UpToWhere
UpToWhere Can you see it?

Can you see Monte Cinto, Corsica from Nice (Castle Hill)?

Yes, you can

200 km line of sight toward the southeast (bearing 137°), computed on 30 m Copernicus terrain with Earth curvature and standard atmospheric refraction.

The answer

Yes. Monte Cinto, Corsica is visible from Nice across 200 km, looking down: Earth's curvature drops the target 2,717 m, leaving its top 137 m below eye level and still clear of the ground in between.

On crisp winter mornings the mountains of Corsica seem to float above the sea off the Côte d'Azur. It looks like a mirage. But is the island really within line of sight of Nice?

3D terrain view from Nice (Castle Hill) toward Monte Cinto, Corsica
Straight-line distance200 km
Direction137° southeast
Observer eye level90 m
Target elevation2,669 m
Curvature drop at the target2,717 m
Below your eye level137 m

From Nice (Castle Hill), at an eye level of 90 m, the sightline to Monte Cinto, Corsica runs 200 km and clears every ridge in between. Over that distance Earth's curvature drops the target 2,717 m below a flat-earth line, but at 2,669 m, it still rises above the horizon. The view is geometrically real: whether you actually get it depends on haze, not terrain.

The line on the map

Satellite map with the sightline from Nice (Castle Hill) to Monte Cinto, Corsica drawn in red
The 200 km sightline over satellite imagery, drawn as the great-circle path light would follow.

The terrain profile

0 m2,000 m4,000 m sea level (curved) sightlineNiceMonte Cinto 0 km200 km50100150
Elevation profile from Nice (Castle Hill) to Monte Cinto, Corsica. Like every elevation profile, the vertical axis is stretched (≈15× here), but the geometry is real: mid-path, Earth's surface genuinely stands 781 m above the straight line between the two points (the dashed arc is sea level). Light bends only slightly around that bulge, so whatever it covers stays hidden.
Check your own two points with the calculator →

Frequently asked questions

Can you see Monte Cinto, Corsica from Nice (Castle Hill)?

Yes. The terrain-limited line of sight is clear across 200 km, accounting for Earth's curvature and standard atmospheric refraction. Atmospheric haze is the only thing that can hide the view.

How far is Monte Cinto, Corsica from Nice (Castle Hill) in a straight line?

200 km great-circle distance, on a bearing of 137° (southeast).

How much does Earth's curvature hide over 200 km?

At the target's distance the curvature drop is about 2,717 m: anything lower than that (relative to the observer's horizon plane) is hidden behind the bulge of the Earth. Monte Cinto, Corsica is tall enough to rise above it.

How was this calculated?

UpToWhere walks the full terrain profile between the two points on 30 m-resolution Copernicus GLO-30 elevation data, applying Earth curvature and standard atmospheric refraction (k = 0.13), the same physics surveyors use. You can run the same point-to-point check between any two places on Earth.

More famous sightlines

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