Grande Traversata Elbana

2026-05-28 to 2026-05-31

I had a conference in Elba, an island just across from Corsica. Since I’d already traversed Corsica on the GR20, I wondered if there might be a similar hike that covered all of Elba. Turns out the GTE is that hike.

It is about 58 km long (if you do the longest version of it), with about 2600 m or so of elevation change. I don’t know any of these numbers for sure because I stopped tracking the GPX traces of my hikes, so I’m just regurgitating them from elsewhere.

The hike starts in Cavo on the north-eastern tip of Elba and finishes in either Patresi or Pomone on the western edge of the island. I found this immensely irritating. How hard is it to pick one canonical end-point? I’ve known hikes with variants and side-quests but never one whose finishing point itself was left as an exercise for the reader.

The hills run across the spine of the island, and the little towns are either nestled into those hills, or are on the coast. The hike takes you up to the ridges, but then insists on bringing you down back into civilisation at the end of each section.

This hike is a two-day hike, if you like to walk all day, although the internet will tell you otherwise. It can be made into a three-day hike if you want to take it easy, and this is how I did it, but I did it that way out of ignorance. If you divide it over three days, each day will only involve about six hours of walking. So, even if you’re really dragging your feet, you’ll be in town by 15:00 and then sit around twiddling your thumbs wondering what to do. The official guides and informations think of it as a four-day hike, which is just madness.

Also, the towns are pointless. They are full of tourists, shops selling beads and crowded beaches. The towns are also infinitely less charming then the countryside and the mountains. Officially, wild camping (including bivvying) is banned, since this is a national park, but I would still try to find something right around halfway distance and make it a two-day hike.

Getting there

…was a slight chore. Train from Geneva to Milan, then Milan to Firenze, then Firenze to Pisa, then Pisa to Piombino. Then a 90 minute wait in Piombino before a short ferry to Cavo.

Cavo was pretty empty when I arrived, on a Thursday evening. Many restaurants were closed, and I was too late to buy some last-minute supplies. I checked into Hotel Levante, showered, walked down to a nearby pizzeria, and then spent two hours on the beach, having it almost entirely to myself, reading Le Petit Prince.

Stage 1: Cavo to Porto Azzurro

The hike started the next morning. I found a 1:25000 topo map of Elba, with a short guidebook at the Super A&O, although the hike can be done without it. But I had my compass and I enjoy collecting topo maps. This first day you cover the part of the island that juts out to the north-east.

In the afternoon, I descended to Porto Azzurro, and walked about there, but I did not enjoy the vibe of the town. It was full of tourists, and the hustle and bustle of all the shopping and restaurants. Loud cars and motorcycles added their chorus to the din of humanity. I found myself wanting to run away from it all.

Stage 2: Porto Azzurro to Procchio (or so)

The most boring day on the hike. It is almost entirely a roadwalk. You climb back out from Porto Azzurro, and are thereafter walking either on gravel tracks or paved asphalt for many hours. I genuinely do not remember a single interesting thing that happened that day, except for my stay.

For this second day, I chose not to go into Procchio. Instead, I stayed at Pimpinella Farm. I’d heard of this farm by reading a translated trip report on an Italian website, and reserved my place for a bivy just by exchanging a simple Whatsapp text. These guys are amazing. The farm is on the trail, they have beer and coca cola, they have donkeys and horses and cats and dogs running around, you can charge your devices, and they have showers and toilets. All for EUR 20.

Note that the couple who own the farm don’t speak much English (or French), and take only cash, but since I had none, I was able to transfer money to them via IBAN, and this was fine.

Stage 3: Procchio (or so) to Patresi

This last day I started early, already on the trail by 06:30. This was intelligent because I did the bulk of my walking before it got too hot, and could catch a lovely sunrise.

Also, the ‘passes’ over the ‘mountains’, such as they were, were devoid of people, so I had a lot of meditative, silent times during my traverse. For most of this day, I had stunning views back towards the east of the island, so I could see how far I’d come in two days.

I passed through the butterfly sanctuary, where all the cars in the parking lot had deustche plates. I also had my first real views to the mountains of Corsica, and could sit remiscing about that wonderful/hateful hike.

I chose to go to Patresi, because I could not find a hotel in Pomone. I also took the ‘variant’ route via Madonna del Monte. The official route meanders about in the hills over Chiessi/Patresi before descending, adding 2-3 hours of extra walking for benefits I could not appreciate. I’d already been at altitude for the whole day and all of the first day. Why would I want to be separated from my hot shower and a hot lunch for longer for no discernible reason?

In the end, I found Elba charming and lovely and warm and kind and much gentler than Corsica. The food is infinitely better, the people are not hell-bent on displaying their pride and ‘otherness’, and the countryside is much less wild. This is a wonderful beginner thru-hike to take on if you want to dip your toes into this world.