Tag: France

We spent Wednesday, the 12th of August again close to our hotel, enjoying our beautiful private beach. We inflated our SUP board and paddled around the bay, exploring the area near the anchored sailboats. The rest of the day we simply relaxed on the beach until sunset.

On Thursday we decided to go on another trip. This time we chose what is said to be the most beautiful beach on the southern coast — Plage de Palombaggia. Parking there was easy. Several restaurants along the beach have their own parking lots, and for 20 euros you get a voucher worth 15 euros to use in the restaurant. The beach is long and very pretty. On its western side it connects directly to another stunning, more natural beach — Plage de Tamaricciu, with huge granite boulders scattered around.

After a lovely day on the beach, we drove to the nearby town of Porto‑Vecchio. The town was unbelievably crowded, almost like a street fair. Luckily, we found a small bistro in a side street where we had dinner. After that, our “walk” was basically just a return to the parking lot, and then a long night drive back to Propriano.

Friday, 14th of August, we spent once again near our hotel, relaxing on our beautiful private beach. In the evening, for our farewell, we went to see the center of Propriano. Instead of a full dinner, we had a light snack — and later some crêpes 🙂

We spent almost the whole day on our beautiful hotel beach. Only in the evening we decided to go on a short trip to Sartène, known as the most “Corsican” town on the island. We walked around the old streets and had dinner. The restaurant we chose was right next to a road with diverted traffic, so cars kept passing extremely close to us. It was honestly a bit terrifying. We already knew Sartène had a rough atmosphere, and this confirmed it.

After dinner, we treated ourselves to huge ice cream cups on the main square. Then we explored a few old alleys and headed back to the hotel.

On Tuesday we planned a full‑day trip. We wanted to see at least part of the southern coast, look for nice beaches, and finally decided to go to Plage du Petit Sperone.

On the way, we first stopped above another famous beach — Plage de Roccapina — where a group of rocks above the shore looks like a giant stone lion lying down. Later we walked around Bonifacio and found a great spot for photos.

The parking area near Plage du Petit Sperone was basically full, but we managed to find a place. The beach itself is truly beautiful, but also very crowded. The biggest problem came when we tried to return to the parking lot — the tide had flooded the small path along the beach that we used earlier. In general, I didn’t like that a large golf club sits right above the beach, making access for the public unnecessarily difficult.

We spent the evening in Bonifacio. We had to park farther away and walk into town. We had dinner down by the port and then climbed up the sandstone cliff to the old town. It’s not as big as it might seem. The back side with the fortress wasn’t lit at all, and the air in the narrow streets felt completely still. It’s hard to compare Bonifacio with a place like Korčula — the atmosphere is very different.

We had a calm morning on Saturday, the 8th of August 2026. We enjoyed breakfast, packed our things into the car, took care of a few small tasks, and around noon we started our trip to Italy, heading towards Livorno. The drive was mostly fine, with a few small delays and regular breaks. We arrived at Hotel Maxis in Livorno around 22:00. The hotel itself was OK, but the surrounding area and the access road into Livorno were not great.

On Sunday morning, 9th of August, we went to the port. The biggest challenge was simply to finding it. There were no signs at all, so you basically just follow the other cars… The ferry was larger than the one we took to Norway, but older, and overall the experience with Corsica Ferries cannot be compared to Fjord Line.

The crossing from Livorno to Bastia took about five hours (9:45 to 13:45). After arriving in Bastia, we had a long drive ahead of us to the southwest, to Propriano. We paid attention to the landscape along the way. What surprised us, were the piles of trash along the road – something we had previously seen only around Naples.

We also noticed the bilingual town signs (French and Corsican), very interesting.

Our hotel Roc e Mare in Propriano / Prupriu, we reached at around 18:30. We got the room 304 and were immediately impressed! The risk we took despite mixed reviews definitely paid off. The room was spacious, nicely furnished, and had a stunning view over the wide bay. But the biggest treasure of this hotel was hidden just a few dozen meters below: a beautiful private sandy beach tucked between rocky cliffs. Right above the beach was a great restaurant, open in the evenings. We tried it already on Sunday and enjoyed excellent fresh fish.