MARSEILLE · FRANCE
Calanques cliffs, port mornings, pastis at five.
The Calanques National Park, the Vieux-Port, day trips to Cassis and Aix-en-Provence, sunset boats across the Frioul. The Mediterranean side of France, on a plate and on the water.
Only in Marseille
Three things you can’t do anywhere else.
Day trips, harbour cruises and walking tours exist in every port city. These three don’t. The national park, the archipelago, the table. Each one is specific to this stretch of the French Mediterranean. Plan the rest of the trip around them.
France's only marine national park
The Calanques.
Mainland France has one marine national park and Marseille's eastern edge is sliced into it. White limestone cliffs drop straight into turquoise inlets too narrow for the big boats. You go in by ferry, on foot, or by kayak. The water colour does not exist anywhere else in mainland Europe.
- 1 Marseille: Calanques National Park Guided Hike with Picnic
- 2 From Marseille: Calanques National Park Guided Hike
- 3 From Marseille: Guided E-Bike Tour to Calanque de Sormiou
Twenty minutes from the quai
The Frioul Islands.
Four sun-bleached limestone islands a short ferry from the Vieux-Port. The Chateau d'If sits on one - the prison that holds The Count of Monte Cristo. The others are bare rock, swimmable coves, and very few people. Central Marseille at breakfast, an empty creek by ten.
- 1 Marseille: Frioul Calanques Sailing Trip
- 2 From Marseille: Frioul Islands Boat Tour
- 3 Marseille: Frioul Islands Sunset Cruise with Cocktail Dinner
Where bouillabaisse was invented
A Provencal table.
Bouillabaisse is a Marseille invention: fishermen's leftover catch turned into a stew the city now defends with a charter. Add Noailles market in the morning, pastis at five, and a Provencal rose that does not travel, and you have lunch the way the South of France actually eats it.
- 1 Marseille Food Tour – Full Meal of Local Tastes by Do Eat Better
- 2 Beyond Bouillabaisse: Diving into Marseille’s Multicultural Stew
- 3 Marseille: No-Diet Club Local Food Tasting and Walking Tour
The first day
Start where Marseille starts.
If you've only got a day in the city, this is where most travellers begin. The single most-popular pick across our Marseille reviews.
The classics
Marseille's Most Popular Tours
Calanques, Vieux-Port, Frioul Islands, Cassis. The tours that pull Marseille's biggest crowds.
By place
Pick a corner of Marseille.
Each place is its own day. The Calanques for limestone cliffs and turquoise inlets. The Vieux-Port for fish markets at dawn. Frioul for empty creeks. Cassis for the harbour town, Aix for the cafe squares, and the Provencal countryside for the lavender.
By activity
Or pick how you want to spend the day.
Catamaran across the Calanques for the postcard. Kayak if you want to land on the creeks. E-bike for city plus coast. Walking tour through the Vieux-Port. Or a Provencal lavender run for the photos.
Coast or country
Two directions out of Marseille.
Marseille is one of the few French cities with the Mediterranean on one side and the Provencal countryside on the other. Pick the kind of day you’re after - we’ll point you at the best of each.
Into the Calanques
The limestone day.
White cliffs dropping into water the colour of a postcard. If we had to pick three boats across the Calanques, these are the ones we’d book first.
When the light goes soft
Marseille's evening shift.
The sun drops behind the Calanques and the port turns pink. Our three favourites for the last hour of daylight on the Mediterranean.
Beyond the city
Cassis, Aix, the lavender fields.
The South of France beyond Marseille's tram lines. Three half-days out we’d send a friend on - coast, town, Provencal countryside.
On two wheels
The e-bike day.
Marseille earned its reputation as a cycling city when the e-bike took the climb out of getting to Sormiou. Three rides that cover the city, the calanques, and a few of the views you’d miss on a tour bus.
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