Palombaggia and the Porto-Vecchio beaches

South of Porto-Vecchio, Palombaggia and Santa Giulia are the beaches that sell Corsica: fine pale sand, water that goes from clear to turquoise to deep blue in twenty metres, red granite boulders splitting the shore into a series of small bays, and umbrella pines leaning out over the sand at exactly the angle a photographer would have asked for. Santa Giulia is the wider, calmer lagoon; Palombaggia the more sculptural, with the pines and rocks doing most of the composition.

First light is the whole game. Before eight the sand has no footprints, the water is glass, the pines throw long shadows and there are no parasols; by eleven in season both beaches are busy and the beach clubs have furnished them. Late afternoon works too, though the light comes from behind the pines rather than through them.

Small print: parking is roadside and fills early in July and August; the sand is soft and hot by mid-morning, so bring something to stand on if there is a dress involved; and the granite is smooth but slippery when wet — worth knowing before anyone poses on it.