Calvi & The Balagne

A walled citadel on an outcrop of granite; cobbled streets of old houses and fishermen mending their nets by the harbour, Calvi has managed to keep its character even though there is now a degree of sophistication in its café-bars, stylish shops and yachts at anchor. Its setting, with four miles of pine-backed bay curving below the Balagne and its distant mountains, is as lovely as ever.

The Balagne is idyllic countryside with olives, vines and citrus fruits, and hills topped by tiny villages, with many miles of beautiful sandy beaches lining its shores. Algajola, with its old castle on the water’s edge, and the lively port of Île Rousse, where sunsets make the offshore pink rocks blush to terracotta, are simply unforgettable. Île Rousse is a pleasant old town with a covered market and plane-shaded main square, and the little Trinichellu narrow-gauge railway connecting the towns, rumbles on to Bastia and crosses the mountains to Ajaccio.