Corsica

Corsica is the wild half of a Riviera charter. The west coast is a series of gulfs under high mountains, with the Scandola reserve and the Calanques de Piana as the set pieces; the south has Bonifacio’s limestone harbour and the Lavezzi islands, a short hop from Sardinia across the strait.

The island rewards a yacht that can stay at anchor: harbours are few and small, and the best of the coast has no town behind it at all. Most itineraries pair it with northern Sardinia across the Bonifacio strait, which gives a fortnight with a French half and an Italian half.