We call it an “archipelago”, but it is a little world: seven main islands and a crown of islets, each with its own character. Getting to know them a little before you leave is already half the journey.
La Maddalena
It is the only truly inhabited one, and the heart of everything. Here are the town, the harbour, the shops, the restaurants and a life that goes on even off season. You use it as a base: you sleep here, you eat here, and every morning you set off towards the beaches and the other islands. Touring it by car or scooter takes about half an hour, but between coves and sunsets you risk spending the whole day.
Caprera
Linked to La Maddalena by a causeway you cross on foot or by car, Caprera is the greenest and richest in history. It is the island of Giuseppe Garibaldi, who lived and died here: his house, the Garibaldi Compendium, and the Memorial at Fort Arbuticci tell the story of the Hero of the Two Worlds. But Caprera is also trekking and sea, with paths among the pines leading to gems like Cala Coticcio, the “Tahiti” of the archipelago.
Spargi
Uninhabited and wild, Spargi is the one you see on postcards without knowing it. Its Cala Corsara, with granite sculpted by the wind and water that changes colour at every step, is one of the symbolic images of the Park. You can only reach it by sea, and that is exactly what keeps it so untouched.
Budelli
Budelli is famous for a beach you cannot set foot on: the Pink Beach, so protected that you can only admire it from afar, because its unique colour is extremely fragile. All around, between Budelli, Razzoli and Santa Maria, the sea stills into a low, transparent natural pool, the Porto della Madonna, where boats drop anchor and you dive into emerald water.
Santa Maria and Razzoli
At the far north of the archipelago, Santa Maria offers white beaches and some of the most beautiful seabeds in the Park, while Razzoli is the harshest and rockiest, watched over by its old lighthouse facing the Strait of Bonifacio. These are the northern borders, where Sardinia greets Corsica.
Santo Stefano
The closest to Palau, the first you meet arriving by ferry. It guards Fort San Giorgio, the famous quarry from which granite was extracted for decades, and the traces of a military history that lasted into the 20th century. It is the island that tells the strategic, and less touristy, side of the archipelago.
And then there are the islets: rocks and shoals that rise from the blue, refuge of gulls and destination for those who go boating in search of the clearest water. All together they form one of the most protected and beloved seas in the Mediterranean.