The trip can start from the station of Alghero too, near the sea of the Riviera del Corallo.
The departure from Sassari is in the fine Ferrovie dello Stato station, where the ARST Gestione FDS track stands beside those of FS and it can be recognized because of a narrower gauge (distance between rails) than usual. After leaving, the train proceeds along the company depot and workshop towards the north outskirts of the city , facing the intense light of the not so far sea of Gulf of Asinara. The train rises slightly through the sides of hills with deep valleys crossed by large viaducts. After the stop of Filigheddu, followed by the nearby Achettas, the train arrives at the well-tended station of Osilo, whose town centre appears further up laid on a slope of a hill dominated by a castle. The train continues its trip through the hilly landscape of Anglona that is an old region whose aspect varies with the change of seasons. After light climbs it arrives at Fenosu stop, where it seems that the notorious figure of the brigand Giovanni Tolu still flutters here. This is the highest point of this stretch of line and from here it begins a long, gradual and steady descent to the Coghinas river, at the border with the Gallura region.
The next station is that of Nulvi, the most important centre of the area, where there are many traces of the past, such as the Nuraghe Irru, beside the line. The trip continues at the foot of the mesas, the characteristic hills of this region that seem those of the American far west landscape.
Here is the station of Martis, in whose territory is the petrified forest of Carrucana. Laerru is the next station, followed by that of Perfugas, in a lower position than the town famous for the wonderful retablo inside the parish church and for the nuraghic well among the centre houses. Now the train proceeds across a green and cultivated valley towards the Gallura mountains.
On a fine bridge it crosses the Coghinas, the third longest river in the island, and runs through a gradually thicker vegetation and rises with large sharp turns. After the Scala Ruia stop, the trip is now taking place across one of the most beautiful tracts of the entire line, through a landscape marked by granite and cork oak, symbols of the interior of Gallura.
Here the roughness of land made very difficult the work of railway construction: there is a succession of viaducts and tunnels, including the Bortigiadas tunnel, an authentic engineering masterpiece made up of a spiral inside the mountain of over 500 metres. After the station of Bortigiadas, a few kilometres from the village, and that of Aggius, a town dominated by the characteristic profile of its mountains, the train reaches the highest point of the entire line at the beautiful station of Tempio (more than 500 metres), built in 1930 in place of the older one dating 1888. In its waiting room there are some pictures of the painter Biasi and in the old workshop it is reproposed the same atmosphere of the end of the nineteenth century. From here the trip proceeds downhill as far as the sea. The train passes across industrial areas with plants for the manufacture of cork and granite. After Nuchis station, a hamlet of Tempio Pausania, there is that of Luras. From here another line used to depart to cross Mount Limbara and reach Monti to join the Ferrovie dello Stato line. It was dismantled in 1958 but long tracts of it can still be runned across by bike. After Calangianus stop the train proceeds northwards by the edge of a valley and passes along a curious house inside a large granitic block. After the stops of San Leonardo and Riu Piatu the train runs along the bends of the Lago del Liscia and finally arrives at the nice station of Sant'Antonio whose town centre appears further up.
Then the trip continues over an imposing viaduct, built up in the fifties in replacement of older ones that can be seen in the outer side of the bend and, crossed a tunnel, the landscape changes once more: in quick succession the train passes over the stops of Oddastru, Capichera (nearby the archaeological area of Li Muri), Caldosa and then the station not far from Arzachena village, the main centre of Costa Smeralda. We can feel the presence of the sea but cannot see it yet: we have to proceed northwards for a few kilometres in parallel to the national road and finally, after a big bend, the sea appears just in front of us with an extraordinary view of one of the most beautiful places: the sea and the coast of the Gallura region and the not far archipelago of La Maddalena. The train reaches the first station of Palau and after about a kilometre and unusual points, the second station, the Palau Marina terminus is on the quay in front of the ferry service for the islands.