GR20 · Stage 1
The park says no departure from Calenzana is allowed after 11:00, under a municipal order. No water after the Ortiventi fountain until the refuge. Ortu di u Piobbu has no dormitory: you sleep in your own tent or one rented from the park.
Best season: Mid-May to early October, while the refuges are guarded. The park's refuges are guarded, with meals, from 16 May to 4 October 2026; it has not published 2027 yet. Snow can lie at the Brèche de Capitellu, between Manganu and Petra Piana, early in the season. From mid-June to mid-September the massifs can be closed at any time of day when the fire risk is severe; the fire-risk map is updated at 18:00 for the next day. Before you go
Facts read from the operators' own pages and OpenStreetMap on 25 September 2026. A page can change after we read it, so confirm with your accommodation before you rely on a date or a bed.
Stage start
Town
The GR 20 starts at the Sant'Antone fountain at the top of the village. The park says not to set out after 11:00 on the first stage in the fire season.
A town or village: find accommodation yourself. TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage end · overnight
Camping spot · 1,520 m · Parc naturel régional de Corse
Make it your trip
The park takes bookings for every night in its refuges, your own tent included, and camping elsewhere along the route is forbidden. Vizzavona, E Capanelle, the Cuscionu bergeries and Castel di Verghju are private and booked directly. Each night below shows its 2026 season and how to book.
The park's sixteen stages, a stay every night: the park's refuges, private gîtes and bergeries, and the hotels of Vizzavona.
Plan this journeyThe northern GR 20, the higher and harder half, ending at the train in Vizzavona.
Plan this journeyThe southern GR 20 from the train at Vizzavona, over the Cuscionu plateau and Bavella to Conca.
Plan this journeyLoading the forecast for low point (280 m) and high point (1,599 m)…
Typical weather on this stage: at the lowest point (280 m) and the highest point (1,599 m). Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.
| Month | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weather | Mixed | Mixed | Mixed | Good | Good | Good | Mixed | Mixed | Good | Good | Good | Mixed |
| High point, day / night | 4°/0° | 4°/-1° | 6°/1° | 9°/3° | 13°/7° | 18°/11° | 21°/14° | 21°/14° | 17°/11° | 13°/8° | 8°/4° | 5°/1° |
| Low point, day / night | 12°/5° | 12°/5° | 15°/7° | 17°/9° | 21°/12° | 26°/16° | 29°/19° | 29°/19° | 25°/16° | 21°/13° | 16°/9° | 13°/6° |
| Rain, mm | 93 | 76 | 73 | 71 | 61 | 42 | 15 | 23 | 76 | 126 | 158 | 122 |
| Snow at high point | Possible | Possible | Frost | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | Frost |
| Daylight | 9 h 23 | 10 h 32 | 11 h 51 | 13 h 20 | 14 h 34 | 15 h 16 | 15 h 01 | 13 h 58 | 12 h 34 | 11 h 08 | 9 h 49 | 9 h 06 |
Source: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages. Averages for the area at each point’s elevation (4 km grid, corrected for height). Not a forecast or a report of current trail conditions. Snow at the high point is estimated with a simple snowpack model from these temperatures and precipitation, not observed; steep islands and high summits can hold more snow than it shows. Daylight is for the 15th of each month. Hut, transport and park seasons are separate: check them for your dates.
Before you go
Arrange your stays, food and travel first, then check conditions again near departure.
Every night in the park's refuges must be booked online, including a pitch for your own tent: in 2026 €20 for a bunk, €12 to pitch your tent, €27 or €39 for a rented one. Places are held until 19:00, and the guardian cannot change your dates on the spot. The FFRandonnée says Ortu di u Piobbu, Carrozzu and Usciolu fill first.
The park's booking siteThe FFRandonnée reported on 17 July 2026 that the prefecture had closed Ascu Stagnu to Tighjettu and Tighjettu to Ciottulu di i Mori from 14 July, after the Albertacce fire. We found no reopening by 25 September 2026, and the park's own pages do not mention it. Ask the park before you plan to walk them.
The park: the GR 20No fires and no smoking in the forests and mountains from 15 June to 30 September. When the fire risk is severe the massifs can be closed at any time of day; the fire-risk map is updated at 18:00 for the next day. No departure from Calenzana is allowed after 11:00.
The park: fire risk and access (links the daily map)Violent storms happen even in summer: check the mountain forecast and be ready to turn back. Early in the season snow lies at the Brèche de Capitellu. The park's list of kit to carry is on its GR 20 page.
Météo-France: Corsica mountainsStages 1, 2, 3 and 12 are short of water; fill up at the refuges and the springs the park names. The phone signal is unreliable at most refuges, which have an emergency phone while guarded. Call 112 in an emergency.
The park: safety on the GR 20Getting there
Travel around Calenzana to Ortu di u Piobbu.
Google Maps journey searches, not confirmed services. A mountain endpoint may need a booked transfer or an additional walk.
Les Beaux Voyages runs Calvi to Calenzana; its page now shows only the school-term bus at 15:45 on weekdays, so check the summer times with the operator.
Les Beaux Voyages: bus linesVizzavona station is on the Bastia to Ajaccio line of the Chemins de fer de la Corse, with about five trains a day each way in the autumn 2026 timetable. It is the way in or out between the two halves.
Chemins de fer de la Corse: timetablesIn summer buses C3 and C4 leave Col de Bavella in the morning for Propriano and Ajaccio. From Conca the park lists a shuttle on request to Sainte-Lucie and Porto-Vecchio: call ahead.
Collectivité de Corse: busesTake your trip with you
Prepare each stage while you still have a connection: the park says the phone signal is unreliable at most refuges.
Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.
Saving a bookmark is not a map download. Storage can be cleared by your device; keep a backup map for remote trips.
Route & sources
The park walks the GR 20 in sixteen stages, north to south; the FFRandonnée's guide gives 200 km. The line here is the route on OpenStreetMap (relation 12484370, version 32, planet of 21 September 2026), 183.6 km, cut at the park's stage ends. It crosses the Pointe des Éboulis where the Cirque de la Solitude has been closed since 2015. The short walks from the line to each refuge are extra. The park gives times, not distances: the times shown are its north-to-south times.
Official guidance and mapped-source comparison checked 25 September 2026. Map data is a route reference, not confirmation of today's path, weather or accommodation availability.
Parc naturel régional de Corse: the GR 20Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · Source relation