The sea has cast the most beautiful of spells by binding it to itself for eternity. Bastia owes much of its magic to the kilometres of coastline that border the water. It has developed all sorts of activities to try out and discover it from a marine perspective.
By paddle, kayak or jet ski, from the Marana, the old port or the Arinella beach, all the way to Cap Corse, the Bastia landscape is revealed in all its variety and intensity, with its strip of light-coloured sand bordered by pine trees, its hills and vegetation in the background, and elsewhere its coves dominated by mansions, its Genoese towers and its rocks, all named after the Bastians who know the smallest cracks and the youngest who sometimes use them as diving boards or rendezvous points.
Blue surprises
Aboard their boats, the professional fishermen of Bastia who have opted for a pescatourism activity will be able to evoke like no other these bits of sea and coast, rich in anecdotes and practised every day by passion. They'll show you local catching techniques and explain how fishnets were made in days gone by, as well as the role of the magazzini in the small ports of Cape Corsica, once used to store and preserve goods. They'll remind you how many shipwrecks litter the seabed all around Corsica and very close to Bastia.
So, whether you're diving or snorkelling, there are plenty of wonderful surprises on the outskirts of the town. You can follow a spectacular drop-off, enter an underwater cave and come across a whole host of preserved flora and fauna. Bastia is nothing less than the gateway to the largest natural marine park in mainland France! An area unique in the Mediterranean, it boasts a diversity of marine habitats, sea grass beds and coralligenous vegetation, as well as many endemic species: red lobster, denti, lobster, etc.
Seabirds and dolphins are regular visitors. You may be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of them on a walk or excursion, by sailboat or RIB, depending on your preference.
Inner beauties
Bastia's inland beauties are just a short stroll from the sea on the hiking trails that wind between the hamlets of the hilltop villages. The heights of Furiani and Ville-di-Petrabugnu, the valleys of Mandriale at Santa Maria di Lota, or the paths linking Pietranera to Alzetu, are all worth exploring on foot, mountain bike or horseback.
Further on and higher up, there are the tapering ridges of Cap-Corse. Our mid-mountain guides, who love their territory, know how to approach them by giving you the essentials: knowledge of the plants, the pastoral culture, the place names and the geology, inevitably coming back to the sea air that collides with the relief and shapes the landscapes.
This link between inland and coastline is enhanced by other hiking trails, on quad bikes or 4X4s, with picnics and rest stops, to discover other natural wonders, including the famous Agriate desert, which you cross via a rocky track that makes the journey feel like an adventure, leading to two white paradises: the Lotu and Saleccia beaches, just a stone's throw from Bastia, the gateway to Corsica's stunning nature.