Ten days to drive round Corsica from Ajaccio: the south, the mountains, Bastia and Cap Corse, the Balagne and the Gulf of Porto.
Ten days is the time it takes to drive round Corsica without rushing. This tour starts and ends in Ajaccio, which has an airport and a ferry terminal. The first five days follow Corsica in one week: Sartène, Bonifacio and the Lavezzi, the beaches of Porto-Vecchio, the Bavella pass and Corte. The next five add the north: Bastia, Cap Corse, the Agriate, the Balagne and Calvi, before heading back south by the Gulf of Porto and the Calanques de Piana.
Allow about 765 km and 14 hr 30 min of driving in all, outside summer and without stops. Each stage between two towns takes 1 hr 15 min to 2 hr 45 min on the road, which leaves time for sightseeing, beaches and a boat trip to Scandola.
In summer, the roads are slow: Cap Corse, the Agriate and the road from Calvi to Porto are narrow, and camper vans and coaches slow everyone down. Add some slack to the times on this page, and book your ferry and hire car early: see the ferry crossing, car hire and journey times in Corsica.
Driving times calculated with OSRM, rounded to the nearest quarter of an hour, outside summer and without stops. Each evening, the name of the town leads to its neighbourhoods and our accommodation picks.
In Ajaccio, everything is on foot: Place Foch and its market, Rue Fesch and the palace of the same name, the Bonaparte house and the cathedral, below the citadel. A morning is enough for the main sights. In the evening, follow the Sanguinaires road out to the Parata tower for the sunset over the islands.
Old town · Bonaparte house · Sanguinaires islands
An hour to Propriano, the port of the Gulf of Valinco. A quarter of an hour further on is Sartène, the granite town that Prosper Mérimée called ‘the most Corsican of Corsican towns’: the old Manighedda quarter begins below the town hall. The Lion of Roccapina comes into view a quarter of an hour later, from the viewpoint on the RT40: park in the lay-by, never on the bends. Then half an hour to Bonifacio.
Propriano · Sartène · Roccapina
Catch the boat to the Lavezzi islands from the harbour, a crossing of about 30 minutes, ideally the first one of the morning; check that the trip lands on Lavezzu island. In the afternoon, the upper town of Bonifacio: the Genoa gate, the church of Sainte-Marie-Majeure, the limestone cliffs and the King of Aragon’s staircase.
Lavezzi islands · Upper town · Cliffs
Half an hour to Rondinara, an almost enclosed round cove with calm water (narrow road after Suartone), and another to Palombaggia and its two kilometres of sand facing the Cerbicale islands. In the evening, Porto-Vecchio, a quarter of an hour further on: the upper town and its Genoese ramparts.
Rondinara · Palombaggia · Citadel
Set off early: 1 hr through the Ospedale forest to the Bavella pass, at 1,218 m. In July and August, get there before 9 am, as the car park fills quickly. The view from the pass is enough on its own; the Trou de la Bombe walk takes two hours. Drive down towards Solenzara, follow the east coast, then take the Aléria road to Corte (1 hr 45 min).
Bavella pass · Trou de la Bombe · Alta Rocca
Two options for the morning. The citadel of Corte, the Museum of Corsica and the viewpoint; or the Restonica valley, where the road has been closed since 2023: you go up by shuttle bus from Corte station, in season and with a booking. In the afternoon, 1 hr 15 min by road to Bastia: Place Saint-Nicolas, the Old Port, then the Terra Nova citadel up the steps of the Romieu garden.
Corte citadel · Restonica · Bastia Old Port
The Cap Corse loop leaves Bastia along the east coast and comes back down the west coast: about 120 km on the narrow, winding D80. Stop at the little harbour of Erbalunga, at Macinaggio, at Centuri for its fishing port, then at Nonza and its black pebble beach. The road ends through the vineyards of Patrimonio to Saint-Florent.
Erbalunga · Centuri · Nonza
In the morning, the citadel of Saint-Florent and its harbour. The D81 then crosses the Agriate to Ostriconi beach (three quarters of an hour): park on the old road, then walk for 15 to 20 minutes. L’Île-Rousse, Pascal Paoli’s town, is a quarter of an hour further on: Place Paoli, the covered market, the Pietra island and its lighthouse. Another half hour and you are in Calvi.
Agriate · Ostriconi · L’Île-Rousse
In the morning, walk up to the citadel of Calvi (park down below, as it is reserved for residents) and go round the ramparts, which is free. The view over the bay is even wider from Notre-Dame de la Serra. In the afternoon, the D81 heads down to Porto, slow and spectacular. From the Col de la Croix, a footpath leads to the hamlet of Girolata, which has no road.
Calvi citadel · Notre-Dame de la Serra · Road to Porto
The sea is often calmer in the morning: board a boat at the marina of Porto for the Scandola reserve, a trip of 1 hr 30 min to 2 hr 30 min. Then the D81 crosses the Calanques de Piana, a quarter of an hour further on: do not stop on the road, park at the Tête de Chien viewpoint. Ajaccio is 1 hr 15 min away, via Cargèse.
Scandola · Calanques de Piana · Tête de Chien
The whole island: the far south (Bonifacio, the Lavezzi, the beaches of Porto-Vecchio), the mountains of Bavella and Corte, Bastia and Cap Corse, the Agriate and the Balagne, then the Gulf of Porto. Allow about 765 km and 14 hr 30 min of driving, outside summer and without stops. With only a week, follow Corsica in one week instead, which focuses on the south and the west.
From Ajaccio, head south first and finish on the west coast: you then do Cap Corse in the direction its tourist office suggests, from Bastia towards Saint-Florent. If you arrive in Bastia, join the tour on day 6 and follow it in the same direction, until you return to Bastia from Corte (about 1 hr 15 min, outside summer and without stops).
Yes. The train serves Ajaccio, Corte, Bastia, L’Île-Rousse and Calvi, but not the south, Cap Corse or the Gulf of Porto. Hire a car at the airport and book it as soon as you have your tickets: see car hire in Corsica.
Nine nights: Ajaccio, two in Bonifacio, then Porto-Vecchio, Corte, Bastia, Saint-Florent, Calvi and Porto. Each stage of the timeline links to the town’s neighbourhoods and our accommodation picks, for example where to stay in Calvi.
May, June and September: the sea is warm enough to swim and the roads are less busy than in July and August. For the Restonica, the shuttle bus only runs in season. See when to go to Corsica.
