West Coast

Ajaccio is both a pretty town of old, pastel-coloured houses on a wide bay, and a rather stylish centre for shopping, eating and unwinding by the sea. From Tiuccia, an attractive 20 kilometre stretch of coast winds its way to Cargèse.

Picturesque Cargèse is perched above a little harbour, while, only 20 minutes’ drive to the north, a unique spectacle unfolds: the Gulf of Porto, an immense body of deep blue water surrounded by red granite cliffs – a protected UNESCO site – and the Calanques de Piana: outcrops of salmon-coloured granite and porphyry, sculpted by the elements into extraordinary shapes.

Piana itself is a russet-roofed village bright with geraniums, with the sandy cove of Ficajola below, while the lovely Plage d’Arone lies south near Capu Rossu. Then there is Porto, with its famous Genoese tower and, at the northern end of the gulf, the flora and fauna of the Scandola Nature Reserve, while inland, dense pine forests, gorges, lakes and abandoned villages, match the beauty of the coastline.