Published on: 12 January 2017  | Last updated: 9 January 2020

Overview

Corsica is one of the world’s great cycling destin­a­tions. It deserves a place on every­one’s list of places to go before their knees give out. The main highlight is the coastline of the north-west around Porto, which deserves to be called spectacular. The rest of the route is pretty glorious although the dramatic bits are so dramatic that the rest suffers a little in comparison.

This route works best as a part of a longer tour taking in Sardegna, but you could do it on its own, or returning to the starting point in Bastia.

Map and altitude profile

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Distances
Bastia to Saint-Florent	101 kms
Saint-Florent to L’Île Rousse	45 kms
L’Île Rousse to Calvi	22 kms
Calvi to Cargèse	123 kms
Cargèse to Porticcio	59 kms
Porticcio to Porto Pollo	53 kms kms
Porto Pollo to Campomoru	36 kms
Campomoru to Bonifacio	73 kms

Highlights

• The Calanches de Piana The coast of northern and western Corsica is perhaps one of Europe’s great coastal bike rides. The highlight is the spectacular Calanches de Piana where the road threads its way through pink granite cliffs sculpted by the wind and rain into surreal shapes. While the Calanches undoubtedly steal the show, much of the route offers memorable views of the sea and unspoilt coastline.
• Filitosa. A short side-trip takes you to the atmospheric prehis­toric site of Filitosa - famous for its statue-menhirs standing stones sculpted into figures.
• Bonifacio. There are a number of pictur­esque and historic towns along the way, but Bonifacio, perched on 70-metre limestone cliffs is the most beautiful. Perhaps one of the most beautiful port town in the Mediterranean.

Beaches

The route passes some of Corsica’s best beaches, but note that some of these beaches have stayed relat­ively unspoilt because they are accessible only by rough dirt roads. This is partic­u­larly true in the north of the island; in the south-west of the island, there are some beautiful beaches that are much more easily accessible.

Best beaches along the route

• plage de Cala (Barcaggio)
• plage de Saleccia (between Saint-Florent and Calvi)
• plage d’Ostriconi (near Calvi)
• Aregno plage (Algajola)
• plage de Sagone (Sagone)
• Plage de Verghja
• plage de Porto Pollo
• Olmeto plage
• plage de Roccapina

Note that in most cases there’s no lifeguard at the beach, and many of the beaches you come across (not those on this list) there are warnings that swimming is dangerous. 

Options

You coulddo the route in either direction, but is anti-clockwise better so that you are on the side closest to the sea and you can most easily enjoy the views. 

If you don’t have time to do the whole route then you could travel into Bastia and out of Ajaccio. Alternatively, you could climb to the Col de Vergio (1432 m) before heading for Bastia. It’s a big climb as you start at sea-level. Whatever you do, though, don’t miss the Calanches de Piana.

If you need to, then you could also travel into Calvi or Île Rousse and then out of Ajaccio.

Around the island?

A lot of people do, but be warned the main road along the eastern seaboard of the island is flat, busy, and very boring. A better altern­ative would be to head from Sartène through the Alta Rocca to Zonza and the Aiguilles de Bavella. From there are stretches of corniche road in the heights above the new main road, which offer a much quieter and more scenic alternative. 

Sardegna

There are frequent and quick ferry services across the strait between Corsica and Sardegna so it couldn’t be easier to combine the two islands —for example following the coast of northern Sardegna to Alghero or to Olbia. For more about cycling the Sardinian coast see these articles:

• Sardegna North Coast
• Sardegna West Coast
• Sardegna East Coast

Getting there

The main airports are at Bastia and Ajaccio (although there is also an airport at Figari in the south). Many airlines (including Easyjet) only operate services in summer - so if you are researching flights in winter it may look like there are no flights. visit-corsica.com has a useful search engine visit-corsica.com: comment venir covering 14 countries. 

If you are travelling from outside Europe then the easiest option is likely to be to change planes in Paris. Air France has a low-cost subsi­diary called Hop! which operates services to and from the island’s airports (although I couldn’t see any services from, or to, Paris CDG).

The major ferry companies are Sardinia Ferries/Corsica Ferries and Moby Lines, with services from Nice, Toulon and Marseille in France, and Genova, Vado Ligure and Livorno in Italy. The main ferry ports are Bastia and Ajaccio but there are also ferries to/from Propriano.

Services between Bonifacio and Santa Teresa Gallura in Sardegna are operated by Moby Lines and Blu Navy

… and getting back

At the end of the route there is an airport at Figari near Bonifacio. In summer it offers a range of low-cost and charter flights to mainland France and elsewhere in northern Europe. However, you can broaden the range of options by taking the ferry to Santa Teresa Gallura in Sardegna and then continuing to either Alghero or Olbia. Alternatively, there are ferry services to mainland France (Marseille, Toulon or Nice) from Propriano and Porto Vecchio.

Articles in this series

• Corsica Coast: introduction
• Corsica Coast: Part 1: Cap Corse
• Corsica Coast: Part 2: The north-west coast from Saint-Florent to Porto
• Corsica Coast: Part 3: The Calanches de Piana and Cargèse
• Corsica Coast: Part 4: The south-west coast: Campomoro and Bonifacio