Corsica vs Sardinia: which is the Med's ultimate holiday island?

The old adage that good things come in small packages, while hardly untrue, does tend to ignore the idea that good things come in larger formats too.

Big can be beautiful – and it achieves a rare artistry in two of the biggest islands in the Mediterranean. Run an eye across the European map and you cannot miss them, dominating the western half of the continent’s defining sea. Corsica – France’s southern satellite – shimmering off the coast of Tuscany; Sardinia, Italy’s “other” vast outcrop, waiting a little further down.

They are big enough, these near-neighbours, that they could be independent powers in their own right. Indeed, at various points in their histories, they were. Even now, they have the scale and heft of nation states. Were it a country, Sardinia – the second largest island in the Med, eclipsed only by its compatriot Sicily – would be the planet’s 146th largest; only just smaller than both Rwanda and North Macedonia, bigger than each of Israel and Belize. Corsica, the Med’s fourth biggest island, is only just a little smaller than the third, Cyprus – which, you have probably observed, is a country proper.

They share more than their strange case of size over status. Arguably, each has more in common with the other than with the politicians in Rome and Paris who pull their strings remotely. Yes, there are cities, harbours and airports. But both islands are unashamedly wild in their geography – mountainous massifs swelling up from their stony hearts, the slopes slipping down to ragged coastlines of craggy bays, quiet towns and gorgeous beaches.

So why aren’t they better appreciated in the UK? Around 6.2 million British tourists fly off to Italy every year, but only 558,000 of those travellers (to use the figures for 2023) – nine per cent – head for Sardinia. With Corsica, the figure falls even further. There are just over nine million British trips to France per annum. But only 150,000 or so British tourists go to Corsica in any given year – around five per cent of the island’s annual visitor total (about three million people).

In part, this is an image issue; the islands’ untamed aesthetics sometimes leave them viewed as destinations only for the intrepid. But while options for active tours are myriad, both Corsica and Sardinia offer holidays beyond the purely adventurous. They are rich in history, food and culture. And more importantly, they deal in relaxation and summer comforts – as the following “mini guides” demonstrate.

Corsica

While it sits closer to the Italian mainland (50 miles) than the mother country (95 miles), Corsica is an unsurprisingly popular destination for French tourists. Plenty of them make the journey by ferry, from Nice to Bastia, in eight hours.

With this, the island is as unfailingly French as you would expect a French island to be, all gourmet joys in Ajaccio’s restaurants and stylish couture in the shops of Porto-Vecchio – with the caveat that it has only actually been French since various diplomatic machinations and military manoeuvres in 1768 and 1769 made it so.

Somewhere in the grooves in its rocks, the island clearly remembers a time before Paris came calling. The peaks and hiking trails of its central Cinto massif feel a world away from the brasseries of the Marais – even as sun-seekers from Saint-Germain work on their tan along its 668 lovely miles of coastline.

Getting there

In what could be described as a case of chicken and egg, the low number of British tourists visiting Corsica is reflected in the relative paucity of flight connections to the island. Where, even three years ago, you could fly to all four of Corsica’s main airports – Bastia, Figari, Ajaccio and Calvi – from the UK, the disappearance of Air Corsica from the British market has taken Ajaccio off the table, and reduced the number of flights into Calvi.

However, it is still possible to hop to the island – in between three-and-a-half and four hours, depending on the exact destination. British Airways flies to Figari from Heathrow, and Calvi from Stansted; easyJet serves Bastia and Figari from Gatwick.

City streets

Corsica’s prettiest urban area is arguably not its capital, Ajaccio, but the port of its far north. Bastia is gorgeously positioned at the bottom of the Cap Corse peninsula – the Serra di Pignu mountain cradling it to the west, the Tuscan island of Elba twinkling away to the east. The city adds to the picture – the Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste rising above the harbour, the Vieux Port festooned with restaurants such as seafood specialist Le Jean Bart. An engaging place to idle. Waterfront four-star Hotel des Gouverneurs has double rooms from £116.

Historical hot spot

Wedged into the west coast of the island, the capital is also an engaging option for a few days away – a seven-night stay at the four-star Radisson Blu Resort Ajaccio Bay, flying from Heathrow on June 21, costs from £928 per person, via Expedia.

Its most established link to the past needs little explanation – Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio in 1769, rising swiftly from provincial origins to become emperor of France and scourge of Europe. His earliest days are preserved at the Maison Bonaparte on Rue Saint-Charles – including the sparsely furnished chamber where he took his first breath.

Natural beauty

One of the joys of Corsica’s mountainous middle is that it can be reached from all corners of the coastline with ­little more than a hire car and a sense of curiosity.

Escorted tours are also available. Based in the south-west, near Eccica-Suarella, activity specialist Cors’Aventure offers a range of energetic excursions into this craggy interior. These include a one-day assault (€120 per person) on the Dardu Canyon, which cuts a dash through the living rock on the west side of the island. With several tricky sections, this is not a chasm for beginners, and prior experience at canyoneering and rappelling is necessary. Alternatively, the same company’s half-day encounter with the less challenging Zoicu Canyon (from €50 per person) is more suitable for families.

Don’t miss

All but occupying the island’s southernmost point (the Pertusatu lighthouse, three miles beyond, actually fulfils this role), Bonifacio is a vision in honied stone and former military prowess.

Its clifftop citadel has existed since the ninth century, and if the walk up can be demanding on hot days, the scenery and ambience justify the endeavour. Its cluttered streets, spreading out around the Église Sainte-Marie-Majeure, could almost be a film set. The Place du ­Marché, perched precariously on the clifftop, deals in cafés, ice cream parlours, and views of Sardinia, 10 miles away across the Strait of Bonifacio.

Hidden wonder

Corsica does that timeless version of the Mediterranean – a sheltered bay, a hillside rearing pristine and undeveloped, a few small restaurants on the water, fishing boats at rest – with particular persuasion at Galeria. This sleepy ­village, burrowed into the north-west coast, won’t raise your temperature beyond the 25C the island usually enjoys in summer. But if you want a week of gentle recuperation, it will certainly deliver. Nearby, the three-bedroom Maison Rivage can be rented via Oliver’s Travels. Sleeping up to six, the property is still available for the week of August 16-23, for £3,753 in total.

Three great ways to visit Corsica

Luxury

Corsica shows its chicest face in the south-east, where Parisians snooze on the sands of Plage de Palombaggia, and the marina at Porto-Vecchio is full of yachts.

Nonetheless, it is possible to arrange a week in the area without paying a number with multiple zeroes. Simpson Travel has properties here; among them, Villa Fiorella – a two-bedroom hideaway with an infinity pool and a sun terrace that gazes towards the water. It can be booked as a package. A seven-night full-occupancy stay for a family of four, flying in from Gatwick on July 20, costs from £1,848 per person (£7,390 in total).

Family

Elsewhere, Corsican Places offers breaks to the Residencia Sognu di Rena – a simple but comfortable four-star apartment complex with a pool, on the sands of the east coast. A seven-night holiday for a family of three, flying from Gatwick to Bastia on July 26, costs from £4,275 in total (£1,485 per person). This price includes a hire car.

Active

Holidays with hiking boots and back-packs are entirely feasible. Exodus Travels runs a regular “Mountains and Villages of Corsica” break – an eight-day guided odyssey which picks a gloriously slow path between Bastia and Ajaccio. Some parts of the route are covered by Corsica’s high-wire railways. Others – via the fabled GR20 walking route, and along the River Gravona to the Richiusa Gorge – go on foot. Thirteen editions of the tour are currently scheduled for 2025 – from £1,749 per person (not including flights).

Sardinia

To describe Sardinia as “Italy’s ­second biggest island”, while accurate, is to undersell a place whose history arcs back to a time long before the nation of Puccini and ­puttanesca. The Nuragic civilisation held sway on Sardinia from the 18th century BC until the arrival of the Romans some 1,500 years later. Their footprints and tombs are tattooed onto the landmass – to Unesco-listed effect, in the case of the Su Nuraxi di Barumini archaeological site. Other indications of its “otherness” are, however, less ancient. The most romantic are surely the ongoing existence of an indigenous Sardinian and a version of Catalan – both recognised as two of Italy’s official minority languages. These linguistic rarities set ­Sardinia apart from the mainland as firmly as its rugged interior and ­tendency to look inwards, even if some of its resorts are as special as those in Amalfi and ­Tuscany.

Getting there

Northeasterly Olbia, the gateway to the feted Costa Smeralda, has become the busiest Sardinian airport for flights from the UK.

British Airways serves it from Heathrow, London City and Edinburgh, easyJet flies in from Bristol, Edinburgh, Gatwick and Luton – and Ryanair offers a connection from Stansted. The airport’s pivotal role in package holidays is also visible in flights operated by Tui, from Manchester and Gatwick – and by Jet2, from Birmingham, Stansted and Manchester.

The capital Cagliari, down on the south coast, welcomes British Airways from Gatwick, and Ryanair from Stansted. The latter airline flies the sole British connection to Alghero, on the west coast (also from Stansted).

City streets

While you would never describe it as the most attractive of Italian cities – it is, after all, a busy port with all the freight containers and dockyards that entails – Sardinia’s capital is not without merit.

Indeed, Cagliari reads out various chapters of the island’s tale with clear diction – the Tuvixeddu necropolis, where the Carthaginian civilisation buried its island dead between the sixth and third centuries BC; a splendid Roman amphitheatre; a Museum of Archaeology which covers the above in detail. There is modern finesse as well. The Palazzio Doglio, a five-star in the historic centre, offers doubles from £147 per night.

Smaller and prettier, Alghero is a less frenetic alternative. The kernel of ­Catalan-speaking Sardinia still has its 14th-century ramparts and a 16th-­century gothic cathedral – and is close to some of the island’s loveliest beaches (Spiaggia del Lido di Alghero is a case in point). A three-night stay at the four-star Villa Las Tronas, tucked onto its own mini peninsula, costs from £896 per person – with Kirker Holidays.

Historical hot spot

Su Nuraxi di Barumini wears its multiple millennia openly and solemnly – as a maze of 17th-century BC rooms and corridors that Unesco declares to be “the finest and most complete example of this remarkable form of prehistoric architecture”. You can book a day-trip to the site from Cagliari, from £59 per person, via Get Your Guide. Equally intriguing (and accessible by car from resorts on the east coast) are the Tomba dei Giganti, a series of what are believed to be Nuragic tombs, adorning a forested hillside just above Lanusei.

Natural beauty

The east coast has a particular delight in the National Park of the Bay of Orosei and Gennargentu. Ignore the wordiness of the name. Here is a magical enclave of geographical highs and lows – from the 6,017ft summit of Punta La Marmora in the Gennargentu range, to cliffs and secluded beaches (the likes of Cala Mariolu and Cala Biriala) along the Tyrrhenian Sea. The spaces between are coated with ancient oaks and strawberry trees, and laced with trails you can amble at leisure, scanning the sky for the buzzards and eagles that soar above.

Don’t miss

At the south-west corner of the main island, you find a Sardinian side-islet with a story of its own. Now connected to its bigger sibling by road, Sant’Antioco was an important dot on the map of the ancient world – its key port, Sulci, was tussled over by Pompey and Caesar during the Roman civil war which saw the latter rise to power. Its ruins are still there, next to its modern-day successor (also called Sant’Antioco) – a sleepy town where you can eat in the pizzerias along the front, or even stay over. The Hotel Moderno offers double rooms from £38.

Hidden wonder

For the south-west, read the far north. The seven Maddalena islands loiter almost as close to Corsica as to Sardinia, in the Strait of Bonifacio. You need to take a ferry to reach them – from Palau on the Costa Smeralda to the biggest of the septet, Isola Maddalena. But the short crossing is certainly worth the effort, dropping you into a realm of gentle coves and shallow swimming waters, rightly protected as a national park. Caprera, linked to Isola Maddalena by a causeway, has wonderful beaches, like the remote Cala Napoletana.

Three great ways to visit Sardinia

Luxury

Stretched over 40 or so miles of shoreline, roughly between Santa Teresa Gallura and Capriccioli, the Costa Smeralda is known for elegant escapism. The resorts and playgrounds which bejewel it focus on class – the Hotel Cala di Volpe (00 39 07899 76111; marriott.co.uk), at Capriccioli, has a tie-in with Japanese star chef Nobu Matsuhisa (and double rooms from £529). A week’s stay at the nearby five-star Hotel Romazzino, meanwhile, can be booked from £2,500 per person, flights included, via Scott Dunn (020 3553 6045; scottdunn.com).

Family

The south coast also has fine accommodation. Forte Village (0039 7 0921 8818; fortevillageresort.com), near Santa Margherita di Pula, has earned a name for its residential sports courses for children, led by vaunted professionals (this year’s football sessions will be with Real Madrid coaches). Adults can dive into food made by two-Michelin-starred chef Massimiliano Mascia, and a large spa.

A seven-night half-board stay for a family of three at the resort’s Hotel Bouganville, flying from Gatwick to Cagliari on July 26, starts at £7,002 in total, via Just Sardinia (01202 484 858; justsardinia.co.uk).

Active

The Sardinian interior is great for mountain-biking. Saddle Skedaddle (0191 265 1110; skedaddle.com) offers Sardinia: Coast To Coast – an eight-day escorted romp from Magazzini in the west to Bari Sardo in the east, via the likes of the Marmilla hills and Su Nuraxi di Barumini. Two editions of the trip are scheduled for 2025: May 10-17 and October 11-18. From a basic £2,025 per person, including transfers and accommodation (bike hire and flights extra).

For more ideas on where to stay, see our full guide to the best hotels in Sardinia.

This story was first published in May 2022 and has been revised and updated.