Corsica 2012 – To Calenzana

During last two weeks I managed to fulfill my promise I mentioned on this blog a year ago – to go for a hike to Tra Mare e Monti, one of Corsican long-distance hiking trails. I liked my trip a lot and during the next few days I’d like to describe it here…


I set out for the holiday on 19th July, a day after my Bachelor’s graduation. This time, the journey to Corsica was a little more complicated than before, because for the 1st time I was using a public transport instead of car for such a long trip.

The journey begins (Choceň railway station)

The journey begins (Choceň railway station)

I left my hometown Choceň in the evening and went by train to Brno (ticket price – 155 CZK), center of Moravia and 2nd largest city of the Czech Republic. There I met Lukáš (from Slovakia),  a friend of mine and a college dormitory roommate, who agreed to go to the trip with me.

On Brno bus station we together waited for a Student Agency bus to Italy, leaving at 9 p.m. We had seat reservations and soon were going via Wien, Udine, Mestre/Venezia, Padova, Verona and Milano to the Italian port of Genova. This part of the trip was quite long (16 hours 30 minutes), but the bus was very comfortable and price not too high (1678 CZK for one), so everything was OK.

View from Bastia - Calvi train

View from Bastia - Calvi train

We arrived to Genova Piazza Vittoria station at 1:30 p.m. on the next day and immediately set out for a walk to ferry port. It was about 5 km long hike through the center of Genova, of course with all our bags. Once we got there, I went to the Moby Lines biglietteria and bought tickets for a ferry from Genova to Bastia, Corsica. It cost us 90.80 EUR (two adults, no car, no cabin).

Our ferry, Moby Fantasy, was leaving at 10 p.m. The journey to Bastia takes 12 hours, so we had a time to rest before next part of our trip. We had no cabin and just slept in a sleeping bag on a seat on the deck – quite an interesting experience!

Calvi (a view from citadel)

Calvi (a view from citadel)

At 8 o’clock on 21st July, we were finally on Corsica! The longest part of the way was behind us, but we still had to get to Calenzana, the starting point of Tra Mare e Monti track (and, more famously, of GR20 track). To get there, we walked from the port to Bastia railway station and bought tickets for a train to Calvi, port town located in the north-west of Corsica. The ticket was quite expensive, 16.40 EUR for one, but in my opinion was totally worth it – it was my first train trip on the island and I liked it a lot (many tunnels, bridges and especially beautiful views).

In Calvi we had some time to spent and went to look around the Calvi citadel, dominant of the town. I enjoyed it, even though usually I don’t like walking around towns and cities very much.

After the short sightseeing we set out for a last part of our journey, bus ride to Calenzana (8 EUR). It was not very long and at 3 p.m., almost two days after leaving home, we reached our target. Gîte d’étape in Calenzana is quite nice, with a camping place around it. Price for camping is also OK, approximately 5.60 EUR per person and 4 EUR per tent.

We built our tent, went shopping and then just relaxed to get ready for the first stage of our hike…


The following GPS waypoints might come in handy. You can download all of them in a single GPX file.

Name Description Latitude Longitude
AN GRAND BRNO Student Agency bus stop in Brno N 49° 11.624′ E 16° 36.847′
CALVI -> CALENZANA Bus stop in Calvi N 42° 33.947′ E 8° 45.365′
CAMPING CALENZANA Gîte d’étape in Calenzana N 42° 30.633′ E 8° 51.037′
GARE DE BASTIA Bastia railway station N 42° 42.116′ E 9° 26.848′
GARE DE CALVI Calvi railway station N 42° 33.876′ E 8° 45.360′
MOBY LINES GENOVA Moby Lines ticket office at Genova ferry port N 44° 24.571′ E 8° 54.513′
PIAZZA DELLA VITTORIA GENOVA Piazza della Vittoria in Genova N 44° 24.245′ E 8° 56.747′
SPAR CALENZANA Spar in Calenzana N 42° 30.494′ E 8° 51.144′

And lastly, there are a few useful links:

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