kenav

Considering going to Corsica at the beginning of September. May fly into Ajaccio. Not sure if we could fly out of another city on the island or would have to fly back from Ajaccio as well.

What would you suggest for a beautiful beaches plus mountain vacation without too many changes of hotels? We will have a car.

Smeagol

Make sure you visit the North, you could easily fly out of Calvi (where ar you flying too?) I love Ille Rousse, Lumio, Clavi that whole area has some amazing scenery.
In St Florent you ca get a boat that Ames you t the beautiful plage de Loto and some other wonderful beaches..
The inland areas from Calvi are lovely with some very cute villages.
There is LOTS to see and do in Corsica. Maybe pick a tentative plan and then come back and we can advise. ( if you are in theUK there was a piece in the Sunday times travel supplement on Corsica))

Smeagol

Sorry I hate these apple keyboards,that should say you can get a ferry that takes you to the beautiful Plage de Loto.

kenav

Smeagol - I've read about the crazy amount of tourists at the beaches. Will it be bad during the 1st-2nd or 3rd weeks of Sept?

I'd like to get to the interior of the island too.

BTW - I'm in NY.

Smeagol

I think you should be ok in September. I have been May, June, July and August and it was only really August that was crazy busy. ( July is busy too but not as bad)
Bastia could also be an option as an airport for you.
We use Calvi ( as its local to where we stay ) but other options could be ferry over to nice and get your flight home from there ( you can also get a plane from Calvi to nice too )

Why do t you check out your flight options first , then you could look at the route.
Corsica is wonderful, we haven't been for about 18 months and miss it!

kenav

I believe we can fly form JFK to Nice and spend a few days there. Then fly to Corsica from there.

Thinking about flying into Calvi, driving eventually down to Ajaccio and across Corsica (spending time in the mountain area) and fly out of Bastia. Is this a possibility in 10 days?

Smeagol

You may be better to fly into Calvi and then out of Ajaccio so you don't have to come back "up" to fly out of Bastia. ( but people who know Corsica better than I may say this is do-able. At least this way you can linger... I could easily spend a week or more in the Balange region.. ( infact in the 4 times we have visited Corsica we have yet to make it south) so hopefully those who have been south can chime in....
calvi is a great start point with the Citadel and some great restuarants.
But of course anything is possible but due to the nature of the Island the roads are VERY windy and take longer than you think due to the switchback nature ( in places) that is not to say that the main roads are not good as many of them are.

kenav

We did want to get to the East coast as well as the West coast and that is why I thought to end up in Bastia. Make a circle. And, again we also did want to get to the interior of the island. I guess we could do that as well from the West Coast and then just go back to the West Coast, but again I thought that you thought the beaches on the East should be seen.

Confusing enough for you?

Where do you go?

Smeagol

Kenav, we fly to Calvi which is on the East coast. Bastia airport is about 1.5 hours away from there so they both essentially cover a similar area.

I think you plan is do- able but some off the driving may be longer than anticipated, however if you don't mind then go for it.

We have a friend who has a place just outside Calvi in a tiny village called Lumio we use the as a base and then usually go to the villages in the "Balange" region.
I hear the beaches down south are gorgeous, so I think your plan to spend a few days there is a good one.
We love Calvi, Ille Rousse, St Florent, and then some of the inland villages Pigna is a cute little village ( I can't remember all the names off the top of my head, i'll dig my book out when I get home tonight to jog my memory.)

Maybe if you google map your route you can see the anticipated mileage/time between each of the places you want to go (that's what i did when we went to California ) and then you can see if that seems ok to you.
Rest assured though, Corsica is lovely and wherever you go you will find great food and scenery.....