Yes! My fiance and I have booked our weeks stay in Calvi in June. I need a little help now, we will be finding out things to do (besides the obvious with the beach) while we are there. But can anyone suggest any cool day trips? 1) we can do w/o a car and 2) w/ a car. We are coming in by train and are possibly going to hire a car for a few days but not the whole week.
Any must see day trips, hiking, boating, whatever that any of you know of would be greatly appreciated.
Can%26#39;t wait!
Jonathan
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Good decision, and a great time to go! I suggest you do the beaches and water sports on the days you don%26#39;t have the car. There%26#39;s a great little beach train that goes north from Calvi, and you can explore all the quiet little coves that each have their own %26quot;station%26quot; (probably too grand a word in some instances!) The train also stops at Sant%26#39; Ambroggio, a bit of a watersports centre. If you fancy a great walk, you could also walk out to the Revelatta lighthouse on one of these days. The Calvi Jazz Festival by the way is 2-9th June.
When you have the car, I suggest a visit to the mountains on at least one of the days. One of my favourites is the Cirque de Bonifatu (about 12 km from Calvi) where you can bathe in the river pools. I also suggest driving to Ponte Leccia where you can take the train to Ajaccio through the mountains - one of the most spectacular railways in Europe.
You must also visit a vineyard - I suggest Clos Landry (walkable from Calvi) or Clos Colombu (near Lumio, a little further out).
You%26#39;ll love it! DTR
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Congratulations - an excellent choice!
Which airport are you flying in to?
It is an unusual, choice to go by train to Calvi. There are only two trains a day (or at least there have only been two for the past several years) so if you miss it you%26#39;ve got a very long wait! Since hiring a car for a week is only slightly more expensive than a few days I would ask you to reconsider - public transport on Corsica is sparse and a car opens up many more possibilities. Having said that, the tramway between Calvi and L%26#39;ile Rousse is a great way of spending a few days exploring the beaches between the two. To get to beaches beyond L%26#39;ile Rousse, Lozari and Ostriconi for example, you will need a car. The obvious must do tour is into the Haute Balagne behind the coast and into the mountains, and there is an artisan trail where you can see local crafts Lots of opportunities for hiking - Calanzana a few miles inland is the starting point of two long distance paths including the notorious GR20 - pick up leaflets locally at the tourist offices.
A little further afield is the Asco valley which is a great day out.
And Corte and St Florent would be within reach for a longish day trip.
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Fully agree with DTR and Aardvark, although would say that Calvi has a better choice of watersports than Sant%26#39;Ambroggio (and is much nicer!) Not sure as you say you are arriving by train if that means that you are spending time beforehand in Ajaccio, for example. But if not, then I would recommend a day trip by boat from Calvi to Ajaccio. It goes via Girolata and Scandola and the coastline is just stunning. I think you get about 3 hours in Ajaccio for lunch and a wander around, and then back to Calvi about 5ish - a great way to visit Ajaccio, far more relaxing than driving (plus it%26#39;s too far for a day trip by car). Alternatively if you%26#39;ve already been to Ajaccio then there are half day trips to Scandola/Girolata, an absolute must-see. Have a great time!
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Our plan has been to take the night ferry from Toulon to Bastia and take the train south to Corte where we will stay for 3 or so nights and get our fix of mountains and hiking hopefully. Then take the train back up through Ponte Leccia and onto Calvi from there to stay for a full week. Hopefully this is not a crazy plan as we%26#39;d really like to take the night ferry to Bastia and from there it seemed easy to get onto our first stop in Corte.
Thanks for your suggestions in Calvi, I have looked for car hire, it%26#39;s a bit difficult to tell on the websites sometimes which is best to take, rates seem to jump from a couple hundred euro for a week to almost a thousand... would it be better to just check into it there? maybe not as it will be late june...
The most suggestions the better, thank you everyone.
Jonathan
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Well that seems to be not unreasonable. But you do have to recognise that the train is very slow, in fact buses are usually quicker. Scenically, though, the train is a magnificent experience. You might find the surroundings of Corte difficult without a car.
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It will be a lot cheaper to organise your car hire in advance. www.autoeurope.com tend to have very good rates, you could also try www.holidayautos.com
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I agree with Casa Paradis about Sant%26#39; Ambroggio - I prefer Calvi too, but you *can* get to Sant%26#39; Ambroggio on the train, so if you need a change, it%26#39;s there to try out.
I presume you%26#39;ve found www.corsicabus.org for bus and train info. Your schedule sounds quite reasonable - but check the times of the trains and buses here as part of your plans.
On car hire, I%26#39;d strongly suggest booking before you go. It is much more expensive to get a car from the local offices after you%26#39;ve arrived. We usually book through Holiday Autos or Corsica Isula car hire - there%26#39;s a matrix on Corsicaholiday.com driving %26amp; car hire page where you can compare prices.
When you are in Corte, do try and do some walking in nearby Restonica - it%26#39;s fabulous scenery
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If I were going on the train from Calvi to other beaches I would get off at either: Algajola (big beach, windsurf hire, banana boats, water-skiing, diving, delightful small village/citadel, with half a dozen restaurants; or Bodri - walk through the maquis/round the headland 10 minutes to the left hand beach, which has a south sea islands feel - turquoise sea, white sand, restaurant at the far end, no water sports - rather than Sant Ambroggio which is a residential complex with big boats and not very nice beaches, long walk down from the train station. Or Lumio plage or the beach before that, with a restaurant called Pain de Sucre, can%26#39;t remember the name, or Ile Rousse to see a different town, almost anywhere but Sant%26#39; Ambroggio!!
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The Pain de Sucre Beach is called Ste Restitude - one of my favourites, too. The other little jewels along there are Giorgio and Arinella, all on the train line.
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