Camping Calamar

Active types should find plenty hereabouts to entertain: sign up for a quadding tour or a diving lesson five minutes’ drive from base, test heads for heights by paragliding 10 minutes away, or go kayaking and canoeing within 15 minutes. If tastes hew more to the historical, follow in the footsteps of Corsica’s most famous son with a trip across the island to the port city of Ajaccio, home of Napoléon Bonaparte – the city’s Fesch Museum was set up by Napoléon’s uncle and the Maison Bonaparte was the family’s home for nearly 300 years, and both are well worth a visit. Spend some time with a Corsican icon of a little more stature with a stop at Monte Cinto (the island’s highest mountain) on the way back to the east coast, then travel north towards the stunningly scenic city of Bastia and its palaces, museums, churches and desert (yes, desert – and Europe’s only official one). Wander just beyond the city to the Étang de Biguglia nature reserve or two hours away to the Genoese towers (built to fend off Barbary pirates) for more Corsica, otherwise traipse along to the Bastian docks for a four-hour ferry crossing to the Tuscan city of Livorno on the Italian mainland.