PNRC refuge
L'Onda refuge
The Onda refuge, at 1,431 m, is a sheepfold stop before the long descent to Vizzavona, which splits the GR20 in two. Tent rental, hot showers and a kitchen on site.
Essentials
The essentials
Key facts
- Altitude · 1,431 m
- Distance · km 82.5 from Calenzana
- On the trail · Between Petra Piana and Prati
- Capacity · 28 places + tent rental
- Coordinates · 42.1523, 9.0725
- Management · PNRC · staffed refuge
Book this refuge
Bedding: dorm bunk, PNRC tent or bivouac (subject to availability).
Booking is compulsory on the Park's official system, by date and place. Refuges are staffed from 16 May to 4 October 2026.
A sleeping bag is required (no blankets provided); meals are ordered from the warden, not online.
On the ground
The refuge on the ground
For many hikers it's the last night of the northern half. The next day you drop to Vizzavona and its railway station — a resupply point, a rest, and the symbolic border between the mineral north and the more forested south.
The refuge overlooks a sheepfold set on a small green plateau below Monte d'Oro; the bivouac is by the sheepfold, in an enclosure that keeps the livestock out.
Facilities — indicative, confirm with the warden
Our traverse
Passing through one morning
For us, l'Onda was first of all a decision: on the evening of day 6, after nearly twelve hours out, we stopped at Petra Piana without trying to push on to l'Onda — the legs simply weren't there any more. We passed it the next day, chaining the two official stages to Vizzavona: twenty kilometres where the terrain stays demanding and every climb felt heavier than it should have.
Our diary of that day doesn't dwell on the refuge: our heads were already at the finish — during the descent, Benjamin booked a room in Vizzavona, and that simple prospect changed the whole end of the stage. For many hikers, l'Onda is the last night of the northern half; we preferred to break at Vizzavona, reached at 17h56 after more than eleven hours out. Both approaches make sense.
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