Corsica is not a typical beach destination where you spend your entire holiday in one place. Corsica is an island made for travelling through natural beauty and quaint mountain villages.
Read on for tips on how best to get around Corsica.
By car
A car is the most ideal way to get around Corsica. If you don't come in your own car, you will find many car rental agencies on the island where you can rent a car.
Compare car rental prices in Corsica
As travelling by car is the most common mode of transport in Corsica, we have prepared a separate section on car hire, but you can also find information on traffic, traffic regulations or petrol prices. This chapter will also be useful for those arriving by car.
By train or the "Corsican TGV"
An interesting travel experience is offered by the unique railway that connects Bastia and Ajaccio, with a branch line to Calvi, which, due to the rugged terrain, is routed very boldly in places.
The most interesting section is between Corte and Vizzavona. Over this relatively short distance, there are more than 30 tunnels and almost 80 bridges.
A train ride through Corsica is one of the most beautiful activities. The views are truly fabulous, and the speed of the trains that plough through the central mountains is so low that you can really enjoy the views to the full.
Ironically, because of the low average speed, the local trains are nicknamed the 'Corsican TGV' after the legendary high-speed trains that ploughed the tracks on the French mainland.
Ticket prices and where to buy?
Tickets for Corsican trains cannot be bought online, they can always be purchased at the station or from the conductor if there is no ticket office or machine at the station. The prices are relatively high and an example is given below:
- Ajaccio - Bastia - approx. 22 eur
- Bastia - Corte: approx. 10,50 eur
- Ajaccio - Calvi - approx. 25 eur
For a complete price list, please visit the Corsican Railways website: cf-corse.corsica/tariffs.
Timetables and frequency of services
Trains on the main line between Bastia and Ajaccio run on average 5 times a day, 3-4 times a day on weekends and holidays. The branch line to Calvi, which separates from the main corridor at Ponte Leccia, runs 1-2 times a day.
In the vicinity of the largest cities of Ajaccio, Bastia and Calvi, a busier suburban railway operates on these sections:
- Ajaccio - Mezzana
- Bastia - Casamozza
- Calvi - Ile Rousse
Timetables can also be found on the railway company's website: cf-corse.corsica/horaires.
Each service has its own column in these timetables, at the beginning of which is a note about the days on which it runs:
- TLJ = runs every day
- SF SDF = runs Monday to Friday, not on public holidays
- SF DF = runs Monday to Saturday, does not run on public holidays
- sf Sa = runs every day including holidays except Saturday when it does not run
- SA DF = runs only on Saturday and Sunday
By bus
Several companies operate bus routes in Corsica, but even so the bus network is quite sparse and it is best not to rely on it.
You can only get between the largest villages by bus, and usually no more than 2-3 times a day. Most of the tourist attractions in the mountains are not served by buses at all, nor are most of the beaches outside the towns served by public transport.
For the sake of clarity, a private website, corsicabus.org, has been set up which attempts to summarise all the bus companies operating in Corsica into a uniform form of timetables.
The main services are usually kept up to date by the website, but it is always a good idea to check each timetable separately to see when it was last updated.
Tickets are always bought from the driver, and online pre-sales are available from some companies, see below.
Indicative prices on some popular routes:
- Ajaccio - Sartene: 8 eur
- Ajaccio - Bonifacio: 20 eur
- Ajaccio - Porto Vecchio: 20 eur
- Ajaccio - Piana: 12 eur
- Bastia - Porto Vecchio: 24 eur
- Bastia - Saint-Florent: 10 eur
- Calvi - Porto: 18 eur
Some of the bus companies:
- Collectivité de Corse - Public bus network from Ajaccio along the west coast as far as Bonifacio and north to the resort of Porto/Ota
- Autocars de l'Île de Beauté - connecting Ajaccio and Porto/Ota, from where it continues on to Calvi. It also runs from Calvi to Evisa
- Balesi Evasion - a direct connection from Ajaccio to Porto-Vecchio via the Bavella mountain pass
- Corsicar - a direct Bastia - Ile Rousse - Calvi and Bastia - Calenzana line
- Rapides Bleus - a line from Bastia to Porto-Vecchio and a seasonal line from Porto-Vecchio to Santa Giulia beach
In addition, in Ajaccio and Bastia you can also use public transport buses:
In any case, travelling by bus is an optional extra and should be the last choice.
Cycling
In Corsica, road cycling, relaxed mountain biking and extreme downhill cycling are all to be enjoyed. Places in Corsica perfect for cycling include Castagniccia, Casinca, Cap Corse, the mountains inland, Alta Rocca, La Balagne and the west coast between Porto and Calvi or Ajaccio and Propriano.
There are several bike rental companies on the island, for example: Bcyclet Corse, Bike-Rental-Corsica, Wild Machja.
Motorbike
Corsican roads full of curves are a favourite destination for many motorcyclists. Motorbikes can also be rented locally, for example through Rentalmotorbike or Bike-Rental-Corsica.
Hitchhiking
Hitchhiking in Corsica is not a problem, you usually won't wait more than fifteen minutes. In many cases, you will be stopped by the first car. Hitchhiking is a fairly widespread phenomenon in Corsica, if only because of the large number of tourists and the poor accessibility by public transport.