Guide to Calvi and Corte

OH Our holiday

C1 Calvi

C2 Corte

TR Transport

WA Walking

OW Our walks and photos

EP Extra photos

If you have any questions, or suggestions to improve information given, please e-mail D and J.

Our holiday

Our Corsican holiday was organised by Ramblers Holidays. The holiday included the return flights from Gatwick or Manchester to Calvi, coach transfers, half board accommodation, and the services of our walking leader. Transport used on the walks is an additional cost, paid locally in Euros. Ramblers only provide one leader, so it is important to be comfortable with the grading of the holiday. This holiday was graded D+ for the first week in Calvi, and C for the second week in Corte. Ramblers also offer a one week holiday at D+ grade in Calvi.

Our holiday was the two week holiday, Sunday to Sunday. Tom led a walk every day except the first and second Thursday and the middle Sunday, which was the transfer day. Tom had walked in Corsica before, and in June he had completed the GR20.

Ramblers do not send out detailed notes before the holiday. A briefing is held every evening before dinner, when the leader gives out details of the next day's walk.

Calvi

Calvi is in the Balagne region and is a popular resort with a long sandy beach. It is in a very impressive setting, situated on the Bay of Calvi, dominated by the Citadel. Hills and mountains are only a short distance inland. There is a very popular marina, with some very impressive boats on show. Ramblers stay in the 3* Grand Hotel on Boulevard Wilson. It is in a very handy location, with banks, post office, bakeries, supermarket and the railway station all less than 5 minutes walk away. It is a comfortable hotel, with a nice lounge and bar on the ground floor, and a restaurant with superb balcony views on the top floor. Breakfast and evening meals were taken in the hotel restaurant. For those people coming on the one week holiday, evening meals are taken in a local restaurant. On our holiday the mosquitoes were very active in the evening, and it may be wise to invest in a plug-in zapper. The hotel bedrooms are air conditioned, so closing windows is an option, unless you are like us and take 6 days before you work out how to set it properly! Calvi is a very pleasant place to stroll around in the evening, with bars and the gift shops staying open late. The Glacier bar down by the harbour was a favourite for an after dinner drink.

Corte

Corte is situated inland in the Haute Corse region of Corsica. It is less than 2 hours drive from Calvin and is is much more of a "working" town than Calvi, and is the location for the University of Corsica. Like Calvi, Corte has a citadel which dominates the town, and it also has an interesting old town which has some lovely squares. Ramblers stay in the 2* Hotel de la Paix which is at the end of a quiet street, just off the main road through the town. This is a simpler hotel than the Grand in Calvi, with smaller public rooms and bedrooms. We liked the hotel and they served a very good breakfast. With being inland and higher it was cooler in the evening, and there wasn't so much of a problem with the mosquitoes. Evening meals were taken in local restaurants, we visited Le Bip's, U Museu, U Spanu, A Passe Temps and U Campanile, with a repeat visit to the first two. The evening meal took up most of the evening, and it was very pleasant to be able to eat outside at this time of year. A number of the party preceded the meal with an aperitif in the Cafe de France, amd after the meal a digestif in the Bar de la Haute Ville. Again the hotel is close to the shops, post office and banks, with the railway station being about a 15 to 20 minute walk away.

Transport

On the holiday use was made of private coaches, and the famous Corsican train service. The trains run between Bastia and Ajaccio, and from Ponte Leccia (station on the Bastia- Ajaccio line) to Calvi. The trains were used on three of the walks, there are excellent views from the trains but be aware they do get very busy, and sometimes it is standing room only. As well as the trains, there are some bus services linking the towns together. The timetables for both the bus and train services can be found on the Corsica bus site.

Walking

Corsica is an excellent walking area. It is very mountainous, with an impressive coastline. The mountains of Corsica are part of a Parc naturel region. The most famous walk in Corsica is the long distance footpath over the mountainous spine of the country - the GR20. The GR20 is a very tough and is normally done over two weeks. There are several other less ardous long distance walks on the island. The Corsica for hikers site is a very helpful resource for long distance walks and also has some day walks. The Ramblers holiday was a very good introduction to the walking potential on the island, especially as it covered both coast and mountain.

As Corsica is part of France it is covered by the excellent IGN "Carte de Randonnee" maps at 1:25000 scale. Ramblers recommend the following maps for this holiday 4149 OT, 4249 OT, 4250 OT, 4251 OT and 4252 OT. These can be obtained by mail order from the Map Shop (excellent service) or purchased locally. There are quite a few publications about walking and hiking in Corsica (most in French only) that can be bought in Corsica, the Maison de la Presse in Corte has a good selection.