Regions of France

t’s nicknamed the Island of Beauty for its sublime landscapes, from red cliffs plunging into turquoise waters, to stone villages clinging to mountains and dramatic gorges planted with chestnut trees. There are hidden coves, sandy beaches and craggy peninsulas. In Corsica, you can roam over 1,000 kilometres of coastline, which includes the iconic Scandola reserve, popular for scuba diving. But the homeland of Napoleon is also a land of tradition and history, best discovered on walks through its cities nestled away from their citadels, overlooking the Mediterranean. The North The gateway to Corsica is most often Bastia. It’s a picture-postcard start to a holiday: in the old port, boats bob against a backdrop of colourful houses, punctuated by the tall silhouette of the Church of Saint Baptiste. Bastia is also the starting point for a pretty route through Cap Corse, an ‘island on the island’ that stretches into the Mediterranean like a finger for 40 kilometres. Between the sea and the mountains – the central ridge of the Serra rises to 1,307 metres – the road boasts sublime views: villages perched above the sea, beaches nestled in coves, and Genoese towers highlighting the horizon. West of Cap Corse at Ile-Rousse, one of these towers guards the island of Pietra, the largest of the string of islands of red porphyry rock that Corsica I The Scandola Natural Reserve (created 1975) is aWorld Heritage Site to the south-west of Calvi, on the Cape Girolata peninsula (hal way down the west coast of Corsica). The reserve covers approximately 900 hectares of land and 1000 hectares of sea, and is an exceptional sight even among themany natural wonders that youwill discover in Corsica. With no road access and difficult access by foot, most visitors arrive by boat on excursions fromCalvi and nearby Porto. Striking rock formations emerge from the crystal clear sea in the Gulf of Girolata, and the coastline is pepperedwith jagged inlets and caves. There is superb diving in the aquatic park and dolphin pods are regularly seen in the area. Scandola Nature Reserve 22