Elba
The Largest Island In The Tuscan Archipelago National Park, With Napoleon'S Residences Of 1814 15 At Portoferraio And The Monte Capanne Summit · Portoferraio, Tuscany
Elba is the third largest Italian island and the one nobody outside Italy thinks of, which is most of its appeal. It is an hour by ferry from the Tuscan mainland and it is a proper island rather than a resort: a mountain of iron ore in the west rising to over a thousand metres, vineyards and chestnut woods in the middle, and a coastline of about a hundred and fifty kilometres broken into so many separate coves that you can find an empty one in August if you are willing to walk. The beaches change character every few kilometres, white sand in one bay and black iron-dark shingle in the next, because the geology does. Napoleon was exiled here for nine months in 1814 and left two houses that are now museums, which is the one thing everyone knows. A cable car in a pair of open standing cages runs to the summit of the island for a view that on a clear day reaches Corsica. Go as a foot passenger and hire a scooter or a small boat, which reaches more of the island than a car does and costs far less.
Calata Italia 26, Portoferraio, Tuscany, 57037, Italy
NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The structure: beaches, coves and the island roads are public and never close. The two Napoleon houses keep state-museum hours with a weekly closing day and a last admission before closing. The Monte Capanne cable car runs seasonally in daylight hours and stops in wind. The mining park is seasonal. FERRIES ARE THE REAL TIMETABLE: frequent in summer, thin in winter, and cancelled in heavy weather. Most hotels and restaurants close from about November to March. Confirm the ferry and the season first.