Extra-large island holidays: tour of Corsica

From Porto-Vecchio to Bonifacio, it’s a good half hour’s drive south. The town is perched on mighty limestone cliffs and offers spectacular views. An absolute must is the Staircase of Aragon, which is cut into the cliffs and leads down over 187 steps. At the bottom, boat tours depart along the cliffs and sea caves – ideal for admiring the play of light on the rocks at sundown. The town is offers many historical sights, including the citadel, the sea cemetery, the fortifications and the old town. A special restaurant here is “Chez Ciccio”, which specialises in local ingredients and home-made products.

Watching the sunset on the red granite cliffs of the Calanches de Piana is an unforgettable experience. These steep coastal coves, which can be reached from Ajaccio in one hour and 45 minutes, are among Corsica’s most famous landscapes. Legend has it that the devil created the Calanches when he turned a shepherdess who had refused his advances to stone. Like the Calanches, the village of Piana is a Unesco World Heritage Site and is considered one of the most beautiful villages in France, with its partly white, partly clay-coloured stone houses, sometimes with blue, sometimes with brown shutters and balconies full of flowers. The Sainte-Marie church and the tower on Capo Rosso are other highlights.

The next stop is at the northern tip of Cap Corse. From the village of Macinaggio, which can be reached from Calvi in just over two and a half hours, the customs officers’ path leads across the beaches of Tamarone and Santa Maria, past the Genoese towers of Santa Maria and Agnello, through the small village of Tollare and along the rugged west coast to Centuri Port. Along the way, you will find information boards about the unique wildlife of this stretch of coast. For those who find the 26-kilometre route too long, there are refreshment stops along the way, such as Santa Maria beach and the small village of Barcaggio, from where you can take the boat back to Macinaggio.

The final highlight of the tour is a short hike inland. From Bastia, it’s a one-hour drive to the mountain village of Asco. There and in the Tassineta Valley, about two kilometres further towards Haut-Asco, you can hike in and along the river, jump from stone to stone and swim in natural stone pools. These bathing spots, called natural pools, offer fairly cold water even in summer – but it is wonderfully refreshing. The Asco Valley offers great photo opportunities with Genoese bridges in the forest. After the hike, the mountain village invites you to stop for a bite to eat before setting off on the almost two-and-a-half-hour return trip south to Porto-Vecchio.