Grand Hotel de Cala Rossa

Corsica may be best known, at least to the English-speaking world, as Napoleon’s birthplace, if it is known at all—actually, many UK citizens polled couldn’t find it on a map, and Americans seem to think it’s a sporty yet unreliable budget sedan. Their loss is your gain, though; savvy travelers know Corsica as the less-traveled cousin to France’s Southeast, and to the French, especially those from Provence or the Côte d’Azur, it’s their best-kept secret, an escape from the crowds of tourists that beset the mainland every spring and summer.

Corsica’s east coast is its Riviera, home to some of the Mediterranean’s most spectacular beaches, and home to the Grand Hotel de Cala Rossa, just outside the chic resort town of Porto Vecchio. The hotel is a grand gated estate, set on a white sand beach, sheltered by a private cove and surrounded by pine trees.

The décor is all whites and cool ocean blues and greens, elegant but nowhere near as formal or opulent as a Riviera hotel. And yet a grand hotel it is, with the facilities to match, from the MICHELIN-Starred fine dining restaurant to the beachfront bar and now, a heated indoor pool and spa, offering treatments in a teakwood treehouse. It’s as high-class as St. Tropez, without the crowds, or the paparazzi—just remember it’s France, not Italy, and you’ll fit in just fine.

Note: This is a seasonal property and is closed from early January to early April.

How to get there: The drive to Grand Hotel de Cala Rossa from Figari International Airport is approx. 40 min. Follow signs for Porto-Vecchio on RN 196. At the Porto-Vecchio south enterance, take the express lane towards Bastia. At the first village (Trinte de Porto-Vecchio), take the road on the right towards Cala Rossa.