Itinerary · 8 days · 37 places
8 Days in Corsica
Eight days right across Corsica: Genoese harbours in Bastia and on Cap Corse, two mountain days in Corte with the climb to Lac de Melo, the red Calanche above the Gulf of Porto, and finally Ajaccio with the Sanguinaires islands.
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Photo: SlimMars 13 · Pexels
The route on the map
The plan, day by day
Day 1Arriving in Bastia
Arrival in Bastia
Hotel check-in
A base in Terra Vecchia, the old fishermen's quarter behind the Vieux-Port: narrow lanes, washing lines strung across the street, and all the town's sights within ten minutes' walk.
Vieux-Port of Bastia
The oval harbour basin lined with tall, peeling Genoese houses, where real fishing boats still lie among the yachts.
Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste
Corsica's largest church, its two bell towers rising above the harbour — inside, Baroque marble and gilded stucco from the 18th century.
Terra Nova Citadel with the Governor's Palace
The ochre ring of fortifications above the harbour, with the town museum in the Palais des Gouverneurs and the Jardin Romieu behind it, looking along the coast towards Elba.
Evening: Place Saint-Nicolas
The 300-metre plane-tree square by the sea, full of people at café tables in the evening; on the corner there's chestnut beer on tap.
Day 2Cap Corse and the Nebbio
Erbalunga
Slate-grey fishing village on a rocky spit with a half-ruined Genoese tower in the water — ten kilometres north of Bastia and worth a stroll through its lanes.
Col de Teghime
The pass at 536 metres, from which on a clear morning you can see both the Tyrrhenian Sea at Bastia and the Gulf of Saint-Florent.
Nonza — Paoli tower and black beach
The village clings 150 metres above a jet-black pebble beach created by spoil from an old asbestos mine; from the black tower the view runs all the way down the west coast.
Saint-Florent — old town and round tower
Small sailing harbour on the gulf, with a web of lanes behind it and the round Genoese tower from 1440 on the hill above the water.
Patrimonio — vineyards and Église Saint-Martin
Corsica's first AOC wine region (since 1968) on limestone soil: Nielluccio reds and Muscat, tasted right in the cellars below the solitary church.
Evening: Saint-Florent harbour promenade
The quay fills up after sunset, with half of Saint-Florent sitting at the waterside tables over a Muscat from Patrimonio.
Day 3By Trinighellu to Corte
Onward to Corte
Hotel check-in
Corte Citadel with the Musée de la Corse
On the rocky spur above the old town: the castle known as the Nid d'Aigle and, in the armoury next door, the museum of everyday Corsican culture, from transhumance to the independence movement.
Belvédère above the confluence
Viewing platform behind the citadel from which you look straight down on the spot where the Restonica and Tavignano rivers meet.
Place Paoli
The sloping market square of the upper town with the monument to Pasquale Paoli, founder of the short-lived Corsican Republic, whose capital was Corte.
Footbridge over the Tavignano
From the end of the upper town a suspension bridge leads into the entrance of the Tavignano gorge; after just twenty minutes on the path you can no longer hear the town.
Evening: Cours Paoli
The main street of the student town — Corte is the only town in Corsica with a university — and in the evening the liveliest stretch between bookshop and bar.
Day 4Restonica valley and Lac de Melo
Gorges de la Restonica at Pont de Tragone
The first kilometres of the gorge: smooth-polished granite, ice-cold water in rock pools and the old stone bridge with a view up the valley.
Bergerie de Grotelle
End of the valley road at 1370 metres, where shepherds sell brocciu and sheep's cheese in summer — starting point for the climb to the lakes.
Lac de Melo
Glacial lake at 1711 metres below the walls of Monte Rotondo; the waymarked path up takes a good hour and ends with two short chain-assisted sections.
Restonica natural pools near Tuani
Halfway up in the pine forest lie the valley's best-known swimming holes — turquoise, very cold and in the sun in the afternoon.
Église de l'Annonciation
Corte's oldest church, from 1450, on the ramp up to the citadel, with a painted wooden pulpit and a plain rubble-stone façade.
Evening: Place Gaffori
The upper-town square around the statue of General Gaffori, whose house behind it still bears the bullet holes from the siege of 1750.
Day 5Gulf of Porto and the Calanche
Onward to Porto
Hotel check-in
Marine de Porto with Genoese tower
The square tower from 1549 stands on a rock above the river mouth; from the top the whole gulf with its red cliffs lies before you.
Calanche de Piana
Red porphyry rocks that drop 300 metres sheer into the sea, weathered into towers, heads and animal shapes; the short path from the Château fort leads right into them.
Plage de Ficajola
Tiny pebble cove in a rock cleft below Piana, reached by a narrow hairpin road and 200 steps down to the old fishermen's huts.
Evening: Piana village square
In front of the church of Sainte-Marie with its pale bell tower, you sit on the terrace in the evening and watch the gulf below grow dark.
Day 6Scandola and the Spelunca gorge
Boat trip to the Scandola Reserve
Three hours from Porto harbour along the UNESCO-protected volcanic coast with its grottoes, ospreys and red cliff face — nobody may go ashore here, and the stop is in the fishing village of Girolata.
Pont génois de Pianella
Genoese bridge from 1700 over the Porto river, a single high arch of greenish stone under which you can swim.
Gorges de la Spelunca to the Pont de Zaglia
An hour up the gorge on the cobbled old mule track between Ota and Évisa to the second Genoese bridge in the shade of the alders.
Ota mountain village
Grey slate houses on a steep slope below two rock needles, with views down the valley to the sea — still a village that lives from goats and chestnuts.
Evening: sunset over the Marine de Porto
As the sun goes down, the cliffs of the gulf glow orange-red for minutes on end — the best spot is the pebble beach behind the eucalyptus avenue.
Day 7Ajaccio, Napoleon's city
Onward to Ajaccio
Hotel check-in
Maison Bonaparte
Napoleon's birthplace in the old town, four floors of Bonaparte family furniture and the room from which he had to flee the Paolists in 1793.
Palais Fesch — Musée des Beaux-Arts
The largest collection of Italian painting in France after the Louvre, assembled by Cardinal Fesch, Napoleon's uncle: Botticelli, Titian, Bellini.
Place Foch
The palm-lined square between the town hall and the harbour, with the marble statue of Napoleon as a Roman consul at the top and four lions around a fountain below.
Citadel and Plage Saint-François
The fortress from 1554 on the headland, still in military use, with the small town beach in front where Ajaccio goes swimming after work.
Evening: Boulevard Lantivy by the water
The waterfront road towards the Sanguinaires, in the evening a row of open-air bars looking out over the dark gulf and the lights of the ferries.
Day 8Sanguinaires, market and farewell
Pointe de la Parata and Îles Sanguinaires
At the end of the coast road a Genoese tower on black-red rock, with the four 'blood islands' in the surf beyond; the circular path around the point takes half an hour.
Market on Square Campinchi
The morning market by the harbour with charcuterie from the interior, brocciu, chestnut flour and immortelle oil — until 1 pm, then it's over.
Departure from Ajaccio
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