8 Corsica Hotels Between the Maquis and the Sea

Corsica is 183 kilometres long and it has around twenty peaks above 2,000 metres, with Monte Cinto reaching 2,706. It is a mountain range that happens to be in the sea, and the interior is high enough to hold snow into June while the coast below is swimming weather.

The GR20 runs along that spine for about 180 kilometres from Calenzana in the north to Conca in the south, usually done in fifteen stages, and it is routinely described as the toughest waymarked long-distance path in Europe. It is not a coastal walk with views; it is a mountain traverse with scrambling sections and a cumulative ascent of around ten thousand metres.

Most visitors do not walk it. But its existence explains the island: the interior is genuinely remote, the villages are high and defensible, and the coastal towns face outward because for centuries the danger came from the sea.

Genoese for five centuries

Corsica belonged to Genoa from the thirteenth century until 1768, when it was sold to France, a year before Napoleon was born in Ajaccio. The Genoese built around eighty-five watchtowers around the coast against Barbary raids, and most of them are still standing. The citadels at Calvi, Bonifacio and Bastia are Genoese too.

That is why the island does not feel French in the way the mainland does, and why the language you hear in the villages is closer to Italian than to French.

The coasts

Porto-Vecchio and the south, around Palombaggia and Santa Giulia, have the white sand and the clearest water, and the most hotels.

Bonifacio, at the southern tip, is a town built on a chalk-white limestone cliff that is visibly undercut by the sea, with Sardinia twelve kilometres away across the strait.

Calvi and the Balagne, in the northwest, have a Genoese citadel above a curved bay, pine forest behind and the old hill villages inland.

Cap Corse, the finger pointing north, is the empty part — Genoese towers, small ports and almost no development.

The Sartenais, in the southwest, is maquis and granite with prehistoric standing stones at Filitosa.

The eight below run north to south.

Cap Corse and the Balagne

The northern end.

Misincu occupies a hillside estate at Cagnano on Cap Corse with a beach below, a pool and a design that draws on local stone and chestnut.

La Signoria sits outside Calvi in a seventeenth-century Genoese farmhouse in olive groves and eucalyptus, with a pool and a starred restaurant. It is the best hotel in Corsica.

Hôtel La Villa Calvi occupies a hillside above Calvi with white cubic architecture, a pool over the bay and views to the citadel.

The Sartenais and the southwest

Maquis, granite and standing stones.

Domaine de Murtoli occupies a 2,500-hectare private estate near Sartène with restored shepherds' houses scattered across it, three beaches, a golf course and no other development in any direction. It is the most unusual property on the island.

Porto-Vecchio and the south

The white sand and the clear water.

Casadelmar sits on the gulf of Porto-Vecchio in a low building of glass and wood with a starred restaurant and a jetty.

La Plage Casadelmar occupies a beach position under the same ownership, directly on the sand at Palombaggia.

Grand Hôtel de Cala Rossa sits across the gulf at Cala Rossa in gardens running to a private beach, with a spa and a long-standing family operation.

Bonifacio

The limestone cliff at the southern tip.

U Capu Biancu occupies a hillside above the straits outside Bonifacio with a pool, a small room count and Sardinia visible across the water.

What we have left off

The gîtes and village houses across the interior are excluded, and in the mountain villages they are essentially the only accommodation. They are houses rather than hotels.

What to do

Swim at Palombaggia and Santa Giulia early, before the day boats and the crowds, and take a boat to the Lavezzi islands off Bonifacio, which are a nature reserve of granite and clear water.

Drive the Calanches de Piana on the west coast, red granite pinnacles dropping into the sea on a road that is narrow, spectacular and slow.

Walk a stage of the GR20 without committing to the whole thing. The section near the Lac de Nino or the Restonica gorge above Corte gives you the high country in a day.

Go to Corte, the mountain capital and the seat of the short-lived Corsican republic, which most coastal visitors never see.

Eat the island's own: brocciu cheese, wild boar, charcuterie from free-ranging pigs, and chestnut flour in everything from beer to polenta.

Practical notes

Ajaccio, Bastia, Calvi and Figari all have airports with seasonal European flights. Ferries run from Marseille, Nice, Toulon and from Italy. A car is essential and the roads are slow — allow far longer than the distances suggest.

May, June, September and early October are ideal. July and August are at capacity with French and Italian holidaymakers. Most coastal hotels close from November to April.

The interior is genuinely mountainous. Do not treat a drive across the island as a short hop.

Questions people actually ask

Is the GR20 really that hard?

It is a mountain traverse with scrambling and about ten thousand metres of ascent over fifteen stages. Day sections are the sensible way in.

Is Corsica French?

Politically yes, since 1768. Culturally it is closer to Italy, and the Genoese built most of what you see on the coast.

Which coast?

South for white sand and clear water, northwest for the citadel and hill villages, Cap Corse for emptiness.

How many nights?

Seven. The driving is slow enough that less means seeing one corner.

If you only book one

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