Your entry port to Elba from mainland Piombino is the port town of Portoferraio. It is a pleasant 60 minute boat ride from the Tuscan coast to this rather large island where Napoleon was exiled for 8 months in 1814/15. Portoferraio offers a harbour of pastel-coloured buildings, streets lined with palms, and an imposing fortress which towers high above a harbour full of some impressive yachts, a wealth of shops, boutiques, bars and restaurants.

An extremely good trattoria that you might want to try there is the "Stella Marina"; they have a delicious seafood antipasto, and of course, excellent seafood pasta, and fabulously fresh fish. Stroll along the port for a delicious handmade “gelato” if you still have room afterwards.

Once you have arrived, there is much to enjoy without using your car. After you have basked in the beauty of the view of the mainland in the distance and the nearby sun-dappled hills, covered with lush Mediterranean vegetation, and reflected in the sea below, head to one of many beaches ( this is an island after all) for some of the world's best swimming and sunbathing.  There are many fine, public beaches where you can rent umbrellas and beach beds, and peddle-boats, and even motor boats for outings. There are excellent restaurants everywhere where you can lunch in your bathing suit, to enjoy the fine coastal specialties that make Italian beach holidays so spectacular. For a special treat, you will want to drive  to the village is of Viticcio and  to the charming and delicious family-run restaurant, "Giacomino" built on the coastal rocks, where you can watch the sun set while you enjoy first, your “aperitivo” and then, another excellent dinner.

You will also want to visit the Villa Mulini, Napoleon's home here, set high on the hill overlooking the sea. Though staggeringly impressive as a home, with lovely gardens, and extensive outbuildings to house his 1000 man entourage, it is easy to imagine that he must have been a bit restless on this peaceful island with the mainland and the route to his beloved France so near and yet so far. The Villa has lovely, decorative walls and ceilings, painted to imitate draped fabric in the Empire style to which he gave his name. It also holds his collection of books brought from Versailles, his campaign bed from the field, and some other attractive "'Empire Furnishings".

Don’t miss taking the superb drive through the splendid, lush mountains, and forests with chestnuts and pines higher up and the more Mediterranean aloes and flora lower down, and always the sea and faraway coasts in view. You will want to stop in the port town of Marciana Marina, unpretentious and casual. Stroll along the harbour, where the buildings are mostly from the mid 19th century, and where there is no jarring junk architecture from he 60’s thrown up in a hurry to destroy the flavor. An excellent restaurant there is the Rendez-vous da Marcello": a few steps from the beach, with a lovely view and excellent food: mainly fish and a specialty of "cozze ( mussels) alla marinara" . Or, for lunch, you might drive high up into the hills to the small mountain town of Marciana, to find the restaurant Publius, with a spectacular view, and great Tuscan food. They offer specialties like Polpi and Tagliatelle ai Funghi Porcini and excellent local red wines - all in preparation for a hike up the mountain to the Madonna del Monte shrine, 45 minutes up the mountain by foot, where a small church dedicated to the Madonna shares the heights with the house where Napoleon spent several months holed up with a woman of no historical significance.