Visit France > Corsica > Porto Vecchio, the salt city

Considering holidays in Porto Vecchio? You'll love them if you like your resorts sophisticated and sociable. That's because this vibrant town on Corsica's south-eastern corner is a mecca for French film and TV stars and a swish yachting community to boot. Porto-Vecchio, the most important sea-side resort on the island and the last of the citadels constructed by the Genoese, has become one of the main toursitic areas of the island. Its fine sandy beaches and turquoise coloured sea produce a beauty beyond compare making it one of the most stunning sites in the Mediterranean.

There's no doubt why Porto Vecchio attracts this in-crowd. With an old town enclosed by medieval walls, it's got it all – shop-filled cobbled streets, a lovely main square, elegant open-air cafes and restaurants, a harbourside packed with opulent boats and lively, but not frenetic, nightlife. And that's not counting the beaches. Holidaying in Porto Vecchio almost means a different beach every day, whether it's the immaculate sands of popular Palombaggia, blissful San Ciprianu or many other smaller bays, some only reached by boat or foot. Even nature-lovers get a look in. Just inland, roads loop through towering mountains, hidden villages and magical Ospedale forest.

Restaurants with terraces built into the old town walls add a dash of colour to the stone façades of the old buildings. In the evening, as swallows swoop into the belfry of the central church, locals and visitors gather in outdoor cafés in the main square to gossip and watch the world go by. Down by the harbour the same ritual of aperitif and spectacle goes on from the cafés and restaurants lining the quay, as boats - from little dinghies to sleek motor yachts - come home to port.

Only a couple of kilometres inland, another world is entered as the road swoops and soars through the mountains, the air freshening with height as the road weaves around craggy rocks and massive pine trees towards the forest and lake of Ospedale. Down below, the deep Porto Vecchio Gulf, bordered by numerous beaches, opens out as a spectacular panorama.

Between the marina and the old town strewn with numerous restaurants, cafés and boutiques, the Salt City remains a unique attraction to any visitor discovering the extreme south of Corsica.