Palombaggia Beach

Palombaggia is the beach that most travellers have in mind when they imagine Corsica at its most perfect: a curvaceous bay of brilliant white sand, framed by ancient sculptured rose-granite boulders and a backdrop of wind-sculpted umbrella pines (Pinus pinea) that creates one of the most celebrated natural compositions in European landscape photography. The water — shallow, calm in most conditions, and warmed to near-tropical temperatures by a long hot Mediterranean summer — turns successive shades of turquoise, cerulean, and deep navy in its gradients from shore to depth.

The beach is located in the bay south of Porto-Vecchio, one of Corsica's most affluent and attractive towns, whose granite citadel walls above a deep natural harbour make it worthwhile in its own right. In geological terms, the pinkish granite of the southern Corsica coast is some of the oldest visible rock surface in the Mediterranean basin — the worn, sensuous boulders that tumble into the sea at Palombaggia and create its characteristic scenery were formed approximately 300 million years ago in a volcanic intrusion that also created the distinctive porphyry minerals visible in their surface.

Snorkeling at Palombaggia is outstanding: visibility in calm conditions can exceed 15 metres, and the variety of species is broad — Posidonia sea grass meadows are visible in the near-shore shallows, and the rocky edges of the granite boulders teem with fish including large sea bream, rainbow wrasse, and occasional grouper. The beach is predictably popular in July and August. The solution favoured by those in the know is either to arrive at 8am when the car parks open, or visit in late afternoon when the day-trippers leave and the light on the pink boulders and turquoise water creates its finest hour.