Where to buy in Corsica: Porto-Vecchio, Bonifacio, Ajaccio, the Balagne and Cap Corse compared

Saint-Florent, Cap Corse and Bastia: which north to choose?

Saint-Florent and the Nebbio

Saint-Florent combines a marina that is busy in summer, a small citadel and the Patrimonio vineyards. To the west, the Désert des Agriates, largely owned by the Conservatoire du littoral, France’s coastal protection agency, can only be reached on foot, by boat or by dirt track. Buyers look for villas on the hills above the gulf, half an hour from Bastia.

Cap Corse

North of Bastia, Cap Corse runs some forty kilometres out to sea, from the harbour hamlets of Erbalunga and Macinaggio to Centuri and Nonza. You will find village houses there and the ‘American houses’, built by local families who came home rich from the Americas: character homes, often in need of restoration, which our guide to character homes helps you assess.

Bastia and its heights

Prefecture of Haute-Corse and the island’s busiest port, Bastia lives all year round around its Old Port and its citadel; its ferries link it to the mainland and to Italy. On the heights, Ville-di-Pietrabugno and San-Martino-di-Lota offer villas turned towards the sea and, on clear days, the Tuscan islands.

For the whole north, the benchmark is Haute-Corse: €3,300/m² for a house, €3,200/m² for an apartment, against €5,500/m² in Porto-Vecchio. In Bastia, the state of the building matters as much as the view; on Cap Corse, the state of the house and its access.

Which part of Corsica suits your plans?

Only Porto-Vecchio has its own commune median here; elsewhere, the benchmark is the department median, given below the table.

• Summer, right on the water: the gulf of Porto-Vecchio, Bonifacio, the bay of Calvi.
• All year round with children: Ajaccio and Porticcio, Bastia, Calvi and L’Île-Rousse.
• Character and village life: the Balagne, the Valinco, Cap Corse.

Our guide to buying a second home helps weigh use, distance and budget; to compare with the mainland, see buying a house in the South of France.

What is life in Corsica like: getting there, seasons, living year-round?

The island has no motorway and no high-speed train, and its winding roads are measured in hours rather than kilometres: about two hours from Bastia to Porto-Vecchio, two and a half to three hours from Bastia to Ajaccio, a little over two hours from Ajaccio to Porto-Vecchio.

• Four airports, Ajaccio, Bastia, Calvi and Figari, linked to the mainland all year round, notably to Paris-Orly, Marseille and Nice; in summer, direct flights are added to many European cities.
• Ferries: Bastia and Ajaccio all year round, Bastia also from Italy; L’Île-Rousse, Calvi, Propriano and Porto-Vecchio depending on the season. Allow an overnight crossing from Marseille or Toulon.
• The train links Ajaccio and Bastia via Corte, with a branch line to L’Île-Rousse and Calvi.

The seasons

In July and August, roads, beaches and ports fill up, and flights and crossings are expensive and fully booked; part of the coast closes its shutters and restaurants from the autumn. Spring and autumn are the best seasons to visit as a buyer.

Living there all year or coming for the summer

Ajaccio and Bastia have the hospitals, secondary schools and public services, and the university is in Corte; Porto-Vecchio, Calvi and L’Île-Rousse also live through the winter, on a smaller scale. Schooling in another language is checked case by case: see moving to France with children.

For a summer home, the challenge is the winter: damp, salt and break-ins threaten a house closed for six months. See an empty house in winter and closing and reopening a second home; our property concierge service takes over while you are away.

Loi Littoral and PADDUC: what can still be built in Corsica?

France’s coastal law, the Loi Littoral of 3 January 1986, applies to every seaside commune: outside built-up areas, the 100-metre strip from the shore cannot be built on, and new development may only extend existing villages and towns. In Corsica, the prefect scrutinises permits closely and environmental groups often challenge them in court.

The PADDUC, Corsica’s planning and sustainable development framework adopted in 2015, spells out this law for the island: it maps the outstanding natural sites, the areas close to the shore and the strategic farmland, and local zoning plans must be consistent with it. Yet many communes still fall under the national planning rules, which limit building to areas already built up: a plot advertised as ‘buildable’ often is not.

What to check before an offer

• The building permit for the house and for every addition, pool or extension, with proof that it was posted on site, that no appeal was lodged and that completion was declared.
• A planning certificate (certificat d’urbanisme), to know what the plot still allows.
• The pre-emption rights of the commune, the Conservatoire du littoral and the Safer, the rural land agency, and the delay to plan for.
• By the water, the limit of the public maritime domain and the public footpath easement along the shore.

Titles, joint ownership, maquis: what should you check before buying in Corsica?

Under the Miot decrees of 1801, failing to declare an inheritance carried no penalty in Corsica: many properties remained in the names of long-dead ancestors, held jointly by numerous heirs. A public body, the GIRTEC, helps rebuild these titles; the island’s notaires know such files well, but they take time.

• The chain of title: the notaire traces the deeds back at least thirty years; the title deed you receive is only as good as that chain.
• Joint ownership: in principle every co-owner must agree to the sale; otherwise, longer procedures run through a notaire or a judge.
• Brush clearance: under the pines and in the maquis, usually fifty metres around the house, sometimes more; the buyer is informed before the sale.
• Drainage: outside the villages, it is often a private septic system; an inspection by the public service (SPANC) less than three years old is handed to the buyer, and a non-compliant system must be brought up to standard within a year.
• Water and access: mains supply, spring or declared borehole; a written right of way when the track crosses a neighbour’s land.
• Risks: wildfire, flooding, coastal submersion, and radon, as the granite bedrock places much of the island in a significant radon potential zone.

The residence tax (taxe d’habitation) still applies to second homes, and communes classed as high-pressure housing areas, Ajaccio and Bastia among them, may increase it; the list grew in 2023 (see local property taxes). Purchase costs come to 7 to 8% of the price for an older property: our notaire fees calculator works them out.

When to buy in Corsica, and how does Home Select search there?

Owners often decide to sell at the end of the summer; viewings are prepared in autumn and winter, when houses show themselves as they really are, and the finest houses are decided in spring. July and August are for testing an address in high season.

1. The brief: use, area, budget, timing, and what is not negotiable.
2. The watch: listings across the island, every day, and the properties that sell without a listing.
3. Pre-viewings: each shortlisted property is visited and filmed for you, wind and neighbours included.
4. Checks: permits, title, drainage and brush clearance, with the notaire, before the offer.
5. Negotiation, then the final deed, which you can sign without travelling.

In Corsica, the finest houses often sell privately, between families and neighbours: the off-market search matters a great deal. Home Select runs it remotely following its method, and you travel only for the decisive viewings, in a single trip (see buying remotely and our Corsica page).