Ajaccio

Check the day of the week first — Maison Bonaparte is closed every Monday, and that is the single mistake that wrecks more cruise days here than any other. Hours are 10:30am to 4:30pm October through March (with a 12:30–1:15pm lunch closure), and 10am to 5:30pm April through September. July and August they skip the lunch break and run 10am to 5:30pm straight through. Standard admission is €10; EU residents under 26 get in free, and the first Sunday of the month is free for everyone.

Yes — Plage Saint-François is a roughly 10-minute walk from the cruise pier, just on the far side of the citadel. It's small, sandy, no facilities to speak of, and fine for a quick dip. For something less postage-stamp-sized, Plage Trottel is about 20 minutes along the seafront promenade in the other direction. Both are public, both are free, neither requires a taxi.

It's the one excursion in Ajaccio that is genuinely worth the money. Boats depart from Port Tino Rossi (the small-craft marina, a five-minute walk from the cruise berth, on the citadel side). Standard tours run two to three hours, €25–€35, and include a stopover on Mezzu Mare island where you can walk up to the lighthouse. The sunset tours that everyone photographs are evening departures — only realistic if your ship is overnighting or doesn't sail until late. For a daytime call, the morning Sanguinaires loop is the move.

Yes, with the standard Mediterranean caveats. France sits at U.S. State Department Travel Advisory Level 2 (Exercise Increased Caution), and the embassy's pickpocket guidance applies to busy markets, train stations, and tourist sites anywhere in France. Ajaccio is not Paris — the cruise corridor and old town feel small and easygoing — but the covered market on Rue Cardinal Fesch and the bus station crowds at the terminal still reward keeping a hand on your bag. Violent crime against tourists is rare. Sun-stroke and dehydration take down more cruise passengers here in July than any pickpocket.

Only if you accept the risk. Corsica's interior roads are spectacular — narrow, switchbacked, slow. Reaching the calanques at Piana from Ajaccio is about 70 km and 90 minutes one way on a good day; Bonifacio in the south is 130 km and three hours. On a six-to-eight-hour port call, the timing math is brutal and a single tour bus on a hairpin can blow your all-aboard. If your ship is in until evening, a half-day private driver to Les Sanguinaires viewpoint or the Prunelli gorges is more honest than trying to drive yourself. For a standard call, stay in town.

Corsica is on the euro, and cards work in restaurants, the Maison Bonaparte ticket office, supermarkets, and most of the covered market stalls. Some small village places (and a stubborn minority of taxi drivers) still refuse cards under €15, so carry €30–50 in small notes. Tipping isn't expected — service is included by French law — but rounding up or leaving a couple of euros on a good lunch is appreciated, not insulting. ATMs cluster around Place Foch and Cours Napoléon.