A week exploring Corsica with a toddler
Thank you for coming to read our blog on a week exploring Corsica with a toddler.
Why Corsica?
This holiday was almost a case of ‘we found a really lovely Villa and it happened to be in Corsica’. It suited our needs perfectly and was absolutely huge, comfortably fitting our family of 3, plus Dave’s Mum, Sister and her Husband. And there was plenty of room to spare!
A bit about the Island
Corsica is a French island, lying to the South of the Italian coast and just north of Sardinia. It’s (obviously) very popular with French tourists, but seemingly fairly untouched by British visitors. Those that do visit from the UK tend to go on organised tours. It’s a beautiful, quiet island with plenty of empty beaches. It suited us, as a family travelling with a toddler down to the ground.
The villa really did have something for everyone – a pool, cinema, games station, pool table, play area and sauna. We booked it via Homeaway and it cost us 4,600 euros for the week. It sounds a lot but bear in mind this was split 5 ways.
Flying to Corsica
We flew into Bastia on a 6am flight from Gatwick. Our house is only an hour or so from Gatwick but considering the time of the flight and the time we’d have to leave home in order to drop our bags off, we stayed at the Hampton by Hilton hotel. It cost £92 for the night and it adjoins the North Terminal.
If you fly before 8am from Gatwick you can drop your bags off the night before. Which means you can just go straight to security before your flight which cuts down the time you need to get to the airport considerably.
The villa was about two thirds of the way down the east coast of the island. So it was a pretty drive down the coast to get there from Bastia (in the north).
What to do in Corsica with a toddler
Each morning the 3 of us would head out to one of the local beaches which, bar one or two people, were empty at that time of day (around 9am). It worked for us as it meant we could spend an hour or so playing in the shallow waves before it got too hot or too busy, then head back to the villa for lunch with everyone else.
The beaches were all easily accessible with good parking. So it was very straightforward with an 18 month old and all the baggage that comes with them 😉
Our evenings were mostly spent on the large balcony with the family eating, chatting and playing games. We did occasionally venture out to Sari- Solenzera, the small town where the villa was located. There wasn’t a massive amount of restaurants to chose from but we did enjoy what we had.
A big bonus to the villa was the 9 seater cinema room (with large comfy leather seats) where the youngest member of the group could watch Mr Tumble (we had brought the DVD with us). And we could all watch the Euro 2016 championships which were on whilst we were there.
Final thoughts
Thank you for reading our blog on a week exploring Corsica with a toddler.
We had a lovely week in Corsica, and the villa was superb. It’s definitely not a place for party animals (not from the parts we saw anyway) but it was great for a quiet week away.
