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A private island between Corsica and Sardinia that Jean Castel bought in 1966 and turned into a playground for Brigitte Bardot. One hotel. A handful of villas. Water the colour of a swimming pool. You can actually go.
Cavallo is a private island in the Strait of Bonifacio — technically France, geographically between Corsica and Sardinia. It has no permanent population to speak of, no cars, no through traffic. The island belongs to its villa owners. But there is one hotel, a handful of restaurants, and a ferry from Bonifacio. You can book a room and be there tonight. The extraordinary thing is how few people do.
The pink granite seabed around Cavallo produces colours that photographs struggle to represent accurately. Turquoise shading into deep green in the bays, then deep blue in the open strait. The Lavezzi Archipelago — 23 granite islands between Corsica and Sardinia, all uninhabited, all within a natural reserve — is visible from the hotel terrace. Snorkelling here is among the best in the western Mediterranean.
Jean Castel bought Cavallo in 1966 and gave the surrounding islands to the commune of Bonifacio. His parties drew Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, and Princess Caroline of Monaco. The party era ended in 1978. Cavallo resurfaced in the 1990s as something more serious — a place where Beyoncé, Bono, and Bill Gates came for the kind of privacy that money cannot quite buy elsewhere in Europe.
To walk freely on Cavallo you need a hotel reservation or a restaurant booking. Guards on the island enforce this quietly. It sounds exclusionary — and in some respects it is — but it also means the island is never crowded, the beaches are never overrun, and the experience of being there remains genuinely different from anywhere else in the Mediterranean. Book a table at La Ferme and the island is yours for the afternoon.
The island is quiet and beautiful in April and May, but some restaurants and services may not yet be open for the season.
The ideal month. Everything is open, the sea is warm enough to swim, and the August crowds are still absent.
Peak season. The island has a maximum capacity and fills with villa guests and day-trippers by boat. Book months ahead.
Warm sea, golden light, and the day-trippers gone. The finest month on Cavallo. Everything still open until mid-October.
In the off-season (October to April) the island has a maximum of about 50 people on it at any one time. The hotel closes. The island essentially sleeps.
Figari Sud-Corse Airport (FSC) is served by seasonal flights from Paris, London, Milan, and other European cities. The smallest and most convenient gateway. A taxi from Figari to Bonifacio marina takes thirty minutes.
Small ferries and water taxis run from Bonifacio marina to Cavallo throughout the season. The crossing takes twenty to thirty minutes depending on conditions. Bonifacio itself — a medieval city on white limestone cliffs above the sea — is worth a night in its own right.
Many visitors arrive by private yacht, anchoring in one of the island’s bays. The island also has a small private airstrip, used by villa owners. Neither route requires booking — but anchoring in the wrong cove will attract the island’s guards.
The medieval city on white limestone cliffs directly above the Strait — a walled citadel at the southern tip of Corsica. The old town is extraordinary. The views from the ramparts down to the turquoise water below are unlike anything else in France.
23 uninhabited granite islands within the Natural Reserve of the Strait of Bonifacio. No buildings, no facilities, no people except day visitors by boat. The snorkelling and diving in the reserve are among the finest in the western Mediterranean.
The northernmost town in Sardinia, visible from Cavallo on a clear day. Whitewashed streets, a Spanish watchtower, excellent beaches, and a direct ferry connection to Bonifacio. The contrast between French and Italian island culture in a two-hour journey.
An hour north of Bonifacio — the most fashionable resort town in southern Corsica, with some of the best beaches on the island and a food and nightlife scene that outclasses most of the French mainland coast.
The La Maddalena archipelago on the Sardinian side — seven inhabited islands and dozens of uninhabited ones, all within a national park. Similar granite-and-turquoise scenery to Cavallo but more accessible and more populated.
The most authentically Corsican town on the island — medieval granite architecture in the mountains above the coast, entirely without tourist infrastructure, and best visited in the company of someone who knows where to eat.