Aléria can be reached on any of the daily buses running between Bastia and the south of the island via the east coast.Of the few hotels huddled around the crossroads on the highway in the modern centre of the village (known as Cateraggio), Les Orangers (tel 04.95.57.00.31, fax 04.95.57.05.55; closed Oct–May; €30–40) is the cheapest. Alternatively, L'Empereur (tel 04.95.57.02.13, fax 04.95.57.02.33; Easter to Oct; €55–70), a big hotel around the corner just north of the crossroads, is clean and comfortable, with large motel-style rooms opening onto a central garden. Top of the range here is the recently refurbished three-star L'Atrachjata, a little further north (tel 04.95.57.03.93, www.hotel-atrachjata.net; €85–100), which is plush and fully air conditioned. One of the most pleasant campsites on the east coast lies 3km east of the Cateraggio crossroads: the Marina d'Aléria (tel 04.95.57.01.42, fax 04.95.57.04.29; Easter–Oct) backs onto the beach and is well equipped, with facilities including washing machines and refrigerated lockers. To sample the famous Oysters hauled fresh each day from the nearby lagoon, there's no better place than Le Pieds Dans L'Eau restaurant (tel 04.95.57.04.55; menu at €25, plus plenty of à la carte options), resting on stilts above the water, 2km north of Aléria on the main highway (look for a narrow lane turning east opposite a derelict, graffiti-covered wine warehouse). Their seafood platter – featuring clams, mussels and a terrine made from dried mullet's eggs called poutargue – is the kind of food one imagines the Romans must have feasted on when they farmed the étang two millennia ago.
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