The Best Hotels in Corsica for Every Traveller

This Bonifacio boutique hotel has just 11 rooms and suites, giving it the low-key feel of a designer villa. Overlooking the untouched scrubland and forest before it, Santa Manza has wooden decking and ochre walls, blending it with the natural landscape. Inside are modern white rooms with earthy textures, some with private terraces and Jacuzzis jutting out towards the scenery. The owners can help you hire a boat for the day for plunges into tourist-free, aquamarine coves.

Rustically styled, but with a good streak of luxury living, U Capu has two private beaches, a motorboat and a top sommelier. Channeling the hippy vibes of this wildflower-strewn, craggy region outside Bonifacio, this 40-room oasis designs spa treatments around local honey, clementines and herbs – its lagoon-style pool seems naturally woven into the clifftop, and romantic rooms have dreamy linen drapes, copper sinks and shelves of books or ceramics.

Down near Corsica’s southern tip, nearest Bonifacio, Cala di Greco has the sharp edges and infinity-pool views of an A-lister’s Mediterranean home. The suites, which are named after figures from Greek mythology, employ raw woods, textured off-white walls and navy-tiled plunge pools for a sense of effortless luxury. Trees erupt through restaurant ceilings and tangerine towels add a pop of colour by the spectacular pool. Rates are good value, too, considering they include a hearty breakfast.

Close to the chocolate-box villages and pine-green valleys around Belgodère, Le Niobel has slightly dated, neutral-toned rooms, but a fabulous restaurant with killer views of the scenery and glowing Corsican sunsets. A favourite with bikers and hikers, it’s warm but unpretentious, with lovely countryside and dinky churches all around. Aching for the sea? The pristine white sands and clear shallows of Lozari beach are a 10-minute drive away.

Deep in the verdant natural park at the centre of the island, Praesidio is a budget treasure with a cosy, chalet feel. Set in sweet-smelling gardens, it has friendly owners who can point you towards the most scenic hikes before feeding and watering you, and sending you off to a pin-drop rural night’s sleep. It’s a brilliant stop if you’re driving cross-country from one coast to the other.

This modern guesthouse – all teal feature walls, 1970s-style floor tiles and bold Scandi furniture – lies slightly inland, in the southwestern countryside towards Propriano. The showstopper here is its swimming pool and sundeck, jutting out over endless views of fir trees and sleepy farmland. Roomy apartments are done up simply but with touches of design flair – a pink Smeg fridge here; patchwork-effect bathroom tiling there.

A luxurious stop in the moneyed villa-holiday spot of Calvi, La Villa’s central pool protrudes towards an incredible panorama of sparkling sea, tumbling russet rooftops, and mountains in the far distance. Even standard rooms feel plush and pampering with their smooth white bedding, vases of hydrangeas and private patios, but they graduate to 10-person villas with dazzling duck-egg blue pools and indoor-outdoor dining space. A marine-inspired spa completes the picture.

Deep in the northern bay of Saint-Florent, not far from Bastia, this lauded Corsican restaurant has 28 gorgeous rooms to stay over in: some with sunbaked balconies, some with ravishing Med views – all with crisp white bedding and smart, polished-tile bathrooms in muted shades. The waterfront restaurant – sitting beside a tranquil, medium-sized pool terrace – creates delicate, bite-sized delights from fresh crab, strawberries or Corsican cheese.

A bijou stone-clad guesthouse on an island of strikingly glam hotels, La Marlotte looks like something out of a fairytale, with wooden shutters and bursts of flowered shrubs. Well inland from Bastia and up in the Corsican mountains, it’s close to beautiful nature hikes and swims in fresh mountain pools. Rooms may be bohemian-quirky with slightly shiny fabrics, but there’s a fabulous deck for aperitifs or coffees, overlooking the majestic scenery all around.

In the countryside near Porto-Vecchio, Camerina guesthouse has chic black-and-wood interiors which jazz up raw, unvarnished textures and black-framed windows with the odd pop of sunshine yellow or lime green. An indoor hot tub is a sultry treat in all seasons, and the owner’s attention to detail (fresh baked pastries, local wines) will make you feel right at home amid the forested mountains of this region.