Napoleon’s wild and mountainous island is endowed with the customary Gallic charms – great French cuisine (with a Mediterranean twist), fine wines and a certain sense of style, combined with the islanders’ relaxed attitude to life, which visitors soon take on board. With few sophisticated marinas, but a wealth of sheltered anchorages and postcard-pretty ports and harbours, it’s a dream of a destination for Francophile sailors.

Corsica’s scenically stunning ports are definitely the main attraction, from Bastia in the north, to Calvi and Ajaccio on the west coast, and Bonifacio in the south. Rich in character, each carries historic and architectural reminders of occupying powers who included the Greeks and Romans, the Moors and the Genoese, before the French finally claimed the island as their own. Sailing conditions in the windier north can be challenging, when the winds funnel down the mountain valleys, and the legendary mistral can blow up at short notice – but follow the forecasts, and you’ll have a spectacular sailing holiday here!