Renting in Corsica: coast or interior

Fifty kilometres of mountain road easily take two hours. That is the first fact to take in before booking, because it undoes every map: a house forty minutes from Porto-Vecchio may need seventy-five if the road crosses a pass. Journeys are checked on a routing tool, never with dividers, and in both directions — going up and coming down do not take the same time.

Staying on the coast. That is what most visits do, and for good reasons: the southern beaches — Palombaggia, Santa Giulia, the Rondinara — have no equal in the western Mediterranean, and the sea stays mild into October. The price of that ease is density: at the height of summer the car parks of the southern beaches fill before nine, and the roads serving them are narrow. Calvi and the Balagne, to the north-west, breathe more easily at the same time of year, and the gulf of Porto offers the Piana calanques instead of wide beaches.

Staying inland. Corte, the Niolu, the Castagniccia, the Alta Rocca: rents are markedly lower, villages live all year, and August nights are cool. The Restonica gorges and the Bavella needles are at the door, and so are the paths. The trade-off is driving time: an hour to reach the sea, sometimes more coming back. It is the right choice for a walking holiday, for the month of August, or for anyone who already knows the coast.

When to come. May and June give the island green, the torrents full and the sea still cold. September reverses the equation: the sea is at its warmest, the vegetation has burnt off, and numbers drop from the end of August. July and August remain the peak, for prices as for traffic, and the ferry crossing with a vehicle books several months ahead — the point on which people most often leave it too late.

What gets forgotten. Shops close early outside the towns, and some villages have one grocer. Hot water often comes from a tank: five showers on the same evening take planning. And the whole island is exposed to fire risk in summer; access to some ranges can close by order overnight, and the owner is a better source on that than any walking website.

Ferry or plane. Both have their case, and the arithmetic is not what you might think. The plane takes under two hours from Paris and serves four airports, but you then have to hire a car, and summer rates climb steeply if you leave it late. The ferry from Marseille, Toulon or Nice takes a night or half a day and lets you bring your own car, which changes the budget for a family — provided you book months ahead, since crossings with a vehicle are the first to fill.

Our Corsican addresses are rented direct from their owners, who know the roads, the ferry times and the beach where you can still park at eleven.