Crossing Corsica's GT20 – the greenest island in the Mediterranean

Welcome to Corsica, the green and tree-covered French island in the Mediterranean. Belén and I came here to cycle the Corsica Crossing. We put together this route from bits of the existing GT20 and small mountain roads we chose ourselves. If you’re interested in the GT20’s official route, check out the link at the bottom of this post.

In this Collection, you find our impressions, information and, of course, daily routes to ride this Tour yourself, including the entire Tour which, as usual, was provided by Belén.

Corsica is a special island as it’s covered in greenery. Trees and wild bushes blanket the landscapes. We saw the most beautiful oak trees, with bumpy trunks and twisted branches. The huge giants provide shade and hundreds of acorns for the squirrels running around. At the higher elevations, you find fragrant, green pine forests. You ride along roads and through towns that afford constant greenery.

Because we were here in the low season, the towns were deserted and the roads even quieter than they normally are. We enjoyed typical French food that you can buy at local stores. Every little shop devotes itself to Corsican delicacies and products. The coffee is good, nature is a feast for the eyes and the mountains frame your view day in and day out. What are you waiting for?

If you are planning to drive this route, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Corsica is a French island and the locals speak very limited English. If you’d like to stay in a gîte (guest houses) or chat with the locals, you'd better brush up on your French with a handy app!
- We cycled this route in October 2021. The constantly changing weather conditions at this time of year made cycling unpredictable and sometimes challenging. If you bike this route outside of peak season, you may experience the same weather patterns.
- The route consists almost entirely of asphalt roads. It is very difficult to find gravel roads in Corsica. The few unpaved roads that exist are used by goats and some mountain bikers. The asphalt roads are narrow with nice views over the green landscapes and are very quiet. But perhaps this is different in the summer.

Finally, I took a video of our ride that you can see below. Hopefully, you'll enjoy watching it and it will inspire you to take on your own Corsica Crossing. You can view the original route of the GT20 via the following link: komoot.nl/tour/621122123.