Corsica: Ajaccio, Bonifacio, the Mountains and Calvi

1. Day 1: Arrive in Ajaccio

   Ajaccio airport or ferry port to your hotel, then the Pointe de la Parata

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Welcome dinner in Ajaccio; no lunch
   • Stay in Ajaccio
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport (AJA), about 15 minutes from the centre, or come over by ferry from Marseille, Toulon or Nice to the port beside the old town; a driver meets set group arrival times at both. Ajaccio is Corsica's capital, a pastel harbour town under a ring of mountains, and the place Napoleon was born in 1769. At 5 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week ahead: the boat to the Lavezzi islands, what the mountain walks involve, and how the days are paced. Then we drive about 12 km west along the gulf to the Pointe de la Parata, where a short headland path leads towards a Genoese watchtower facing the Îles Sanguinaires, islands said to take their name from the red they turn at sunset. Back in town we sit down together to a welcome dinner of Corsican dishes: charcuterie, brocciu cheese and slow-cooked meats.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport (AJA) or the Ajaccio ferry port
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Evening walk at the Pointe de la Parata, facing the Îles Sanguinaires
   • Welcome dinner

   Easier option: Stay by the van at the Parata car park; the view of the islands is good from there too.

   Free time: Free until the 5 pm briefing

   Activity: Plan to arrive by about 3 pm. If you land later, we meet you and you join the group at dinner.

2. Day 2: Napoleon's Ajaccio, Filitosa and south to Bonifacio

   Ajaccio to Filitosa, then via Propriano and Sartène to Bonifacio

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Bonifacio
   Day 2 details

   We start early at the morning market on Place Campinchi by the harbour, where stalls sell sheep and goat cheeses, chestnut flour, honey and charcuterie. Your guide then walks you through the old town to the cathedral where Napoleon was baptised, and on to the Maison Bonaparte, the family house he was born in, now a national museum, which we visit when it opens. Late morning we head south, about an hour and a quarter, to Filitosa, a prehistoric site in an olive grove where standing stones carved with faces, swords and armour have stood for more than three thousand years. Lunch is a sit-down meal nearby, then we walk the site out of the worst of the midday sun. From there the road passes Propriano and climbs through Sartène, a granite town built like a fortress, before running south to Bonifacio, where we arrive around 5 pm and stay two nights. The evening is free on the marina below the cliffs.

   Included

   • Ajaccio morning market and old town walk with your guide
   • The cathedral where Napoleon was baptised
   • The Maison Bonaparte
   • Sit-down lunch near Filitosa
   • Filitosa prehistoric site and its carved standing stones

   Free time: Evening free in Bonifacio

   Activity: About 1 hour on foot at Filitosa on gravel and grass paths, and up to 2 hours in Ajaccio's old town.

3. Day 3: The Lavezzi islands and Bonifacio's cliffs

   Bonifacio by boat to the Lavezzi islands and back, then the old town on foot

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Bonifacio
   Day 3 details

   Bonifacio sits on a white limestone cliff above the strait that separates Corsica from Sardinia, about 11 km away. We take one of the first boats of the morning from the marina, before the day's crowds. The boat runs out of the long natural harbour, under the old town hanging over the water, past the stairway cut into the cliff and into the Sdragonato sea cave, then crosses to the Lavezzi islands, a protected nature reserve of smooth granite and clear water. We land on Lavezzu for about two hours: walk between the coves, swim if the water is warm enough, and see the small cemeteries for the crew of the Sémillante, a French frigate wrecked here in 1855. Back in Bonifacio around 1:30 pm, lunch is a sit-down meal at the marina, then the afternoon is free. At about 5:30 pm your guide takes you up into the walled old town, down and back up the 187 steps of the Escalier du Roi d'Aragon, and out along the headland to the marine cemetery, with the cliffs warm in the late light.

   Included

   • Boat trip along the Bonifacio cliffs and to the Lavezzi islands, with a landing on Lavezzu
   • Sit-down lunch at the marina
   • Bonifacio old town with your guide
   • The Escalier du Roi d'Aragon
   • The marine cemetery on the headland

   Optional experiences

   • Sea kayaking under the Bonifacio cliffs in the free afternoon, booked and paid locally

   Easier option: Stay near the landing beach on Lavezzu instead of walking the coves, and skip the 187 steps in the evening: the view from the top of the stair is the same.

   More active option: After the old town, walk on along the cliff path towards the Pertusato lighthouse for sunset, about 2 hours there and back.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Bonifacio: a swim, the cliff path, or a paid kayak outing

   Activity: If strong wind stops the boats, we move the Lavezzi trip to the morning of day 4 and set off for Corte later, or refund its cost if it cannot run.

4. Day 4: Porto-Vecchio, the Bavella needles and up to Corte

   Bonifacio to Porto-Vecchio, the Col de Bavella and Solenzara, then up the Tavignano to Corte

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Corte
   Day 4 details

   Today crosses from the sea to the mountains, about four and a half hours of driving in all. That is over our four-hour cap, because the roads from the south to the mountains all cross Bavella or run up the east coast, so we break it into four short stretches with a coffee stop, a walk and a sit-down lunch. First Porto-Vecchio, about 40 minutes north, for a walk on the Genoese ramparts above the salt pans. Then we climb through the pine forest of L'Ospedale to Zonza and the Col de Bavella, at about 1,218 m, where jagged granite needles rise above wind-bent pines. We walk to the Trou de la Bombe, a round hole through a granite ridge, about an hour and a half there and back, then sit down to lunch at the col. In the afternoon we wind down the Solenzara valley past river pools, cross the coastal plain at Aléria and follow the Tavignano up to Corte, about two and a half hours with a stop, arriving around 6 pm for two nights.

   Included

   • Porto-Vecchio old town and ramparts
   • The Col de Bavella and the walk to the Trou de la Bombe with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch at the Col de Bavella

   Easier option: Walk the first flat half hour of the Trou de la Bombe path and back, or stay at the col with a coffee and the view of the needles.

   More active option: Before lunch, add a stretch of the GR20 itself, which crosses the col, about an hour out and back.

   Activity: The longest drive of the trip, about 4.5 hours on winding mountain roads, over our 4-hour cap. Tell your guide if you get carsick and sit at the front.

5. Day 5: The Restonica valley and the Lac de Melo

   Corte up the Restonica valley to the Bergeries de Grotelle and the Lac de Melo, and back

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Corte
   Day 5 details

   Corte is the only real inland town on the island, and the mountains start at its edge. We leave at 8 am for the Restonica valley, a narrow road of about 15 km that climbs a granite gorge to the Bergeries de Grotelle, old stone shepherds' huts at about 1,370 m. From the huts the path to the Lac de Melo, at about 1,711 m, takes around an hour up over rock slabs, with chains and short ladders on one section and a parallel path that avoids them. The lake sits in a bowl of peaks, often with snow on the slopes into June. Those who want more go on for about 45 minutes to the Lac de Capitello, at about 1,930 m, under sheer cliffs. Starting early puts us on the path before the day walkers and the midday heat. We are back at the huts by early afternoon and stop for a sit-down lunch in the valley on the way down. The rest of the day is free in Corte, or at the river pools in the lower gorge.

   Included

   • The Restonica valley to the Bergeries de Grotelle
   • Guided walk to the Lac de Melo
   • Sit-down lunch in the Restonica valley

   Easier option: Walk the river path near the Bergeries de Grotelle, about an hour on easy ground, and wait for the group by the stream.

   More active option: Go on from the Lac de Melo to the Lac de Capitello, about 45 minutes more each way and about 220 m more climbing.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Corte, or a swim at the river pools in the lower Restonica gorge

   Activity: About 2 hours of walking to the Lac de Melo and back, 340 m up and down over rock. In May and early June snow can close the top of the path; then we walk to the pools below the lake.

6. Day 6: Paoli's Corte, Saint-Florent and the Agriates to Calvi

   Corte via Ponte-Leccia to Saint-Florent, then through the Désert des Agriates to L'Île-Rousse and Calvi

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Calvi
   Day 6 details

   A morning in Corte, the capital of Pasquale Paoli's independent Corsica from 1755 to 1769, when the island wrote its own constitution and opened a university here. We climb through the old town past Place Gaffory, whose house fronts are said to still show bullet marks from the independence wars, to the belvedere for the view of the citadel on its rock above the Tavignano and Restonica rivers. At 10 am we visit the Musée de la Corse inside the citadel walls, the island's museum of its own people: shepherding, music, faith and the long story of revolt. Late morning we drive north via Ponte-Leccia to Saint-Florent, about an hour and a half, for a sit-down lunch by its harbour and a short walk to the round Genoese citadel tower. After lunch the road runs west through the Désert des Agriates, an empty coast of maquis and rock with almost no houses, to L'Île-Rousse and Calvi, about an hour and a half more, arriving around 5 pm and stay two nights.

   Included

   • Corte old town and the belvedere with your guide
   • The Musée de la Corse
   • Sit-down lunch in Saint-Florent
   • Saint-Florent harbour and citadel
   • The drive through the Désert des Agriates

   Free time: Evening free in Calvi

   Activity: Corte's old town is steep, with cobbled ramps and steps up to the citadel.

   

7. Day 7: Calvi's citadel and the Balagne villages

   Calvi citadel, then Sant'Antonino and Pigna, and the coastal train from L'Île-Rousse back to Calvi

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Calvi
   Day 7 details

   Calvi's citadel stands on a granite headland above the bay, walled by the Genoese, and we go up at 9 am, before the day visitors. Your guide walks you through its lanes to the Cathedral of Saint-Jean-Baptiste and the house where, the town says, Christopher Columbus was born, and tells the story of the siege of 1794, when Nelson lost the sight of his right eye here. Then the van takes us into the Balagne, the hill country behind the coast, long called the garden of Corsica for its olives and orchards. Sant'Antonino sits on a granite knoll with views down to the sea, its lanes too narrow for cars; Pigna, close by, was restored by craftspeople and musicians and is full of workshops. Lunch is a sit-down meal in a village. In the late afternoon we ride the small coastal train of the Balagne from L'Île-Rousse back to Calvi along the beaches, about 45 minutes. Farewell dinner tonight in Calvi.

   Included

   • Calvi citadel with your guide
   • Sant'Antonino and Pigna in the Balagne
   • Sit-down lunch in a Balagne village
   • The Balagne coastal train from L'Île-Rousse to Calvi
   • Farewell dinner in Calvi

   Easier option: Skip the villages after lunch and spend the afternoon on Calvi's long beach, a few minutes' walk from the town.

   More active option: Before breakfast, walk up to the chapel of Notre-Dame de la Serra on the hill above Calvi for the view back over the citadel, about 1.5 hours there and back.

   Free time: Time before dinner free in Calvi

   Activity: Sant'Antonino and Pigna are hill villages of steep stone lanes and steps.

   

8. Day 8: Across to Bastia and home

   Calvi via L'Île-Rousse and Ponte-Leccia to Bastia, then Bastia-Poretta Airport or the ferry port

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   After breakfast we leave Calvi for Bastia, about two hours across the north of the island by L'Île-Rousse and Ponte-Leccia. Bastia is Corsica's busiest port and feels like an Italian town: tall shuttered houses around the old harbour and churches with baroque fronts. We start in Place Saint-Nicolas, the wide square facing the ferry quays, where a marble statue shows Napoleon dressed as a Roman emperor, then walk the lanes of the Terra Vecchia down to the old port, with time for a coffee and a last look at the fishing boats. Around 1 pm the van takes you to Bastia-Poretta Airport (BIA), about 25 minutes south, or to the ferry port for a sailing to Nice, Marseille or Toulon. Book a flight leaving after about 3:30 pm. If you fly from Calvi Sainte-Catherine Airport (CLY) instead, we drop you there after breakfast, about ten minutes from the hotel, and your guide says goodbye in Calvi.

   Included

   • Drive from Calvi to Bastia with your guide
   • Place Saint-Nicolas and the old port of Bastia
   • Drop-off at Bastia-Poretta Airport (BIA), the Bastia ferry port or Calvi Sainte-Catherine Airport (CLY)

   Activity: Book a flight from Bastia leaving after about 3:30 pm, or an afternoon or evening ferry.

   

Wildlife and weather: May, June and September are warm on the coast, usually in the 20s °C, and cooler in Corte and the mountains, where snow can lie near the Lac de Melo into June. The sea is warmest from late June into September. Strong wind can stop the Lavezzi boats, and in hot, dry spells the authorities can close mountain paths for fire risk.

• Ajaccio1 night
• Bonifacio2 nights
• Corte2 nights
• Calvi2 nights