Anyone who knows their history has heard of the Island of Elba but not so many people know where it is. Yet Elba is the third largest island in Italy and one of the greenest and most beautiful. Much of its fame is a result of Napoleon’s exile here for a brief 10 months. In the island’s long and exciting history, Napoleon manages, as with many things in his life, to dominate the Elban story.

Napoleon was accompanied to Elba by the British military on the Frigate Undaunted. Nowadays tourists arrive there in a less dramatic fashion and the island has never been easier to get to. Pisa airport has become a main centre for low cost flights: Ryanair, Easyjet and Jet. British Airways run a daily service from London.

In recent years Pisa Airport has grown greatly in size and has become a modern efficient airport with lots of facilities. From the airport you can hire a car and drive down to Piombino in little more than an hour and catch a ferry to Elba, which takes an hour. Elbafly have flights from Pisa to Elba in the summer months. Pisa airport has its very own train station and although it is necessary to change trains there are connections to the station at Piombino port.

It’s worthwhile finding a window seat on the ferry or better still sitting outside on deck so you don’t miss the pleasure of seeing Elba’s mountainous, forested slopes rise out from the sea. Many tourist has said that they never thought it would be so green, indeed it must be one of the greenest islands in the Med. With such lush vegetation, with such a variety of spectacular scenery and so many picturesque towns, surrounded by a sparkling blue sea it is a tourist’s paradise.