Advice on 2.5 week trip to Corsica and Italy
Jan 18th, 2014, 11:18 AM
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Advice on 2.5 week trip to Corsica and Italy
Hello,
My husband and I are flying into and out of Geneva (arriving May 5 and departing May 22). We got a great price on the flights to and from Geneva but aren't necessarily planning on spending a ton of time in the area - maybe just a day or two at the end of the trip.
We were looking at some flights on Easy Jet and were considering booking an easy jet flight from Geneva to Corsica on May 5th. After that, we would like to go and explore Italy. I've only just started my research so we don't have many firm plans about Italy but were considering the idea of spending some time in Tuscany. We love to explore, we enjoy history, art, and "old stuff", as my husband might say. We are also hoping to have some time to really relax and unwind at the end of the trip.
My questions are:
1. Does it make sense to fly to Corsica from Geneva (the price was quite reasonable on Easy Jet) on the day we arrive from Canada?
2. Any suggestions on how long we should spend in Corsica? Also, any highlights that you can suggest?
3. Any ideas on an itinerary for Italy in May? We are open to the idea of a car (we did quite a bit of driving in France and in Turkey although we used public transport in major cities) but if a train or flights would be better, we could do that to.
4. I don't know much at all about the area around Geneva but if you think it makes sense to spend time in the area and have ideas, I would love to hear them.
In reading many of the posts, it seems like everyone on this forum has so much great information so thank you for taking the time to read this and respond!
Caitie
My husband and I are flying into and out of Geneva (arriving May 5 and departing May 22). We got a great price on the flights to and from Geneva but aren't necessarily planning on spending a ton of time in the area - maybe just a day or two at the end of the trip.
We were looking at some flights on Easy Jet and were considering booking an easy jet flight from Geneva to Corsica on May 5th. After that, we would like to go and explore Italy. I've only just started my research so we don't have many firm plans about Italy but were considering the idea of spending some time in Tuscany. We love to explore, we enjoy history, art, and "old stuff", as my husband might say. We are also hoping to have some time to really relax and unwind at the end of the trip.
My questions are:
1. Does it make sense to fly to Corsica from Geneva (the price was quite reasonable on Easy Jet) on the day we arrive from Canada?
2. Any suggestions on how long we should spend in Corsica? Also, any highlights that you can suggest?
3. Any ideas on an itinerary for Italy in May? We are open to the idea of a car (we did quite a bit of driving in France and in Turkey although we used public transport in major cities) but if a train or flights would be better, we could do that to.
4. I don't know much at all about the area around Geneva but if you think it makes sense to spend time in the area and have ideas, I would love to hear them.
In reading many of the posts, it seems like everyone on this forum has so much great information so thank you for taking the time to read this and respond!
Caitie
Jan 18th, 2014, 01:05 PM
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Do you really want to waste your time in Corsica, if you have only 2 weeks for your whole trip?
Corsica is famous for beaches (of course deserted in May), scenic villages, isolated old churches, menhirs, dolmens, cliffs, mountain hiking, rock climbing .....
But don't forget than May can be VERY rainy in this area.
You would need a rental car and at least 3 days (slow sinuous mountain roads!) in order to get an impression of the Island.
The easiest way to go from Corsica to Tuscany is the ferry from Bastia to Livorno.
That would give you:
Monday 5th: arrival at Ajaccio in late afternoon
6th-8th: exploring (a small part of) the Island, ending around Bastia
9th: ferry Bastia dp 14.00 - Livorno ar 18.05
10th - 16th: rent a car and explore the small towns of Southern Tuscany and Umbria
17th-19th: drop off the car and visit Florence
Train back to Geneva with some stop overs.
If you like that, you may do so.
If you prefer to get a better knowledge of the endless gems of Italy, skip Corsica.
May be you have a look at
http://oldweb.enit.it/comuni.asp?lang=UK
http://www.visit-corsica.com/en
http://www.chamonix.com/welcome,0,en.html
http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/home.html
http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/en/
http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe/en
Corsica is famous for beaches (of course deserted in May), scenic villages, isolated old churches, menhirs, dolmens, cliffs, mountain hiking, rock climbing .....
But don't forget than May can be VERY rainy in this area.
You would need a rental car and at least 3 days (slow sinuous mountain roads!) in order to get an impression of the Island.
The easiest way to go from Corsica to Tuscany is the ferry from Bastia to Livorno.
That would give you:
Monday 5th: arrival at Ajaccio in late afternoon
6th-8th: exploring (a small part of) the Island, ending around Bastia
9th: ferry Bastia dp 14.00 - Livorno ar 18.05
10th - 16th: rent a car and explore the small towns of Southern Tuscany and Umbria
17th-19th: drop off the car and visit Florence
Train back to Geneva with some stop overs.
If you like that, you may do so.
If you prefer to get a better knowledge of the endless gems of Italy, skip Corsica.
May be you have a look at
http://oldweb.enit.it/comuni.asp?lang=UK
http://www.visit-corsica.com/en
http://www.chamonix.com/welcome,0,en.html
http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/home.html
http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/en/
http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe/en
Jan 18th, 2014, 02:29 PM
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we liked corsica, and were glad we went... but i have to say that it is not among my top 20 european destinations.
we had heard that it is unspoiled by tourism, which is partly true, but it is a dryish island for hikes (we joked that we should not have been surprised, as their flag sports a figure with a big sweat band...) and the harbor area is not as romantic as many. that said, it was interesting to see...
also, of course they speak french, so you have another language to deal with....
lastly, for us, half the fun was taking the ferry over... so if you fly you will miss that. (am i correct that you are flying directly from geneva to corsica? is that possible??)
we had heard that it is unspoiled by tourism, which is partly true, but it is a dryish island for hikes (we joked that we should not have been surprised, as their flag sports a figure with a big sweat band...) and the harbor area is not as romantic as many. that said, it was interesting to see...
also, of course they speak french, so you have another language to deal with....
lastly, for us, half the fun was taking the ferry over... so if you fly you will miss that. (am i correct that you are flying directly from geneva to corsica? is that possible??)
Jan 18th, 2014, 03:13 PM
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What happens to your EasyJet flight if you arrive late in Geneva? I would not expect to arrive on time. Also note that between January and May, EasyJet (or Air Canada) often reschedule flights. With several hours between flights, the odds would be in your favor, but I'd want a good backup plan.
Jan 18th, 2014, 11:18 PM
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It is entirely possible to travel around Corsica by train and bus (at least to major towns) but services are infrequent so you need to work around them. Check www.corsicabus.org. However, a car would give you more flexibility.
I would hesitate to try and include Switzerland, Corsica and Italy in such a short time, especially if you need to return to Geneva for your flight home - you'd need to be very selective about where you visited. Personally, for a relaxing holiday I'd drop either Corsica or Italy (or even both and focus on seeing the regions around Geneva).
I would hesitate to try and include Switzerland, Corsica and Italy in such a short time, especially if you need to return to Geneva for your flight home - you'd need to be very selective about where you visited. Personally, for a relaxing holiday I'd drop either Corsica or Italy (or even both and focus on seeing the regions around Geneva).
Jan 19th, 2014, 07:47 AM
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Thank you all for such informative replies. Kawh, yes we were considering flying directly from Geneva to Corsica. And yes, WillTravel, we were also somewhat concerned about flying on to Corsica that day in case of delays. Neckervd, thank you for the suggested itinerary and the links.
Our reason for considering Corsica was simply that we had been doing some research of interesting places to visit in May in that region and Corsica came up a number of times with descriptions such as the ones Neckervd gave which sounded quite appealing to us. In addition, as Kawh mentioned, I had heard that it was relatively "unspoiled". I was not aware, however, the May was rainy season in Corsica.
Perhaps it does make more sense to focus our time on Italy and perhaps part of Switzerland as Dreamon and neckervd suggested. I will check out the links that you attached neckervd.
I'll chat with my husband and maybe I will create a new post with our revised plan.
Caitie
Our reason for considering Corsica was simply that we had been doing some research of interesting places to visit in May in that region and Corsica came up a number of times with descriptions such as the ones Neckervd gave which sounded quite appealing to us. In addition, as Kawh mentioned, I had heard that it was relatively "unspoiled". I was not aware, however, the May was rainy season in Corsica.
Perhaps it does make more sense to focus our time on Italy and perhaps part of Switzerland as Dreamon and neckervd suggested. I will check out the links that you attached neckervd.
I'll chat with my husband and maybe I will create a new post with our revised plan.
Caitie
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