Why go
Walk the seafront bastions and lanes around Santa Maria Cathedral, San Francesco and the harbour before choosing an excursion. Neptune's Grotto and Capo Caccia form one weather-dependent coastal day; Palmavera and Anghelu Ruju provide a separate prehistoric thread. In Alghero, this sights context changes how Alghero's principal landmarks and its surrounding landscape fit together.
The full story
Walk the seafront bastions and lanes around Santa Maria Cathedral, San Francesco and the harbour before choosing an excursion. Neptune's Grotto and Capo Caccia form one weather-dependent coastal day; Palmavera and Anghelu Ruju provide a separate prehistoric thread. Trying to combine both circuits usually produces a rushed visit. These places make sense as a sequence, not a checklist. Begin with the anchor that explains Alghero's development, then use the surrounding streets or landscape to connect later periods. Check access to interiors on the day, since churches, archaeological areas and small museums can close independently even when the town itself remains easy to explore. Keep the comparison grounded in Alghero: notice how materials, routes and the surrounding terrain shape what survives. That approach preserves the useful legacy context without turning a visit into a list of names or dates.