Stage 9: Onda → Vizzavona

16 km from Refuge de l'Onda (1430 m) to Vizzavona (920 m), with 210 m of ascent and 1230 m of descent.

Walking time by fitness profile

Times computed with the RandoNav planning algorithm. Breaks not included.

On the trail

The last stage of the northern half starts with one final granite argument: a stiff pull from Onda up to the ridge at around 2,100 m, where the view stretches back across everything you have crossed since Calenzana. Savour it — from here the day is essentially one long, glorious letting-go, dropping more than 1,200 m toward Vizzavona through terrain that softens with every switchback.

The descent's showpiece is the Cascades des Anglais, a staircase of waterfalls and green pools in the Agnone stream where day-trippers appear as if from another planet — clean clothes, small backpacks, no limp. Beyond, the path ambles through one of Corsica's loveliest beech forests to Vizzavona at 920 m, little more than a train station, a few hotels and restaurants, and exactly what you need: real meals, real beds, a shop, and a railway link to Ajaccio or Bastia. This is the GR20's great crossroads, where the battered north-half finishers celebrate and the south-bound starters look nervously at their boots. Congratulations — the hardest half is behind you.

Start / end

About this stage

Stage 9 links Refuge de l'Onda (1430 m) with Vizzavona (920 m) over 16 km, climbing 210 m and descending 1230 m. This stage lies in the northern half of the GR20 (before Vizzavona), the rockier and more technical part of the trail. Water is available at every stop on this stage.