Cap Corse, the long northern peninsula of Corsica, makes one of the best day trips from Bastia. The D80 road circles the entire cape in about 120 kilometres, passing through a sequence of small villages, Genoese watchtowers, and dramatic coastal scenery. The route can be driven in three to four hours, though a full day allows time to stop at the fishing harbour of Centuri-Port, the wine-producing village of Patrimonio, and the Nonza cliff villages on the west coast.
The cape's character is quite distinct from the rest of Corsica: it is less touristy, more agricultural (it produces some of the island's best wine and olive oil), and genuinely quiet outside summer. Several of the villages have lost most of their permanent population to emigration over the past century, giving the landscape a particular melancholy beauty. The Genoese towers that punctuate the coastline at regular intervals were part of a defensive network against Barbary pirate raids — most are still accessible on foot from the road.