Sardinia or Corsica? An honest comparison

Two islands, eleven kilometres apart, one Italian and one French: size, beaches, the GR20 and Selvaggio Blu, food, flights and ferries for 2027, and who each one suits.

On a clear day you can stand at the northern tip of Sardinia and look at Corsica. The Strait of Bonifacio is eleven kilometres wide at its narrowest, and the ferry takes under an hour. So when people ask us "Sardinia or Corsica?", it is a fair question. On the map they look like sisters.

Up close, they are not. We are not neutral, since our house, Il Polpo Nero, is in the south of Sardinia, but we have tried to be fair and to stick to things you can check.

Sardinia or Corsica: the short answer

Choose Corsica if you want the mountains first and the sea second: high peaks a short drive from the beach, one of Europe's great trails, villages that feel French and sound Italian. Choose Sardinia if you want the sea first, more of it, and more room: a much bigger island, a longer coastline, an older and stranger archaeology and, in the south, a large airport half an hour from the beaches.

How big are Sardinia and Corsica?

Sardinia is nearly three times the size: about 24,100 square kilometres against about 8,700, the second largest island in the Mediterranean after Sicily. It has more than four times the population (around 1.55 million against 365,000) and about 1,850 kilometres of coast, against about 1,000.

Corsica makes up for it in height. Monte Cinto reaches 2,706 metres, and around 120 other summits pass 2,000. Sardinia's highest point, Punta La Marmora, is 1,834 metres. Corsica feels like a mountain range surrounded by sea; Sardinia like a small continent with a great deal of shore.

Landscapes: scrub, cliffs and mountains

Both islands smell much the same in July. Their hills wear the same scrub (maquis in French, macchia in Italian) of lentisk, myrtle, cistus and rosemary, which gives off a smell of resin in the heat. After that, they part ways. On Corsica's west coast, the Gulf of Porto, with the Calanche of Piana and the Scandola reserve, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. Sardinia spreads out: the cliffs of the Gulf of Orosei in the east, the uplands of the Gennargentu, and in the south, where we are, long beaches, dunes and lagoons.

Which island has the better beaches?

Both have beaches that look retouched. Sardinia has more, with nearly twice the coastline, and many are easy to reach. In the south, Nora has Roman ruins a few steps from the water, Su Giudeu at Chia is famously shallow, and Tuerredda, on the Costa del Sud, is about an hour from our house. Here is our list of beaches near Pula, with a note on which to choose when the wind is up.

Corsica's famous beaches are fewer and often wilder. Palombaggia, near Porto-Vecchio, is the postcard, and busy in summer. In the north, Saleccia and Lotu, in the Désert des Agriates, are reached by sea shuttle from Saint-Florent or by a twelve-kilometre path from Casta; the Conservatoire du littoral has bought up that coastline, which is why it still looks the way it does.

Hiking: the GR20 or Selvaggio Blu?

The GR20 crosses Corsica along its mountain crest, from Calenzana to Conca: about 180 kilometres and 12,000 metres of climbing, usually over fifteen or sixteen days. The French hiking federation says it is often considered the hardest long-distance trail in France, possibly in Europe. Everything must be booked online with the Parc naturel régional de Corse, bivouacs included, and wild camping is forbidden. In 2026 the refuges opened from 16 May to 4 October, bookings opened on 20 January, and early June and early September filled first.

Selvaggio Blu follows the cliffs of the Gulf of Orosei from Santa Maria Navarrese, near Baunei. It was pieced together in 1989 by Mario Verin, Peppino Cicalò and Pasquale Zucca, then mayor of Baunei, from old paths across the Supramonte: around 50 kilometres over five to seven days, with abseils, climbing passages and no water on the way. It has been called the most difficult walk in Italy. Unless you are an experienced climber, go with a guide.

The GR20 is longer and higher, Selvaggio Blu more technical and closer to the sea. For a walk in the morning and a swim after lunch, see our adventures in South Sardinia.

Food and wine on both islands

Sardinian food comes from shepherds and the sea: pane carasau, fregola, culurgiones, pecorino, and bottarga, the dried roe of grey mullet. For bottarga with an address, look for the Nuovo Consorzio Cooperative Pontis, formed in 1993 by eleven fishermen's cooperatives on the lagoon at Cabras: in 2025 Slow Food made the bottarga of the Cabras lagoon a Presidium, and in May 2026 the consortium's was among the bottargas ranked in a Gambero Rosso blind tasting.

Cannonau (the Sardinian name for Grenache) and Vermentino are the famous wines; closer to us, look for Carignano del Sulcis. Cantina di Santadi, a cooperative founded in 1960, makes Terre Brune, and in 1984 became the first Sardinian winery to age a wine in French oak barriques. In Pula, Fradis Minoris held the only Michelin star in southern Sardinia in the 2026 guide (more in Michelin dining in South Sardinia).

Corsican food is mountain food. Prisuttu, coppa and lonzu have had their own appellation since 2012; figatellu is a liver sausage smoked over the fire; brocciu, the whey cheese, has been an AOC since 1983 and goes into everything from soups to fiadone, the island's cheesecake. The island has nine wine appellations, the first Patrimonio in 1968, and three key grapes: Niellucciu, Sciaccarellu and Vermentinu. One estate we like is Domaine Comte Abbatucci, biodynamic, at Casalabriva in the south-west of the island, which Visit Corsica calls one of the oldest vineyards on the island.

Language and culture: Italian, French, and neither

Corsica has been French since 1768, when Genoa ceded it; Napoleon was born in Ajaccio the following year. Corsican, close to medieval Tuscan, is still spoken and sung, though only about one person in ten speaks it as a mother tongue, and its polyphony, the cantu in paghjella, has been on UNESCO's urgent safeguarding list since 2009. At Filitosa stand statue-menhirs carved around 1500 BC.

Sardinia is an autonomous Italian region with its own statute since 1948. Sardinian is a language in its own right, recognised by law in 1997 and 1999, and the largest of Italy's minority languages; Gallurese and Sassarese, in the north, are close to Corsican, and Alghero still speaks Catalan. Some 7,000 Bronze Age nuraghi still stand, Su Nuraxi at Barumini has been a UNESCO site since 1997, and the shepherds' canto a tenore joined UNESCO's list in 2008. Ten minutes from our house, Nora was a Phoenician, Punic and Roman town (see our day guide to Nora), and every May since 1657 the Festa di Sant'Efisio walks there from Cagliari.

How to get to Sardinia and Corsica in 2027

In October 2026, most 2027 timetables are not yet out. This is the 2026 picture: check with the airline or ferry company before you book.

By air

Sardinia has three airports: Cagliari in the south, Olbia and Alghero in the north. Cagliari ran 109 routes to 26 countries in summer 2026, including London Stansted (Ryanair) and Gatwick (British Airways), three Paris airports and a daily KLM flight to Amsterdam from late March to late October. Pula is about 35 minutes away (more in how to get to our houses).

Corsica has four: Ajaccio, Bastia, Calvi and Figari, all served from Paris Orly all year. Visit Corsica listed easyJet from Gatwick to Bastia and Figari in 2026, British Airways from Heathrow to Figari and from Stansted to Calvi, and easyJet from Geneva to all four. Many routes are seasonal.

By sea

Corsica: from Marseille with Corsica Linea and La Méridionale, from Toulon and Nice with Corsica Ferries, from Livorno and Savona with Corsica Ferries all year, and from Genoa and Livorno with Moby in summer (full list). Sardinia: most crossings land in the north, at Olbia, Golfo Aranci and Porto Torres, from Livorno, Civitavecchia, Genoa and Piombino, with Moby, Grimaldi, GNV, Tirrenia and Corsica Ferries, and from Barcelona with Grimaldi. Cagliari is served from Civitavecchia, Naples and Palermo, in twelve to fifteen hours; Grimaldi ran those public-service lines in 2026, but they were put out to tender again, so check who sails in 2027.

Between the two islands

Santa Teresa Gallura to Bonifacio takes 50 minutes to an hour, with Moby all year and Ichnusa Lines in season. There are also crossings between Golfo Aranci and Porto-Vecchio, and between Porto Torres and Ajaccio: check the operators and dates for 2027.

Driving distances and roads

You will want a car on either island. As the crow flies, Sardinia is about 270 kilometres from end to end, Corsica about 183. Sardinia's SS131 is a dual carriageway, 226 kilometres from Cagliari to Porto Torres. Corsica's roads are mountain roads: Bastia and Ajaccio are only about 100 kilometres apart as the crow flies, with the whole range in between, so allow more time than the map suggests. From Pula, the Bonifacio ferry is about 250 kilometres away as the crow flies, and more by road: if you want both islands, give each its own week.

Crowds and seasons: when to go

July and August are the busy months on both islands. For the GR20, aim for June or September and book early. In the south of Sardinia, the sea is around 21 to 22°C in June, 25°C in August and 23 to 24°C in September, which is why we are fond of September on the coast.

Sardinia or Corsica at a glance

Who each island suits

• Serious walkers: Corsica, for the GR20. Sardinia if your hard walk should end in the sea.
• Beach people and young families: Sardinia, for the number of beaches and the shallow water of the south.
• Food lovers: both. Corsica for charcuterie and cheese, Sardinia for pasta, bottarga and wine.
• History lovers: Sardinia for nuraghi and Nora, Corsica for Filitosa and its Genoese past.
• Travellers short on time: whichever has the better flight from home.

Why we chose the south of Sardinia

Corsica is a wonderful island, and if the GR20 is your dream, go (in June, and book early). What follows is not a ranking, only my own view, as a Frenchwoman who chose the other island.

The people. Corsicans love their island fiercely, and they protect it. I admire that. But as a French visitor I have not always felt at home there, and when you only come for a week or two, the welcome can be guarded. In the south of Sardinia, I always have. There is tourism, of course, but local life is everywhere: on the beaches in August, grandmothers spend the whole day with their grandchildren, chatting in Italian, or in Sardinian. Not everyone speaks good English yet. I count that as a quality: in a world that is starting to sound the same everywhere, it is something to savour.

The language. Sardinian is not a dialect of Italian but a language of its own. My aunt, who is Italian and has lived in Sardinia for thirty years, still cannot always follow it.

The food and the wine. Italian cooking is, to me, among the best in the world, and Sardinia adds its own: pane carasau, fregola, culurgiones, bottarga, pecorino. Its grapes are a world apart too: Cannonau and Vermentino, Carignano in the Sulcis, near us, Bovale, Monica and Nuragus, and in the west Vernaccia di Oristano, which in 1971 became Sardinia's first DOC wine. After dinner, there is mirto.

The culture. Inland, in the Barbagia, the island is at its most itself. At Mamoiada, the Mamuthones, in black wooden masks and sheepskins hung with cowbells, make their first outing of the year on 17 January, the feast of Sant'Antonio Abate. At Orgosolo, around 150 murals cover the walls of the village; the first was painted in 1969. Add the nuraghi and the canto a tenore, and you have more than one holiday's worth.

The weather. The south of Sardinia is a little warmer and much drier. Cagliari averages about 17°C over the year, with around 400 mm of rain; Ajaccio, on Météo-France's 1991-2020 figures, averages 15.8°C, with 635 mm. As the crow flies, Cagliari is closer to Tunis than to Rome. More on the seasons in when to go to South Sardinia.

The mood. When it comes to scrub, rock and water, the two islands are cousins, and I will not take sides on which is more beautiful. To me, the south of Sardinia feels more preserved, less built up and, frankly, more relaxed. The north of the island has the Costa Smeralda and its yachts; the south, still a little under the radar, is laid back, and we like it that way.

Our house is on the hill of Perd'e Sali, near Pula. The airport is half an hour away. Every morning starts with a sunrise over the Gulf of Cagliari, because the house looks due east (here is a summer day at Il Polpo Nero). Pula is ten minutes away, Nora a little further, the beaches of Chia half an hour south, and every May the Festa di Sant'Efisio passes through Pula on its way to Nora.

The Vespa scooters at the house are complimentary for direct bookings. A private chef and a concierge are available on request: chef Francesco Stara of Fradis Minoris can cook a private dinner, and so can chef Marzia Aroffu, Cuoca d'Italia in 2018, for something more like a family table. See our experiences and why booking directly is better, and for dates, ask us.

Quick answers

Which is bigger, Sardinia or Corsica? Sardinia: about 24,100 km² against 8,700.

Can you visit both in one trip? Yes. Santa Teresa Gallura to Bonifacio takes under an hour by ferry. From the south of Sardinia it is a long drive to the port, so give each island a week.

Which is better for hiking? Corsica for high mountains and the GR20; Sardinia for coastal trekking, with Selvaggio Blu the hardest.

Do I need a car? On both islands, yes.

Lola

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The house
Il Polpo Nero, Perd'e Sali, near Pula, South Sardinia. Ten guests, a pool and a rooftop facing the sunrise.