Porto-Vecchio is a five-minute drive or 15 minutes by the hotel boat and offers a great many upscale restaurants around a buzzy port. Flanked on either side by centuries-old parasol pines, and with the gentle waves lapping at the decking of the beachfront bar, Cala Rossa makes the most of its superb location.
A walk that passes by Corsica’s tallest waterfall is 21 miles away, and more challenging hiking can be found further up into the Bavella mountains. Though the hotel is easy to find, and the roads are good there is very little in the way of public transport in this part of the island, so having a car is necessary. The hotel has a small boat that departs from the pontoon every morning weather permitting at 11 am to take guests on a tour of the neighboring bays.
This elegant and homely property was built in the early 1960s by the Canarelli family and has been maintained to an excellent standard. White vaulted ceilings, flagstone floors, untreated wood, antique mirrors, and rough-hewn linen sofas in soft greys decorate the reception area, and a local florist fills antique vases with pastel decorations every week. Collectables from the owners’ travels and black and white photographs showing the hotel’s history create the sense that you’re entering a large family home.
A plant-filled vestibule separates the reception and lounge from the sophisticated bar and adjacent to this, a rustic formal dining room with two open brickwork fireplaces, wooden beams, and hanging lanterns and chandeliers forms the heart of the restaurant, where breakfast is also served.
Windowed doors open out onto a paved open-air courtyard, with a collection of tables huddled under a leafy, heated trellis. Beyond this, a path leads to the decked bar, where you can choose between loungers or tables shaded by pine trees or the private stretch of beach. A small jetty decorated with lobster net lanterns looks out towards Porto-Vecchio.
The hotel has a wood-paneled spa with a 14m indoor heated swimming pool, hammam, and treatment rooms offering ayurvedic treatments and massages using Nucca products the creation of the founders’ daughters-now-owners of the hotel which blend plants from the Corsican maquis. A nail bar and hair salon form part of the offering. The staff at the front desk are friendly, accommodating, and widely knowledgeable about the local area, in particular when it comes to information on hiking.
Spread over three floors, the rooms are beautifully appointed with simple, elegant furnishings, walk-in stone showers, a bath, his and hers sinks, bath robes, slippers, and Nucca toiletries. Personal touches such as vintage books sit on the bedside tables, and each room has a small private terrace, some of which have panoramic views of the ocean. The suites are mid-way through a renovation, which has seen around half modernized. The new suites maintain a simple, elegant Mediterranean feel. A large treehouse suite overlooks the beachfront.
The kitchen garden was designed by landscape gardener Philippe Niez and is open to guests to stroll and admire. What is grown here not only provides for but inspires the menus at Cala Rossa’s restaurants. Visit in the morning to enjoy a cold herbal infusion boasting different health benefits depending on the day.
La Table is the hotel’s gastronomic offering, with long-serving chef Pascal Cayeux deftly combining herbs such as népita and mertensia maritima – a plant with leaves that tastes like an oyster – with local ingredients such as pan-fried brocciu cheese from the nearby village, lobster tail, and hake. Pastry chef Francis Péan’s creations include house-made ice cream made with flavors such as local myrtle and Corsican honey or citrus fruits. Le Table is well-known on the island, and booking is recommended, particularly for Sunday lunch.
LA PINÈDE
A bistro for lunch and dinner
For relaxed lunchtime meals by the beach and delicious dinners in the evening on the terrace under the pine trees. Unabashed hedonism with very simple yet nonetheless inspired Mediterranean cuisine. A mouth-watering menu, radiating warmth and sunshine, featuring the finest southern products and amazing produce from our kitchen garden. There is a hint of Italy on some evenings, with a choice of delicious, classic pasta dishes, and soft yet crisp Modena crescent, to be garnished with a variety of fillings.
For pudding, light and original desserts, and, as always, our delicious homemade ice creams and sorbets. A menu of the day is served featuring platters of local meats and cheeses or spider crab with sea fennel.
I PIATTINI
A menu of small sharing dishes
Piattini (Corsican tapas) in the form of sharing platters are served in the gardens: semolina rice with botargo, crescent stuffed with mozzarella and confit tomato, prawn carpaccio with fresh herb oil, tender octopus pan-fried with garlic and citron, and sweet treats of the day, to enjoy with a glass of wine or a house cocktail.
The bar
In the heart of the hotel, with its superb terrace set in greenery and a smoking room with immaculate linen curtains, this is the place to relax at the end of the day.
As the sun sets, tranquillity returns, interrupted as you draw closer by the clinking of shakers heralding treats in store.
If you are a whisky, gin, or rum lover, bartenders will be delighted to present their highly specialized collections, featuring the world’s finest names. For smokers, there is an excellent selection from Cuba.
And during concert events, or for evenings when you feel a little peckish, you can prolong the pleasure by choosing piattini, plates to share, accompanied by excellent local wines.
CALA ROSSA’S GARDEN OF EDEN
Cala Rossa’s kitchen garden is quite simply amazing. A paradise of vegetation a few meters from the kitchens, encouraging and enhancing gourmet creativity.
Landscape architect Philippe Niez, a poet of the senses and emotions, was inspired by the Mediterranean basin’s outstanding natural environment to design a deliciously sensual and prolific garden. Surrounded by mimosa and tamarisk, lavender and fig trees stand side by side with aromatic herbs, tomatoes, aubergines, rocket, mangetout, and a multitude of other species.
The aim is to attract pollinating insects, with a method that uses straw and compost to protect the soil microfauna, obtaining an entirely organic vegetable garden.
The rewards are apparent since this kitchen garden has become a marvelous setting for meditation and exploration. The oyster-flavored mertensia maritima grows here, along with turmeric, ginger, and Sichuan pepper; at the end is a circle of citrus teas (citron, kaffir lime, limequat, Buddha’s hand fruit, and the rare finger lime, or citrus australasica)
Before sunset, the chef’s assistants appear as if in a culinary dream to gather borage flowers, herbs-barona thyme, lesser calamint, raspberries, and wild strawberries to complement the chefs’ dishes.
