An hour and a quarter from our villas, Corsica changes face. You leave the maquis and the beaches for a massif of red granite at 1,218 metres, century-old laricio pines and a coolness that is welcome when the coast is stifling. Bavella is the mountain day we recommend to every guest, even those who never walk.
The essentials in five lines
- 1 hour 15 by road from the hamlet, via Porto-Vecchio, Ospedale and Zonza
- The pass tops out at 1 218 m — 8 to 10°C cooler than the coast
- The finest walk, the Trou de la Bombe, is 7.7 km with 263 m of ascent
- Accessible de May to October — snow can close the pass in winter
- The car park fills by 9.30 a.m. in July and August. Leave early; that part is not negotiable.
Getting there from Figari
Two possible routes, and they are not equal.
Via Ospedale and Zonza — our favourite. You climb through the Ospedale forest, pass the lake, cross Zonza, and the D268 takes you to the pass. Allow 1 hour 15. The road winds but is wide and well maintained; no special vehicle is needed. The landscape changes every fifteen kilometres, which is half the point of the day.
Via Solenzara — you follow the east coast to Solenzara, then climb the valley. A little longer, but the road along the river is magnificent and lined with natural pools where you can stop and swim. Save it for the way back, when the heat sets in.
Best of all: go up via Zonza and come down via Solenzara. You never drive the same road twice, and you finish with a swim in the river.
Parking, the real issue
Let us be blunt: it is the only awkward part of the day. The car park at the pass is small and full by 9.30 a.m. in high season. Depending on which way you arrive, it may be chargeable.
Three solutions, in order of preference:
- Arrive before 9 a.m. The only one that works every time. Leave the hamlet at 7.30.
- Arrive after 4 p.m. — the morning walkers have gone. And the late light on the needles is the finest of the day.
- Park 2 to 3 km before the pass, in the lay-bys along the Zonza road, and walk the rest. Thirty minutes on a quiet road.
The Trou de la Bombe walk
The one walk to do if you do only one. Its Corsican name, U Tafonu di u Cumpuleddu, refers to a natural window eight metres across, bored through the granite wall by millennia of erosion, at 1,330 metres.
- Distance — 7.7 km, a loop
- Ascent — 263 m, which is modest
- Time — 2 to 2 hours 30 there and back, including stops
- Difficulty — easy, except the final approach, which is steep and stony
- Waymarking — the path starts in the forest above the car park
The great virtue of this walk is that it is mostly in the shade, under the laricio pines and the ferns. In high summer that changes everything. The return loops past a viewpoint with the finest view of the needles, then the chapel of the Blessed Virgin.
It is manageable with children from about seven or eight, and with a dog.
The Trou de la Bombe from inside: eight metres of granite bored by erosion, with the needles beyond.
And if you would rather not walk?
Bavella works perfectly well without walking, and many of our guests choose exactly that.
The pass itself is set up for it: a rest area, benches, picnic tables and a head-on view of the needles. The statue of Our Lady of the Snows, put up in the 1950s, watches over the massif — the obligatory photograph.
Two or three inns serve Corsican mountain food at the pass: charcuterie, cheeses, Corsican soup, veal with olives. A meal at altitude after three days of grilled fish is a real change.
A one-kilometre botanical trail, flat and waymarked, offers a half-hour stroll with no effort.
The Purcaraccia waterfalls
About thirty minutes from the pass, in the next valley, the Purcaraccia pools form a series of turquoise natural pools in the granite. It is spectacular, and very popular.
Two honest warnings. First, getting there means about an hour's walk over slippery ground: walking boots are essential; flip-flops cause accidents every year. Second, this is a canyon: if a storm is forecast, however distant, do not go down. Flash floods here are violent and have already cost lives.
Combining Purcaraccia and the Trou de la Bombe in one day is possible, but it makes for a long day. We would rather you chose one.
What to take
- Walking boots with a lugged sole — granite is slippery and scree is unforgiving to street trainers
- 2 litres of water per person — there is no water on the paths
- Un light windproof — at 1,200 m the weather turns quickly and the wind is frequent
- Something to picnic on, and a bag to carry the rubbish out
- A GPS app or a map: mobile coverage is patchy
The needles from the path, early morning — low light picking out the granite.
When to come
June and September are the two best months. In June the streams are still full and the pools at their finest; in September the light is superb and the paths empty out.
Between 15 July and 20 August the area is very busy. It is doable, but only with a dawn start.
Out of season, from November to April, the pass can be closed by snow. Check before setting off.
Our typical day
- 7h30 — leave the hamlet via Ospedale
- 8h15 — stop at the Ospedale lake, coffee and a photograph in the morning mist
- 8h45 — arrive at the Bavella pass, park without difficulty
- 9h-11h30 — the Trou de la Bombe loop
- 12h30 — lunch at the inn by the pass
- 14h30 — descend via Solenzara, stopping to swim in the river pools
- 18h — back at the hamlet
Access and parking arrangements change from season to season: we update this page every spring. If in doubt about road conditions, the Zonza tourist office will advise by telephone.