Calvi

Get around

There are no buses, but there is a small red train that runs along the coast from Île Rousse to Calvi, and a blue one that runs from Calvi to Bastia.

There is no need to hire a car or a scooters to get around Calvi as it is quite a small and densely-packed town. If you wish to get around Corsica as a whole, it is worth checking the 'Get Out' section below.

See

The Citadel is worth at least one visit. It is very hard work, especially during the 12:00-15:00 period, with many steps and seemingly unendless cobbles, but there are some restaurants and shops to ease you and an art gallery halfway up. It is hard to recommend the citadel for its contents (though the 2nd Bn. Parachutistes of the Foreign Legion put on a show every year, discussed below, which is worth going to), but the views are simply amazing, especially at sunset. Come during the 15 Août, and you will be treated with the best fireworks show you have ever seen. Go to the main beach and you will see the show proper; each year has its own theme. In the daytime, the Parachutistes put on a show and do a jump from 4500 m (15,000 ft), landing in the sea. Best viewed from the bar U Cornu Marinu, if only under the pretense of avoiding flying boots. L'Eglise Santa Maria is worth a visit; you can't miss it, it's the 'Big Pink Church'. It is a lovely old-style Catholic church evocative of the Orthodox style.

Do

Take the train to Île Rousse or Bastia. Take the 4hr round trip to Scandola by boat, which can be booked on the Marina (you can't miss it). Scandola is an island, now a nature reserve, that boasts, among other things, coral, birds, and '450 seaweeds'. Best to book the afternoon trip to avoid being hit by Calvi's infamous winds, which tend to make the trip less than pleasant. Go diving around Calvi's corals (can be booked on the Marina, look for the boat with all the diving suits hanging off it, toward the eastern side). Three spots of free-diving are around Calvi: B17 plane wreck : 500m north to the citadelle at 25-28m deep, crashed during the second world war. No streams Saint François : nice diving accessible from the beach (at 3km of Calvi toward Galeria) "La revellata" : Stop at the parking up there and walk into the beach. From the beach, dive in the direction of the peninsula in the sea Hire kayaks or dinghies or jet skis on the beach. Hire catamarans from the Marina.

Buy

Almost every shop in Corsica will sell dried meats (you'll smell them before you see them) and also offer an amazing variety of honey, olive oil, spices and herbs (from the bushes that litter the mountains, called maquis). For those of you who are a little more adventurous, it may be worth buying some chestnut flour (farine de châtaignes), which is a local speciality used in crêpes, cakes, etc.