Bouches de Bonifacio

The Bouches de Bonifacio (in English: Strait of Bonifacio) is the narrow, navigable waterway that segregates Corsica and Sardinia. This natural ensemble is on the Tentative List of France as a placeholder for a future transboundary nomination with Italy’s La Maddalena Archipelago. The countries are working on the establishment of the joint “International Marine Park of the Strait of Bonifacio”.

The Strait is named after the town of Bonifacio, located at the southern tip of Corsica. It lies on and against a massive rock, part of a rugged coast with vertical rock walls. I stayed there for 2 nights, with the plan to hike in the nature reserve and to make the crossing to Sardinia. “The strait is notorious among sailors for its weather, currents, shoals, and other obstacles.”, Wiki tells us. I certainly got to experience that!

The first day it rained from early on in the morning. Only late afternoon I was able to go out. I still wanted to do the coastal walk that I selected beforehand: the Sentier Campu Romanilu. It would take only an hour and a half. Clearly I was not the only one with this idea: all 50 to 80 tourists present in Bonifacio climbed the rock at the same time. However, we found the path directly along the coast closed: too dangerous, stones could fall down and one could be blown into the sea.

So we took the flat path on the top. This one is broad and normally …

I visted Bonifacio and nearby cliffs during my Corsica fall holidays in 2013. The limestone cliffs and town of Bonifacio placed in the deep bay were very picturesque. Shores of Sardinia could be also visible (another TWHS - Archipelago of La Maddalena is very very close). However, I could not see any OUV here and it should not be inscribed in my opinion. For example, I enjoyed limestone cliffs in Parc National des Calanques nearby Marseille much more than those of Bonifacio.