-12 €16. Ferry fees include guided tour.

Interesting places nearby

Located in the southern part of the Jura mountains, Monts Jura is made up of three Alpine ski areas: - Lélex - Crozet, 15 minutes from Geneva, - Mijoux – La Faucille, 10 minutes from Gex - Menthières, 15 minutes from Bellegarde.

Morgins, a chocolate box mountain village, nestled between pine forests and meadows on the Swiss French border, has been welcoming visitors for over a hundred years.

Morillon it's the choice between two little villages interlinked by a ski slope and a 10-seater ultra-fast gondola: - Firstly, the traditional village of Morillon which is home to 500 permanent residents.

Morzine is one of 14 resorts in the massive Portes du Soleil ski area, which spans the Franco-Swiss border.

The Mottarone situated between Lake Maggiore and Lake Orta, is considered one of the most beautiful natural balconies in the whole Piedmont, and not only.

The ski resort Mürren – Schilthorn is the highest-altitude ski region in the Bernese Oberland and allows an impressive view on the Swiss mountains Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.