Ajaccio?

[RBCal]

Is Ajaccio incredibly crowded and the Musee Fesch mobbed during port days?  Private tours are insanely expensive and hoping to DIY.  The hop on hop off 'train' bus looks to be fun but I worry if I hop off I won't be able to hop back on if Ajaccio is mobbed with tourists.

[jamesv92]

Should check how many ships are in during your day there but I found last time there it was just pleasant walking around independently and along the beach front 

[CruisingWalter]

cruisemapper is a great resource to find out how many ships and potentially how many people will be port during your stop.

 

[Malleykatt]

The only queue we've ever encountered here was to visit the home of Napoleon Bonaparte. The market is good to walk through and right in front of you at the port. Look for the peaches they really are giant here and taste the local cheeses. There are stops here for the open top bus tour and across the road on the market side the little road train. There were no queues at the Fesch on one of our visits and there were 2 cruise ships in port.

The train stops at the sights and will wait while you climb the steps of the Napoleon monument.

[edinburgher]

22 hours ago, RBCal said:

The hop on hop off 'train' bus looks to be fun but I worry if I hop off I won't be able to hop back on if Ajaccio is mobbed with tourists.

When will you be visiting?  August will be the busiest month as the French mostly take their summer  vacation time then, but whether there will be issues or not depends on what it is like on the day of your visit.

 

It is actually a really pleasant town to wander around, although as you would expect, there are a lot of Naploeon related sights.

 

It also has an older part of town, beaches and a nice walkway alongside the sea.

 

As with most ports of call, there have been a number of previous threads and posts about visiting Ajaccio, along with several tips and suggestions.  it would possibly be worthwhile for you to read some of them, and if you are unsure how to find them, post #4 on this thread will help.  This thread also has some info and suggestions on it, but there are other threads to be found using the search option described here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2830210-what-should-we-see-in-corcisa-and-how/#comment-62901932

 

 

 

 

[edinburgher]

My aplogies as there is no info finding past threads on post #4 of the above link. Do as follows:

 

Simply go tthe GENERAL France Ports Forum, (not an individual thread) and insert the word Ajaccio into the empty search box under your username, then hit the little spy glass. Within seconds all results will appear and you can choose which to read.

[Hlitner]

The day the OP's ship will be in Ajaccio will also have the Aida Cosma in the same port.  So we are talking about over 7000 souls.  This will certainly put a few folks in the streets of town, although many will likely take excursions to various places on the island.   I would agree with some of the other posters that Ajaccio is a very walkable city for folks without major mobility limitations.  We would never consider a HoHo bus in that town,.,,but we enjoy walking    The distance from the pier to the museum is only about 1/4 of a mile (although there is an upslope).  

 

Will the museum be crowded?  Who knows.  But it will be easy to walk there and check it out.

 

Hank

P.S.  The last time we were in Ajaccio we had fabulous moles et frites for lunch.  There are some decent (and not too expensive) eating venues near the harbor.

[ollienbertsmum]

On 7/15/2023 at 3:59 PM, RBCal said:

Is Ajaccio incredibly crowded and the Musee Fesch mobbed during port days?  Private tours are insanely expensive and hoping to DIY.  The hop on hop off 'train' bus looks to be fun but I worry if I hop off I won't be able to hop back on if Ajaccio is mobbed with tourists.

 

I cannot recall how many ships were in when we used the train back in 2012.  We didn’t  have to worry about not getting back on though.  We took the train that went on a single route along the coastline.  We got off at a Napoleon monument and then at the end stop.  Train gave us a time to explore, get back on the train (same seatS) and then continued the journey.  It was a nice little outing.   Not sure about timings of queues to actually get on,  I am sure that we would not have queued.  

 

I have read that there is a route that tours the town.  Ajaccio is walkable. 

 

There are mixed reviews on Trip Advisor - I found a few photos of the trip to give you an idea.  

 

[dani negreanu]

On 7/16/2023 at 7:32 PM, Hlitner said:

The last time we were in Ajaccio we had fabulous moles et frites for lunch.  There are some decent (and not too expensive) eating venues near the harbor

 

We're big fans of moules & frites... Do u remember the name of any venue? Thanks,

[Hlitner]

13 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

We're big fans of moules & frites... Do u remember the name of any venue? Thanks,

No.  There is a restaurant area (close to the port towards he left of where you come ashore, that is popular for many eating venues.  We just chose one, at random, which turned out fine.  I suspect that any of the cafe/restaurants in that area would have been fine.  

[marazul]

23 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

We're big fans of moules & frites... Do u remember the name of any venue? Thanks,

Just about all restaurants will have them. They all post the menus and have a blackboard with the specials outside on the sidewalk.   Read the menus and pick a place you like.