Guidebooks

There are many excellent guidebooks to Corsica. Here is just a few in English and French.

The Rough Guide to Corsica is in the Rough Guide style - informal & practical;
Corsica: Activity & Leisure Holiday Guide from Hachette;
Corsica Insight Guide, or a pocket version - also called Corsica Insight Guide;
Corsica is one in the Lonely Planet series;
Corsica (DK Eyewitness Travel Guides);
Corsica (Blue Guide) - an old favourite;
Berlitz Corsica Pocket Guide from Berlitz with helpful tips;
Alan Rogers' Good Camps Guide: Quality Camping and Caravanning Sites: France - (including Corsica), also covers caravanning.

And now there's a good DVD for you to look at in English as well as 5 other languages: Corsica - Les Secrets D'une Terre.

For walkers:

Corsica Mountains is as its name implies about Corsica's mountains and walking therein;
Landscapes of Corsica - car tours, long short walks and picnics;
Corsican High Level Route: GR20 (A Cicerone Guide) is the one for serious walkers;
Trekking in Corsica by David Abram - a serious walker, regular visitor to Corsica (Rough Guide author) -and when I last was in contact he was mid-way along the GR20;
Walking in Corsica: Long-distance and Short Walks;
Corsica: The Finest Valley and Mountain Walks (Rother Walking Guides - Europe) by Klaus Wolfsberger;
see also Mountain Walking of the Corsica's Mountains, Coasts & Outdoor Pursuits page.

In (accessible) French, there is:

Corse Green Guide (Michelin Green Guides) is now updated and has lots of colour; this classic is not diffcult to follow, even if you don't speak French;
Guide to Corsica by Hachette is attractive and reliable;
Guide Routard has a similar flavour to the Rough Guide;
Les Guides IGN - Corse i s produced by the French national geographic institute;
Haute Corse and Corse du Sud are two super Gallimard Guides.

However a lot of information you'll find on the sites in the information sheet on Corsican Villages and Towns that you can down load by clicking here. It's additional to what is in the Guides section of the Corsican Websites page. And don't forget that Corsica, like elsewhere in France, has some very good municipal tourist offices - a list of them with websites can be downloaded by clicking here.

Corsican Tourist Information Offices.

Corsica has many municipal tourist offices (and Syndicats d'Initiatives). Some are excellent and have English speaking staff, but even with pidgin French you should be able to get basic information or at least get them to send printed material. The list can bedownloaded for free by clicking here. You will need the Acrobat Reader program , which you can download also for free, if you don't have it.

Tour Guides

If you are interested in having guided tours, many of the bus companies round the island offer trips. The local tourist office will be able to give your other ideas. Try them, they are good. On the other hand there are a growing number of people wo do tailored tours for individuals or groups (some with and others without diplomas - there's an excellent guide/interpreter school at the University in Corte).

There's a new website to publicise a group of tour-guides specialising in Corsica:  you can see it at www.cogitour.fr.  Simon Snell (who also offers accommodation and themed holidays) can take up to eight people on minibus tours of the island, with commentary in English or French.

Olivier Bianconi (www.bianconi-scuperta.com) - scuperta, by the way means exploration - is a young man who has always been fascinated by his local culture and heritage. He has now established a set of guided tours in the north and centre of Corsica to visit sites and share their history and significance.

Here are three excellent guides: Tamara Antonini on 06 81 71 04 08 (she's based in Ajaccio, is Corsican and lived in London for many years); Rolli Lucarotti on 06 21 60 40 12 or rollicorse @ aol.com (she's based in Ajaccio, is English and has been in Corsica for 30 years) or Isabelle Flores on 04 95 60 48 09 or 06 56 96 36 57 or contactcorse @ aol.com (she's based in the Balagne, is French but has been many years in Corsica). Another (excellent) Balagne guide is Hélène Ambrosini (Russian & French - she doesn't claim English, but she can do it) - 06 12 96 75 67.

Here are some others who do English guiding: Ruth Corticciato (04 95 22 57 82 - Ajaccio), Simone Colombani (06 87 80 30 50 - Bastia), Hélène Mener (04 95 25 63 40 or 06 80 43 14 02), Catherine Uzal (04 95 51 40 79 or 06 11 46 38 19).

Or you can contact the Fédération Régionale Corse des Guides-Interprètes, 5 rue du Dragon, 20200 Bastia (tel 04 95 24 34 56 for Valérie Letondor in Bastia (04 95 31 64 88) or Philippe Vellutini in Ajaccio (04 95 53 70 18).