5-Day South Corsica Sailing Itinerary: Bonifacio, Lavezzi Islands, Porto-Vecchio & Santa Giulia

Before You Slip the Lines

Most crews start this loop from Bonifacio or from the marinas around Porto-Vecchio, and three things shape every decision you make out here. The first is the Strait of Bonifacio itself: when the Mistral funnels between Corsica and Sardinia it can double in strength — a 30-knot blow in the Gulf of Lion arriving as 60 knots in the Strait — and the tidal current runs up to 4 knots. Local practice is to allow 3–4 days after the last Mistral before trusting the Strait. This route only skirts its northern edge, rounding Capo Pertusato and Cap Sperone, but plan those legs (Days 1 and 4) around a settled forecast.

The second is the 2022 Corsica mooring rules. Island-wide, the high-protection bays now operate mandatory mooring-buoy zones from roughly June to September — and that covers most of this itinerary: Rondinara, Santa Giulia, Palombaggia and the Bonifacio/Lavezzi area. Buoys run €15–40 a night and sell out weeks ahead in July and August, so book through the Capitainerie de Bonifacio and the individual bay managers before you sail. The third is Posidonia — the protected seagrass carpeting the seabed between the sand patches. Anchoring on it is poor holding and illegal, with fines up to €150,000, so the DONIA app (which maps sand versus seagrass) is effectively part of your ground tackle.

And one habit worth forming before the first swim: whether you are on a buoy or your own hook, these bays are busy, and the wind here changes faster than almost anywhere in the Mediterranean. Drop the hook, back down to set it, then start your anchor alarm before you dive in. Each anchorage below links to its full guide with a recommended alarm radius.

Day 1: Bonifacio → Îles Lavezzi → Rondinara (15 nm)

Leaving Bonifacio is the best harbour exit in the Mediterranean: the fjord opens between sheer white limestone walls, with the medieval citadel and the famous grain stairway of the King of Aragon hanging above your masthead. Round Capo Pertusato and reach east 5 nm to the Îles Lavezzi — a scatter of wind-smoothed granite boulders rising from water so clear the moorings look suspended. The islands sit inside the Bouches de Bonifacio Nature Reserve, the largest marine reserve in metropolitan France, and the coves operate regulated mooring zones under the 2022 rules — pick up a buoy, snorkel the boulder gardens, and walk to the memorial of the Sémillante, the French frigate wrecked here in 1855 with the loss of all 773 aboard. It remains the Strait's starkest reminder of what the Mistral can do. Treat the Lavezzi as a day stop and keep your overnight for better shelter.

That shelter is 9 nm north-east, past the discreetly private billionaires' island of Cavallo: Baie de Rondinara, a near-perfect circle of white sand between granite headlands that many sailors rate the most beautiful bay in the western Mediterranean. The near-circular shape gives outstanding shelter from every direction but south, and the bottom is exceptional white sand with excellent holding in 3–7 m. Mooring buoys are mandatory June to September; outside the season, anchoring here is as good as the Med gets. Free-swinging on sand, set the alarm radius around 80 m.

Day 2: Rondinara → Santa Giulia (5 nm)

A rest day disguised as a passage. Swim the lagoon-still water of Rondinara in the morning while the charter fleets are still motoring, then sail a lazy 5 nm north along the coast to Santa Giulia, one of Corsica's most photographed bays — a vast, lagoon-like sweep of sand backed by pine forest, with water colour that has to be seen from a masthead to be believed. The surrounding hills give good shelter from the north-west, the holding on white sand is excellent in 3–7 m, and the same seasonal buoy rules apply. The bay is open to the south and south-east, so if a Sirocco or any southerly swell is forecast, stay at Rondinara and fold this stop into tomorrow. Alarm radius: around 80 m. Beach restaurants open in season; otherwise dinner is whatever the spearfishing produced.

Day 3: Santa Giulia → Porto-Vecchio → Palombaggia (8 nm)

Time to provision. Porto-Vecchio, 5 nm north at the head of its deep gulf, is the best-equipped town in South Corsica — fuel, water, supermarkets, and a Genoese old town above the marina that earns an hour of wandering. Stock up on Corsican charcuterie, brocciu cheese and a bottle or two of the local wine, then double back out of the gulf and around Punta di Fola to Plage de Palombaggia — for many sailors the finest anchorage in Corsica for sheer beauty. A kilometre of white sand framed by parasol pines and red porphyry rocks, extraordinarily clear water, and excellent holding on sand in 3–7 m. Buoys operate in season, and the bay is a touch more exposed to east and south-east than Santa Giulia — check the evening forecast before you settle in. Alarm radius: around 80 m.

Day 4: Palombaggia → the Bonifacio Cliffs → Figari (25 nm)

The long day, and the one you will remember. Leave early to carry the morning calm south past Rondinara and the Golfe de Sant'Amanza, round Cap Sperone and Capo Pertusato, and suddenly the south coast turns vertical: seven kilometres of blinding white limestone, wave-cut caves at the waterline, and Bonifacio's old town stacked improbably on the overhanging cliff edge. Seen from a boat deck this is one of the great sights of the Mediterranean — slow down, stay a sensible distance off, and let the phone memory suffer. This leg pokes into the Strait proper, so it is the day to be certain of your forecast: no Mistral in the picture, and an eye on the 4-knot current off the capes.

Past Capo di Feno the coast relaxes, and 6 nm on you turn into the Baie de Figari — a deep, wild gulf that most of the charter traffic never bothers with, which is exactly the point. Anchor on the sandy patches between Posidonia (DONIA essential) in 4–8 m with good holding; the inner gulf gives the best Maestrale shelter on this route, with only the south open. After three nights in Corsica's most famous bays, an evening with maquis-scented hills, no beach clubs and a sky full of stars is the perfect contrast. Alarm radius: around 90 m, and allow generous scope if any north-west wind is forecast.

Day 5: Figari → Capo di Feno → Bonifacio (8 nm)

An easy final morning back east along the coast. If the weather is settled, drop the hook for a farewell swim in the Calanque de Fazzio just west of the Bonifacio entrance — a tiny, hidden inlet behind a rock spine, the local secret for a last dip — before the short motor to the fjord. Entering Bonifacio from seaward, cliffs towering on both sides and the citadel above, is the closing scene every charter deserves. Time your arrival for the check-in, fuel up, and go eat in the haute ville. Five days, roughly 60 nm, and (if the alarm stayed quiet) four full nights of sleep.

Variations: 3 Days or 7 Days

• 3-day weekend: Bonifacio → Îles Lavezzi (swim stop) → Rondinara (overnight) → Santa Giulia (overnight) → back to Bonifacio. About 35 nm that still takes in the cliffs, the reserve and the two headline bays — the essential South Corsica in miniature.
• 7-day loop: add a second morning at the Lavezzi on Day 1, give Porto-Vecchio a full evening, and from Figari continue north-west up the coast to Baie de Campomoro in the Gulf of Valinco — a wide, quiet sand bay under the finest Genoese watchtower in Corsica — before returning to Bonifacio. Crews with more time (and a very settled forecast) cross the Strait to Sardinia's La Maddalena archipelago — but that is another country, another set of rules, and another itinerary.

Why an Anchor Alarm Matters on This Route

South Corsica's bays photograph like postcards, but this is statistically the windiest corner of the western Mediterranean. The Strait Mistral is the headline risk: it can double in strength between the Gulf of Lion and the Strait of Bonifacio, which means the forecast you read at sunset can understate what arrives at 2 a.m. by an entire sea state. The second risk is crowding — Rondinara, Santa Giulia and Palombaggia pack boats gunwale-to-gunwale in August, and a hook that drags three boat-lengths finds a neighbour, not open water. Even on a mooring buoy you are not exempt: buoys chafe, shackles fail, and in a 40-knot gust you want to know the moment you start moving. A GPS anchor alarm watches your position all night, even with the phone locked, and wakes you while the problem is still a winch job, not a fender drill.

Radius matters as much as the alarm itself: too tight and GPS drift gives you false alarms, too loose and you are alongside a neighbour before it fires. Work it out from your scope with our anchor scope calculator, and read how GPS accuracy affects anchor alarms to tune it. Every anchorage page linked above carries its own recommended radius.

The Bottom Line

South Corsica is the Mediterranean with the contrast turned up: the most dramatic harbour, the whitest sand, the clearest water — and the strongest wind acceleration in the basin one strait away. Sail it with respect for the Maestrale, book your buoys early, keep the DONIA app open over every sandy patch, and run your anchor alarm every night. Do that, and five days out of Bonifacio deliver more postcard anchorages per mile than anywhere else in France.