Description:
Corsica's Mediterranean coastline offers superb diving opportunities. The sea temperature is warmest in August, and calm, clear waters make for excellent visibility. The Reserve Naturelle des Bouches de Bonifacio is the most visited area with outstanding dive conditions. Almost all the gulfs have dive centres and there are sites in and around Ajaccio, Porto Vecchio, Propriano, Cargese, Porto, Calvi and St-Florent. For expert divers, one of the top dive sites is the wreck of a B-17 bomber near Calvi. The peak dive season is between June and August.
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Description:
The mountainous island is extremely well suited to walking, and options range from difficult multi-day hikes to strolls along clifftops, and day hikes up into the mountains. The GR20 is reputed to be the best and most challenging long-distance walk in Europe, and is the most famous hike in Corsica. Fifteen days of demanding walking takes hikers along the inland granite spine of mountains dividing the island from Calenzana to Conca. Other well known, but less taxing walks include the Mare e Monti (sea to mountains) and Mare a Mare (sea to sea) trails that last from five, seven and 10 days. The area around Corte and Vizzavona has numerous day walks in the mountains; there are also a number of coastal walks such as the walk to Girolata on the west coast or Le Sentier des Douaniers on Cap Corse, and forests and ravines invite walkers to discover beautiful waterfalls, swimming holes and wonderful views. The GR20 should be walked in summer between May and October, although late snows can prevail until June, which requires a more technical approach.
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Description:
The wild mountains of the Pyrénées stretch for 250 miles (402km) from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and have for many centuries formed a natural frontier: physical, climatic and linguistic, between France and Spain. Second only to the Alps among the great mountain ranges of Western Europe, the Pyrénées are much less frequented, and still offer an exciting combination of knife-edged summits, small glaciers, forested valleys, mountain tarns and little-trodden summer passes. Splendid trails lead to the magnificent cirques and lake-spangled basins of France's Pyrénées National Park. Over on the Spanish side paths lead through the spectacular canyons of the Ordesa-Monte Perdido National Park, one of Europe's oldest. In 1997, the United Nations inscribed a portion of the French and Spanish Pyrénées near the French village of Gavarnie and the Spanish village of Torla on its list of World Heritage Sites. Here, nature over the eons has carved three stupendous glacial cirques including the renowned Cirque de Gavarnie and a 3,000ft (914m) deep canyon called Ordesa - Spain's 'Grand Canyon.'
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Description:
Boasting world-renowned terroirs of Alsace, Champagne, Provence, the Loire Valley and wine capital of the world, Bordeaux, visitors who decide to indulge in a spot of wine tasting in France can sip on some of the world's finest wines while soaking up the luxuriant landscape and dining on magnificent food - a bourgeois paradise!Visitors with a penchant for bubbly should head for Epernay in the centre of the Champagne region where it is possible to visit the vineyards and cellars (known as maisons) of the top producers.Wine connoisseurs can also sample Bordeaux's finest wines at several exporters premises in the city, which serve tourists as a stopover and central transport hub, handy for accessing this famous region which produces arguably some of the world's finest wines.Many of the vineyards in France are fairly small family run businesses lacking in staff to cater for tourists, but the more famous ones, such as Château Mouton-Rothschild organise tastings and tours of the cellars and vineyards while appointments need to be made with other farms, such as Château Margaux. With so many regions to choose from, each famous for their own cultivars, tourists intent on doing wine tasting are best off doing an organised tour so that the best and most recognised farms can be visited, while those opting to drive themselves should take their time to enjoy the fine wines and verdant vineyards of the French countryside.
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