The Easiest Way to Get to Corsica – Ferry, Plane or Train?

Corsican landscape

Taking your family on holiday to Corsica? Travel can be stressful, so here’s what you should know about getting to the island of Corsica for your holiday.

The easiest way to get to Corsica is by plane. Air travel offers the least complications of any of the entry methods. It’s faster, and it’s not as reliant on weather as ferries are. There are four airports, giving convenient access to most of the island.

But when you’re trying to have a good time with your family, the fastest or easiest way isn’t necessarily the best way. You might want to take the scenic route or to give the kids an opportunity to stretch their legs, so let’s look at your options.

Plane

Air travel is the most convenient way to get to Corsica. Several airlines serve Corsica. Each of Corsica’s airports has rental car facilities, as well as taxi services that take you to your next stop. However if you want a taxi from the Figari Sud-Corse Airport, you’re going to need to book it ahead of time.

The airports in Corsica correspond to many cities throughout Europe, especially in France, Germany, and Great Britain. Each airport in Corsica has French passport enforcement.

You won’t be able to get a direct flight to Corsica from every airport in Europe, but reaching to an airport that does offer direct flights to Corsica shouldn’t be a huge issue.

Airports in Corsica

Corsica has 7 airports with 4 of them welcoming international flights. The 4 airports tourists can fly into Corsica are: Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte, Figari Sud Corse, Bastia Poretta and Calvi Sainte Catherine. The Ajaccio airport is the largest and served by more airlines than other airports on Corsica.

Here is a list of popular flights to Corsica. It’s not an exhaustive list, but it should give you an idea of how long it will take to get to Corsica from where you are.

Corsica airport locations

You can easily search for flights using the below widget that is powered by Kiwi, just add and change the details to search.

Flight Travel Time From France

Departing AirportTravel Time
Nice40 min
Marseille50 min
Lyon1 h 30 min
Paris, France1 h 35 min
Nantes3 h 55 min

Flight Travel Time From United Kingdom

Departing AirportTravel Time
London4 h
Birmingham6 h 55 min
Manchester6 h 55 min
Newcastle upon Tyne7 h 30 min
Edinburgh7 h 50 min

Flight Travel Time From Germany

Departing AirportTravel Time
Hamburg5 h 45 min
Munich5 h 55 min
Berlin6 h 5 min
Frankfurt6 h 40 min
Düsseldorf6 h 50 min

Flight Travel Time From Italy

Departing AirportTravel Time
Rome3 h 40 min
Venice6 h
Milan6 h 10 min
Florence6 h 10 min
Bologna6 h 10 min

Flight Travel Time From Other Countries

Departing AirportTravel Time
Brussels, Belgium2 h 4 min
Geneva, Switzerland5 h 45 min
Oslo, Norway8 h 25 min

Ferry

For a beautiful trip and plenty of room for flexibility, booking a ride on a ferry can be an excellent choice. Many ferries visit Corsica each day, coming from ports in mainland France and Italy, as well as Sardinia.

However, it’s important to realise that ferries can take a long time to make the crossing. Some take less than 2 hours, and most crossings take between 6 to 12 hours. Crossings from France take the most time. If you want to spend the time enjoying the view, then this may not be a problem, but young children might have a hard time being stuck on a boat for so long.

On the other hand, you may be able to get a private cabin on the ferry where you can play board games or watch a movie together.

If you decide that you want to travel to Corsica via ferry, you should look through the ferry options using Direct Ferries ahead of time. Direct Ferries lists all the ferry companies that travel to Corsica, making it a convenient one stop shop where to search for tickets.

Ferry prices vary by the day, and though some ferries sail many times each week, some make the crossing 3 or less times per week. Take a look at the options for your date of travel, and keep in mind that the fastest route available to you may not necessarily be the cheapest.

Direct ferries will also provide options for ferries if you intend to travel with a car. However if you are on foot, then you’re going to have to think about transportation, both to your departure port and on the island.

Corsica buses don’t run very frequently, though you may be able to hire a car. Discover Cars are a good company to use because you can get some good deals from most companies that are present in Corsica.

Ferries From Sardinia

Departing PortCorsica Arrival PortTravel Time
Santa Teresa di GalluraBonifacio1 h
Porto TorresAjaccio4 h 30 min
Porto TorresPorto Vecchio4 h 30 min
Golfo AranciBastia5 h

Ferries From France

Departing PortCorsica Arrival PortTravel Time
NiceIle Rousse4 h 15 min
NiceBastia6 h
NiceAjaccio6 h 45 min
ToulonAjaccio7 h
ToulonIle Rousse7 h
ToulonBastia8 h 30 min
MarseilleIle Rousse11 h
MarseilleBastia11 h 30 min
MarseilleAjaccio11 h 45 min
ToulonPorto Vecchio12 h
MarseillePropiano12 h 15 min
NicePorto Vecchio13 h
MarseillePorto Vecchio14 h

Ferries From Italy

Departing PortCorsica Arrival PortTravel Time
PortoferraioBastia1 h 30 min
PiombinoBastia2 h 45 min
LivornoBastia4 h 30 min
LivornoIle Rousse5 h 30 min
SavonaBastia5 h 30 min
SavonaIle Rousse8 h 30 min
GenoaBastia10 h
LivornoPorto Vecchio10 h

Train

Since Corsica is a distance from the mainland, you can’t ride a train to get to the island. You can take a train into Marseille and then take a ferry from there. To check trains and buses to get to Marseille you can use Omio to figure out the journey and cost.

However that’s only if you want to make an experience out of the travel itself. The ferry crossing from Marseille takes nearly 12 hours. Or you could fly from Marseille to Corsica, which only takes 50 minutes on the plane.

But just because it’s not a viable option to get to the island itself doesn’t mean you won’t be able to make any use of trains on your holiday to Corsica. Trains make up a good part of the transportation on the island itself, and you can get the timetables (in French) on the Chemin be Fer de la Corse website.

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