Luxury hotel holidays to Corsica

Corsica is larger and more mountainous than many visitors expect, and its winding roads mean that distances which look short on the map can take a long time to drive; the journey from Calvi in the north-west to Porto-Vecchio in the south-east, for example, takes around four hours. For this reason, we usually recommend either choosing one region carefully or dividing the holiday between two bases. In the north-west, Calvi has a Genoese citadel above a long sandy bay, and the hill villages of the Balagne behind it are full of character; La Villa, a Relais & Châteaux hotel with a Michelin-starred restaurant set on the hillside overlooking the bay and citadel, is a natural base here. The south has the island’s best-known beaches and clearest water. Around Porto-Vecchio, the Grand Hotel de Cala Rossa, a Relais & Châteaux hotel set in pine woods directly on a quiet bay, is a long-established and highly regarded beach hotel, while the Hotel Roc e Fiori, a small, informal hotel in the hills nearby, offers a quieter and more relaxed alternative. On the south-west coast, the Miramar Boutique Hotel overlooks the Gulf of Valinco near Propriano, a good base for both the beaches and the prehistoric sites, mountain villages and Sartène inland. A combination of Calvi in the north and Porto-Vecchio or Propriano in the south, with a week or more in total, gives the best sense of the island’s variety, and the drive between them through the mountains is an enjoyable part of the journey in its own right.

Corsica is often called the Île de Beauté, and its interior is as rewarding as its coast. Much of the island is protected within the Parc naturel régional de Corse, a landscape of granite peaks, pine and chestnut forests, gorges and mountain villages, rising to over 2,700 metres at Monte Cinto. On the west coast, the Gulf of Porto, with the red granite Calanques de Piana and the Scandola nature reserve, accessible only by boat, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a remarkable stretch of coastline. Bonifacio, at the southern tip, is a medieval town built on white limestone cliffs high above the sea, from which boats run to the Lavezzi islands and along the cliffs. Ajaccio, the capital, was the birthplace of Napoleon in 1769, and his family home is now a museum; Corte, in the mountains at the centre of the island, was the capital of Pasquale Paoli’s independent Corsican republic in the eighteenth century and retains its citadel and a strong sense of Corsican identity. At Filitosa, carved prehistoric standing stones with human faces date back several thousand years. The narrow-gauge railway between Ajaccio, Corte and Bastia, crossing the mountains through Vizzavona, is a scenic way to see the interior without driving, and in the Balagne, a small coastal line runs between Calvi and L’Île-Rousse. Cap Corse, the long peninsula in the north, is lined with fishing villages and Genoese watchtowers. For walkers, Corsica offers dramatic trails, from gentle coastal paths to the demanding GR20 across the mountains, and we can arrange local guides for walks at any level.

Corsican food and wine are distinctive, reflecting the island’s mountain culture and its long history of connections with both France and Italy, and they are one of the pleasures of a holiday here. The island’s charcuterie, made from pigs that roam freely in the chestnut and oak forests, is highly prized, with protected specialities such as coppa, lonzu and prisuttu; brocciu, a fresh ewe’s or goat’s milk cheese, appears in everything from omelettes to the cheesecake-like fiadone; chestnut flour, wild herbs from the maquis, clementines, honey and fresh fish and seafood complete the picture. Corsican wines are increasingly well regarded and are best appreciated on the island itself, where many small estates welcome visitors. The principal appellations include Patrimonio in the north, near Saint-Florent, known for its structured reds and whites, Ajaccio, with its Sciaccarellu-based reds, and the regional Vin de Corse, with subregions such as Calvi, Sartène, Porto-Vecchio and Figari; Cap Corse produces a sweet Muscat, and the island’s indigenous grape varieties, including Nielluccio, Sciaccarellu and Vermentinu, give the wines a character of their own. We can arrange private visits and tastings with winemakers in Patrimonio, the Balagne and around Ajaccio and Sartène, and recommend restaurants ranging from village inns serving traditional mountain cooking to the gastronomic restaurants at our hotels, including the Michelin-starred restaurant at La Villa in Calvi. Many visitors also enjoy the weekly markets and small producers in the hill villages, where cheese, charcuterie, honey and olive oil are sold directly by the people who make them.

Corsica has four airports, at Ajaccio, Bastia, Calvi and Figari, the last of which serves the south of the island and Porto-Vecchio. In the summer season there are direct flights from London and some UK regional airports to several of them, and year-round connections via Paris, Nice and Marseille, from where the flight to Corsica takes around an hour. We choose the airport according to where you are staying, as arriving at the nearest one can save several hours of driving. Corsica can also be reached without flying: we arrange rail holidays in which you travel by Eurostar to Paris and TGV to Marseille or Toulon, then continue by ferry to the island, often on an overnight crossing with a cabin, so that you arrive refreshed in the morning. It is a relaxed and memorable way to travel, and a night in Marseille, Toulon or Provence before the crossing can easily be added. For clients who prefer to take their own car, car ferries sail from Nice, Toulon and Marseille, with crossings of between around five and twelve hours depending on the route and the service, some of them overnight, and there are also crossings from the Italian ports of Genoa, Savona and Livorno. A hire car is the most practical way to explore, but driving in Corsica requires patience: the roads are narrow and winding, particularly in the mountains, and journeys should be planned with generous time. Corsica combines naturally with several other destinations. It can be paired with a stay on the Côte d’Azur or in Provence before or after the crossing; Sardinia, just to the south, is less than an hour by ferry from Bonifacio to Santa Teresa Gallura, making a two-island holiday straightforward; and the ferry from Bastia to Livorno makes it possible to continue to Tuscany. We will advise on the best combination of flights, ferries and bases for the length of your holiday and the time of year.

Corsica has a Mediterranean climate on the coast, with hot, dry summers and mild winters, while the mountains are cooler and see snow in winter. The season matters a great deal, because most of the island’s best hotels, including the hotels we offer, are open only from spring to autumn, typically from around April or May until October. May and June are a particularly good time to visit: the maquis, the fragrant scrub that covers much of the island, is in flower, the wild flowers in the mountains are at their best, the sea is warming and the roads and beaches are quiet. July and August are hot and very busy, with French and Italian holidaymakers filling the coast, the ferries and the most popular beaches, and prices and demand for the best hotels are at their highest, so early booking is essential; this is also the season for music festivals in Calvi and elsewhere. September and early October are, for many of our clients, the most rewarding months of all: the sea is at its warmest, the light is soft, the crowds have gone, the grape harvest is under way and walking in the mountains becomes comfortable again. Spring and autumn are also the best seasons for walking, cycling and exploring the interior. From November to March, the island is very quiet and many hotels and restaurants close, though Ajaccio and Bastia remain lively. We will always advise on timing in relation to your interests and the opening periods of the hotels you are considering.