Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Corsica rocks
Eurocamp has family fun covered in two holiday parks on a real beauty of an island
you’ll need a car. There’s limited availability, particularly if you need a seven-seater like us, so book early. I’ve had no end of trouble with hire cars before but this went refreshingly smoothly.
Our Renault Scenic came with booster seats for our younger two and a useful tourist guide and map. Hertz’s own blogpost on how to get to Corsica’s best beaches and, crucially, where to park was handy.
For the last two days we switched to Sole di Sari holiday park, a few miles down the coast, slightly inland from Solenzara – and found a whole new Corsica. It’s eco-friendly and part of a nature reserve. A gentle river rolls through it with water so warm you could spend hours lazing in it. Not so the kids, who preferred scrambling up the cliffs to leap in. It was breathtaking – or, I should say, kallisté.
If flying from Southampton, the Macdonald Botley Park Hotel and Spa’s £159 Stay and Fly package offers B&B, return taxi transfers to the airport 10 minutes away and free parking for your holiday. macdonaldhotels.co.uk
THE Greeks christened it Kallisté (the most beautiful) and the French call it Ile de Beaute (Island of Beauty), so we weren’t surprised by Corsica’s spectacular scenery.
But it didn’t take us long to discover that this amazing gem – roughly the size of Crete and lying above Sardinia off the west coast of Italy – satisfies every holiday taste. It’s teeming with serene beaches, rugged mountain ranges, quaint villages and enticingly warm rivers and sea.
Unlike its Italian neighbour Sardinia, Corsica is part of France but it has its own unique feel and remains refreshingly undeveloped.
Our family – my husband Tim and our children Harvey, 14, Max, 12, Rosie, nine, and sixyear-old Freddie – stayed on the island’s quieter east coast near Ghisonaccia town, next to a wide sandy beach called Plage de Vignale. Fringed by the Tyrrhenian Sea, its 280C water is perfect for swimming or pedalo rides.
FAMOUS
Our large holiday park, Marina d’ Erba Rossa, had a lively hub around its swimming pool and entertainment square – complete with rooftop DJ – but elsewhere it was peaceful and laid-back. There was even a small animal farm for the youngsters to see emus, a goat and more.
Off-site was fun too. The perfect way to enjoy Corsica’s amazingly clear sea is on a pirogue, a wooden Polynesian fishing vessel hand-crafted by the guys behind sea adventure company Acqua Vanua.
We opted for the three-hour taster trip from their base at Plage de Favone. Guide Paolo took us to a prime snorkelling site at Plage de Canella, where we spotted saddled bream, damselfish and wrasse.
He also took us further out to swim through underwater rocks then to caves where we crawled under submerged ledges. The ancient harbour town of Bonifacio teeters over the sea on dazzling limestone cliffs at the island’s southern point and a great way to view it is on a day-long cruise from Porto-Vecchio.
We motored past some of Corsica’s most famous beaches – including Palombaggia, often compared to the Seychelles, and Rondinara, voted Lonely Planet’s third best in Europe – then on to Bonifacio and the Lavezzi Islands. The small uninhabited islands are coated in icingsugar-like pale sand edged by the clearest water imaginable. To reach shore we simply leapt off the boat and snorkelled our way over, circled by glittering silver fish.
Holiday company Eurocamp provided the usual premium service and accommodation. Our base was a three-bedroomed Classic mobile home with ample covered decking. It had everything we needed from gas hobs and kitchen kit to air conditioning and barbeque. We’d preordered bed linen to lighten our luggage.
To take advantage of Corsica’s sights
Uninhabited islands are coated in pale sand like icing sugar