Holidays

Choosing your Corsica holiday...

You can save cash by booking your Corsica holidays online and some of the links below and in the panels on left and right will give you big savings. But which travel company?

The Thomson Group (TUI) is now a major presence on the island offering flights, cruises and some very attractive villa and all-in holidays ranging from great value to luxurious. The Corsican specialist firm within TUI is is Simply Corsica. They offer a big selection (apartments and villas in 32 different locations on the island - see link, left.) with prices starting from under Ł400 per person per week including flights.

Highly respected tour operator James Villas have also recently opened up in Corsica. You could also take a look at Corsican Places. They've been bringing holidaymakers here for 20 years and call themselves "The Corsican specialists" with some justification.

And Club Med has two sites in Corsica. They are at Cargese , in the West, and at Sant’Ambroggio in the Balagne (northwest). You can book your Clubmed escape by clicking here. Clubmed offers an all-found holiday with great watersports facilities at both locations.

The co-operative Travel is the UK’s largest independent travel agency and now offers a range of holidays in Corsica.

And Travelhorizon's Corsica offerings include a number of holidays all over the island - some costing less than Ł200 for seven days!

Tight budget? try swapping your house!

If you want to save a little money on your holiday, have you ever thought about a home-swap in Corsica? A number of organisations are now facilitating house exchange holidays where you swap your house for the period of your holiday with a family who want to take a holiday where you live. Organisations with client families in Corsica include HomeForExchange and Home Exchange. For a small joining fee you get a watertight contract (and peace of mind!). We have tried HomeForExchange for our own holidays - with great success.

If none of these ideas enthuse you, your travel agent should be able to supply you with a selection of brochures, and if you are lucky, they’ll know enough about the island to suggest where you might stay to meet your particular requirements. But if you can’t wait to see your travel agent, here are even more ideas…

Camping

There are loads of campsites in Corsica. But with Eurocamp, you fly (or drive and sail) to your destination and you don't have to put the tent up when you arrive! The Corsica Eurocamp is at Ghisonaccia on the east coast: booking online is a bit fiddly, but there are big savings to be made and it's worth the hassle. Incidentally, we have heard that there are savings to be made if you book early - so don't delay!

SCUBA diving and snorkeling

You can snorkel and SCUBA dive just about anywhere on the island. The beaches on the east coast, however, tend to be shallower, and if you want SCUBA you might be better off going to the rugged west coast or the south. Good dive centres in and around Calvi, Propriano, Bonifacio.

Walking and Climbing

Corsica is very mountainous and wherever you stay, there will be some excellent walks near you. Don’t forget your map, your compass and your mobile phone. You’ll find that phone reception is very patchy in parts of the interior. The big mountains tend to be in the north of the island. More about outdoor activities on our associated site Corsica Isula.

Sailing & Windsurfing

You will find good sailing and windsurfing just about everywhere you are likely to go. You can hire catamarans, dinghies and sailboards in or near most resorts.

Cruising to Corsica

Thomsons now offer some great cruises that call in to Corsica. cruisedirect.com also offers some cruise options that take in destinations in Corsica.

If you are planning to cruise to Corsica, you should also consider Celebrity Mediterranean Cruises. On their site, select Western Mediterranean cruises – they stop at Ajaccio, Napoleon’s birthplace, giving you plenty of time to take a good look at Corsica’s capital.

And if you want something different, how about an escorted tour around Corsica’s most breathtaking landscapes? Kallisté Tours was founded by France-Marie Louvet, a French/Corsican native who lives in both California and Corsica - a bit pricy but great value. And there's a new website (English speakers available) managed by a group of tour-guides who all specialise in Corsica: www.cogitour.fr

Finally, here's an interesting fact: the very first package holiday from Britain went to Corsica. So you’d think that the island would be crowded out with tourists from Britain these days. Fortunately, this is not the case! You can spend weeks at a time in some parts of the island without hearing English spoken. So chill out, souk up the atmosphere and above all... enjoy your holiday!