Getting to Bastia

Choosing how to travel

There is no single best way to get to Bastia; it depends on your plans. Three questions help you decide:

• Are you bringing your car? Then you will be taking the ferry. Bastia has crossings from Italy and France, and you drive off the ship right in the town centre.
• Travelling without a car? Then flying is an option as well as the ferry. An airport bus runs from Bastia-Poretta Airport into town.
• Arriving somewhere else on the island? If you land in Ajaccio or L'Île-Rousse, for example, you can carry on to Bastia by train.

Car hire only becomes worth considering if you want to reach places on the island that trains and buses don’t serve.

By ferry

Bastia’s ferry port is in the town centre and has crossings from Italy and France.

By air

Bastia-Poretta Airport is about 20 km from town. For getting into the centre by bus, taxi or hire car, see Airport.

By train in Corsica

The Chemins de fer de la Corse run a 232 km network with two lines: the main line from Bastia to Ajaccio, and a branch line into the Balagne to L'Île-Rousse and Calvi. If you are arriving in Ajaccio, Calvi or L'Île-Rousse, or heading there, the train is the obvious link with Bastia.

Journey times from Bastia, rounded:

• Corte: just under two hours
• Ajaccio: about 3 hours 45 minutes, with no change
• L'Île-Rousse: about two and a half hours
• Calvi: just over three hours

Trains to L'Île-Rousse and Calvi go via Ponte-Leccia, where the Balagne line begins. Depending on the service, you change there.

At Bastia railway station you can pay for tickets in cash, by card, by cheque or with Chèques Vacances. The airport bus also stops opposite the station.

By bus

Bastia and its neighbouring communes are served by the ViaBastia town bus network, run by the Communauté d'agglomération de Bastia. Tickets and passes are also sold online.

• Towards Cap Corse: bus line C runs all year from Bastia town hall via Pietranera, Grisgione and Miomo to Erbalunga and on to Sisco. The ride to Erbalunga takes about 18 minutes. For the beaches along the route, see Beaches; for more on the peninsula, see Cap Corse.
• To the beaches in the south: in the bathing season extra shuttle buses run, including one to Arinella.
• To Moriani: an STIB bus runs from Bastia town hall to Moriani Plage in about 45 minutes.

Regional buses on the Via Corsica network leave Bastia only during school terms and only on Mondays and Fridays: line C10 to Aléria and Porto-Vecchio and line C12 to L'Île-Rousse and Calvi. Via Corsica has no direct buses from Bastia to Corte or Ajaccio; for those, take the train.

By car and parking

If you are bringing your own car, you reach Bastia by ferry. On the island, the RN 193 leads into town from the south, the D 81 from Saint-Florent and the D 80 from Cap Corse.

The citadel in the Terra Nova quarter is car-free, and the Vieux Port is best explored on foot. You can check whether your accommodation has its own parking when you book; for the different areas, see Where to stay. The ferry port and the airport have their own car parks; for those at the airport, see Airport.

If you arrive without a car and want to get around the island, you can hire one at the airport; see Car hire at the airport.