Holidays in Calvi, Ile Rousse & the Balagne

A walled citadel stacked on an outcrop of granite. Streets of higgledy-piggledy houses where sleepy cats blink at the foot of sun-bleached doorways. Tiny vine-entwined pergolas framing glittering sea and, down by the harbour, fishermen hunched over the task of net mending...

How Calvi has managed to keep its character through the steady, if carefully-planned, development of its resort is remarkable. No matter how sophisticated the clientele at the wicker-seated café-bars, no matter how cutting-edge the new shops on the ‘prom’ or the yachts at anchor, Calvi remains one of the most charming Corsican ports. Its setting, with 4 miles of pine-backed golden bay curving below the smiling green of the Balagne and its distant mountains, is simply suberb.

The Balagne is idyllic countryside, where olives, vines and citrus fruits grow and hummocky hills are topped by tiny villages and hamlets. Each has a church with a distinctive bell-tower and, almost always, a friendly auberge or café.

Many miles of beautiful sandy beaches line its shores. At the smaller resort of Algajola, with its old castle on the water’s edge, and at the port of L’Ile Rousse, where sunsets make the pink rocks offshore blush to terracotta. Although its harbour is busy shipping out olive oil and oranges or unloading ferry passengers from Marseilles, Nice and Italy, L’Ile Rousse is a pleasant old town with a great covered market and lively plane-shaded main square. It’s a delightful resort full of Gallic charm, which continues to buzz with activity even out of season. If you wish to venture further afield you can catch the little train and beach-hop all. In high season, Ostriconi beach, towards the cape, is less crowded.

If you don’t want to hire a car, this coast is for you, for the little Trinichellu narrow-guage railway connects the resorts, rumbles on to Bastia and crosses the mountains to Ajaccio.

Highlights

• The cobbled streets & stunning views of the Calvi citadel
• Charming & lively seaside town of Ile Rousse
• Pretty hilltop villages of the Balagne
• The untamed beauty of Ostriconi beach
• Beach hopping by train on the Trinichellu
• Walking & picnics in the lush forest of Bonifato