Thursday, June 01, 2006
Getting around
I have just been looking around one of Corsica's most useful websites - www.corsicabus.org. A great site - but the experience reminded me why it really is a good idea for holidaymakers to hire a car here if they can afford it. Corsicabus features all the bus and train timetables on the island and it is kept up to date by an English lady who deserves a medal for her efforts
I was on there this evening trying to help a young family coming to Corsica with a four year old. Should they hire a car? If they stay somewhere like Calvi or Ile Rousse, at either end of the Balagne's little beach train, they will be able to use the train to go to a different beach each day and see some of the Balagne's pretty coastal villages like Lumio and Algajola. And provided they don't miss the last train back, they can be back to their self catering apartment or hotel in time for a stroll down to the town for dinner.
But for most of the other places in Corsica, you really do need a car. The bus services are infrequent, and leave some villages isolated. There is one bus a day, for instance, between Calvi and Ile Rousse and it leaves at 6.45 in the morning, Monday to Saturday. This is not my idea of fun.
What is the point of coming somewhere as beautiful as Corsica if you can't travel around a bit. I'm all for public transport, but not at the expense of missing the very best of this beautiful island.
I was on there this evening trying to help a young family coming to Corsica with a four year old. Should they hire a car? If they stay somewhere like Calvi or Ile Rousse, at either end of the Balagne's little beach train, they will be able to use the train to go to a different beach each day and see some of the Balagne's pretty coastal villages like Lumio and Algajola. And provided they don't miss the last train back, they can be back to their self catering apartment or hotel in time for a stroll down to the town for dinner.
But for most of the other places in Corsica, you really do need a car. The bus services are infrequent, and leave some villages isolated. There is one bus a day, for instance, between Calvi and Ile Rousse and it leaves at 6.45 in the morning, Monday to Saturday. This is not my idea of fun.
What is the point of coming somewhere as beautiful as Corsica if you can't travel around a bit. I'm all for public transport, but not at the expense of missing the very best of this beautiful island.
# posted by Derekthered @ 2:55 PM 
