City of Marseille

Marseille is the second most populated city of France, the biggest Mediterranean port. Marseille has a complex history. It was founded by the Phoceans in 600 B.C. and is one of the oldest cities in Europe. The town is a far cry from the Cezanne paintings and Provencal cliches of sleepy villages, “pétanque” players and Marcel Pagnol novels.

Marseille tourism website
Government website

Basic tourist information

With around one million inhabitants, Marseille is the second largest city in France. Its population is a real melting pot of different cultures. Forget the Canebière, forget the “savon de Marseille” (Marseille soap), forget the clichés, and just have a ride from l’Estaque (map) to Les Goudes (map). You will not forget it.

The city’s main thoroughfare (the wide boulevard called the Canebière, map) stretches eastward from the Old Port to the Réformés quarter. The centre of Marseille has several pedestrianised zones, most notably Rue St Ferréol (map), Cours Julien (map) near the Music Conservatory, the Cours Honoré-d’Estienne-d’Orves (map) off the Old Port and the area around the Hôtel de Ville (map).

Most of the attractions of Marseille (including shopping areas) are located in the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th arrondissements.

Vieux Port (old harbour, map). Watching fishermen selling their stock by auction is a must. Arriving into Marseille in the Vieux-Port on a summer evening is something you will never forget. There is also a nice view on the harbour from the Palais du Pharo (Pharo Palace, map).

Basilique Notre Dame de la Garde (map). The big church which overlooks the city. Old fishermen used to have their boats blessed in this church. From there it is one of the nicest view of the city. You can use the tourist train (petit-train-marseille.com) from the Vieux Port to reach the church – you can get off the train, look around and board a later train back to the port.

Le Panier (Marseille’s old town, map). The old town can be easily accessed from the Vieux Port. Le Panier (which means basket in French) is the historical centre of the city. This district is characterized by many narrow and steep streets.

Noailles quarter (metro Noailles, map). Lined with Arabic and Indo-Chinese shops some of the streets could be part of a bazzaar in Algeria. A fascinating area.

*Palais Longchamp (map). It houses the city’s Musée des Beaux-Arts and Natural History Museum. The surrounding park (the Parc Longchamp) is listed by the French Ministry of Culture as one of the Notable Gardens of France.

Fort Saint-Jean (map) is a fortification at the North-Western end of the Old Port, built in 1660 by Louis XIV. The fort also hosts the Museum “Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée”.

The Calanques (Parc national des Calanques, map). The Calanques are a series of miniature fjords to the south of Marseille near Cassis. The ‘fjords’ are amazing with wonderful blue sea and spectacular lime stone cliffs. The walk along the coast from Cassis to Marseille is spectacular, it can be done in one day at a fast pace. The trail (GR 98) is clearly marked (red and white strips).

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Regions & Cities of France

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::: Source: www.ezilon.com

The *French Riviera (Côte d’Azur, map), in southeastern France, is the second leading tourist destination in the country, after the Parisian region. Main cities on the French Riviera include Nice (map), Antibes (map) and Cannes (map); Cap Ferrat (map) is also a popular destination.

Provence – numerous famous natural sites can be found in the region, as the Gorges du Verdon (map), the Camargue (map), the Calanques National Park (map) and the typical landscape of *Luberon.

Loire Valley – This World Heritage Site is noteworthy for the quality of its architectural heritage, in its historic towns such as Amboise (map), Angers (map), Blois (map), *Chinon (map), *Orléans (map), and Saumur (map) >> +*Châteaux of the Loire Valley)

French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (map) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regions. Notable towns in the French Alps include Grenoble (map), Chamonix (map), Annecy (map) is called “the Venice of Savoie”, Chambéry (map), Évian-les-Bains (map) and Albertville (map).

Corsica – is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea after Sicily, Sardinia and Cyprus. It is a popular attraction for tourists with both cultural aspects (cities *Ajaccio and *Bastia) and geographical features (Parc naturel régional de Corse, map).

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes / adm. center Lyon
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté / adm. center DijonBesançon
Brittany / adm. center Rennes
Centre-Val de Loire / adm. center Orléans
Corsica / adm. center Ajaccio
Île-de-France / adm. center Paris
Normandy / adm. center CaenRouen
Nouvelle-Aquitaine / adm. center Bordeaux
Occitanie / adm. center Toulouse
Pays de la Loire / adm. center Nantes
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur / adm. center Marseille
Alsace / adm. center Strasbourg
Champagne-Ardenne / Châlons-en-Champagne
Lorraine / adm. center Metz
Hauts-de-France
Nord-Pas-de-Calais / adm. center Lille
Picardy / adm. center Amiens

For the most up-to-date information, see the official tourist resources.

Transport around Marseille

The Régie des Transports de Métropolitains (RTM) – public transport network.

The Pilote website, includes all the bus, tram and metro schedules but is easier to read than the RTM sites.

Public transport (parisinfo.com) • Getting to France (uk.france.fr)

Eurolines has many connections all over Europe. From Marseille there are at least direct connections to BarcelonaPrague and *Tangier.

sobus.travel — sells bus tickets for all the bus companies.

The Noctilien (Map of Noctilien) is a night bus service that operates in Paris and the Paris region from 12.30am to 5.30am. OuibusIsilinesFlixBusEurolinesMegabus >> (*Intercity buses in France)

Marseille sees TGV trains from Paris (3 hours) via Lyon (1hr 45min), Nice (2 hours) and from Brussels (5 hours).

From Spain, there are daily AVE (renfe-sncf.com) service operated by a joint venture of the French and Spanish railway companies from Barcelona (4½ hours), and Madrid (8 hours).

Trains are a great way to get around in France. For regional trains, schedules can be found at ter.sncf.com. You can get from pretty much anywhere to anywhere else by train.

For long distances, use the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse, or High-speed train) on which reservations are obligatory. TGVThelloOuigo. + RailEurope • EurostarThalysizy (Paris-Brussels) • TGV Lyria (Switzerland) • DB (Germany) • RENFE (Barcelona) >> *Rail travel in France

Several weekends throughout the year in France are known as ‘Black Saturday’ (Samedi noir) because of the start or end of school holidays and the coinciding traffic jams on French roads caused by thousands of tourists travelling to and from their holiday destinations. When possible it is wise to avoid these days. For traffic reports, see the website of the French traffic service.

⇒ Driving in France (wikivoyage)

Marseille-Provence International Airport (map), about 30 km from Marseille. Buses, taxis and now train connect in less than 30 minutes.

aeroport.fr – list of airports in France. / parisaeroport.fr – Paris airport information.

There are direct daily services to Marseille from Ajaccio, Bastia, Porto Torres, Porto-Vecchio, and Propriano as well as ferries traversing the Mediterranean from Oran and Algiers in Algeria, usually with one or two crossings per week. There are several piers at the harbour, so it is advisable to check well in advance from which pier you are departing.

Brittany FerriesP&O FerriesDFDS Seaways

England ⇔ France:

  • P&O Ferries – operate freight and passenger services from Dover to Calais.
  • DFDS Seaways – operate freight and passenger services from Dover to Dunkirk.
  • LD Lines – operate freight and passenger services from Portsmouth to Le Havre.
  • Brittany Ferries – operate freight and passenger services from Portsmouth to Caen, Cherbourg, andSt Malo, from Poole to Cherbourg and from Plymouth to Roscoff.
  • Condor Ferries – operate freight and passenger services from Portsmouth to Cherbourg, Poole to St Malo and Weymouth to St Malo.

Ireland ⇔ France:

  • Brittany Ferries – operate ferry services from Cork to Roscoff.
  • Celtic Link Ferries – operate ferry services from Rosslare to Cherbourg.
  • Irish Ferries – operate ferry services from Rosslare to Cherbourg and from Rosslare to Roscoff.

Video source: Ultimate Bucket List

Links to additional resources with useful information for planning your trip.