My husband and I live in Charlotte, N.C. We are planning a two week trip at the first of September to Corsica, Cinque Terre, and the Amalfi Coast. We have direct flights from Charlotte to Paris and Rome. We would like to know whether it is best to start in Corsica or the Amalfi Coast AND what is the best way to reach our destination (fly into Paris and take a flight to Corsica? Or fly into Rome and rent a car to get to the Amalfi Coast?) Any advice on this trip would be greatly appreciated. Advice on the length of time to spend in each location would also be very helpful as well. Th!anks in advance for any help
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
I tend to travel north to south, unless there's a compelling reason to reverse it. Flying to Corsica through Paris on US Airways/Air France/Air Corsica does sound like the best way to start; book it all on one ticket. From Corsica, you can take a ferry to Livorno and train (2 hours) to Cinque Terre. I would also train from Cinque Terre to Naples or Salerno (7-8 hours), then make local connections by public transport. Driving that same distance would not be hard; it could all be done on major toll roads. FYI, I don't see any direct flights from Pisa to Naples. Then, fly home from Naples, probably with a connection in Rome. To book flights into Corsica and out from Naples, look for the "multi-city trip" link on your airline booking site.
Out of your two weeks, two full days will be spent on the internal connections between regions. The whole island of Corsica is a larger region than the other two, so I'd give it any "extra" days in the plan. Maybe 5 nights Corsica, 3 nights Cinque Terre and 4 nights Amalfi/Sorrento.
Posted by
lexington, il
4105 posts
Are you planning any time in Paris? Are your flights booked?
4 nites should be the minimum.
Flights are available on Easyjet to both Ajaccio (AJA) and Bastia (BIA) from CDG.
around 100 euro and take about 1H10m.
At least 3 nites on Corsica
You could then ferry from Bastia to Livorno. 5Hrs. 28,50 euro
Train, Trenitalia, Livorno-La Spezia. 1 hr. 9,oo euro. Regional into villages 6-28min.
3 nites CT
Train CT-Napoli 5 1/2 hrs. 1/change Rome 46 euro.
Circumveauvian to Sorrento. 1H29m. 4,50 euro.
4 nites AC
Circumvsuvian back to Naples, train Napoli Centrale-Roma Termini. 1H10m 9 euro
3 nites Rome.
You really need to cut something out! Either Corsica (1st choice) or CT or Amalfi Coast.
If you cut Corsica, you could fly from Paris-Pisa then train to CT.
Cut CT and go right to Naples.
Cut AC and go right to Rome.
The problem is that it takes a lot of time to see everything you want. Each time you change
location you loose at least 1/2 day.