Things To Do in Marseille

Immerse yourself in local life with a wander through Marseille’s busy streets, including along the famous La Canebière. Lined with hotels, shops, and restaurants, it used to be a very seedy street indeed, saturated with sailors from every nation. With Marseille’s ongoing urban regeneration, however, it is rapidly becoming the heart and soul of the city.

La Canebière joins the Vieux Port, dominated at its western end by the massive neoclassical forts of St-Jean and St-Nicolas. The harbor is filled with fishing craft and yachts and ringed by seafood restaurants. For a panoramic view, head to the Jardin du Pharo, a promontory facing the entrance to the Vieux-Port. From the terrace of the Château du Pharo, built by Napoleon III, you can clearly see the city’s old and new cathedrals, as well as the recently redeveloped docklands, now the Cité de la Méditerranée, which includes Fort Saint-Jean and the architectural wonder that is MuCEM (Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations).

North of the old port is Le Panier, Marseille’s Old Town. Small boutiques and designer ateliers now populate these once-sketchy streets. To the south, the corniche Président-J.-F.-Kennedy is a 4km (2 1/2-mile) promenade. You’ll pass villas and gardens facing the Mediterranean, before reaching the popular Plages du Prado. Patrolled by lifeguards in the summer, these spacious, sandy beaches have children's playgrounds, sun loungers, and waterside cafes. Serious hikers can continue south of here into the Parc National des Calanques, a national park. This series of stunning limestone cliffs, fjords, and rocky promontories stretches along the coast for 20km (12 miles) southeast of Marseille all the way to the resort of Cassis.

Organized Tours

One of the easiest ways to see Marseille’s centrally located monuments is aboard the fleet of open-top Le Grand Tour Buses (www.marseillelegrandtour.com; Métro: Vieux-Port). You can hop off at any of 13 different stops en route and back on to the next bus in the day’s sequence, usually arriving between 1 and 2 hours later, depending on the season. The buses run four to eight times a day during each month except January. A 1-day pass costs 22€ adults; the fare for children ages 4 to 11 is 8€. Two-day passes are also available for just a few euros more.

The motorized Trains Touristiques de Marseille (www.petit-train-marseille.com; tel. 04-91-25-24-69; Métro: Vieux-Port), or petit-trains, make circuits around town too. Year-round, train no. 1 drives a 75-minute round-trip to Basilique Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde and Basilique St-Victor. From April to mid-November, train no. 2 makes a 65-minute round-trip of old Marseille by way of the cathedral, Vieille Charité, and the Quartier du Panier. Both trains make a 30-minute stop for sightseeing en route. The trains depart from the quay just west of the Hôtel de Ville. The fare for both trains is 1 is 9€ adults and 5€ children.

Marseille’s Office de Tourisme offers two bilingual tours of the city center. The first explores the Vieux Port and Le Panier (included with purchase of a City Pass). The second meanders its way around cours Julien’s contemporary art galleries and street art (1 Sat per month at 3:30pm; 10€). In 2014, the Office de Tourisme also began leading bilingual guided tours of Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse, site of Hôtel le Corbusier. Taking place from Tuesday to Saturday at 2:30pm and 4:30pm, tours cost 10€ per person and can be reserved through the tourist office. Private walking tours of the city’s historic, architectural, and foodie hotspots are run by the supremely well-informed Benedicte Sire, whose Urban Walks (www.urbanwalks.eu) cost from 35€ per person.

Boat tours to the Parc National des Calanques are popular. Many tour operators with different prices and formulas (for example, three Calanques in 2 hr./22€, or eight in 3 hr./32€) can be found on the quai des Belges at the Vieux-Port.

Airbnb/Experiences offers its usual range of locally-run Marseille experiences including food tasting, urban walking tours, and becoming a bartender in a hip club.

Outlying Attractions

You can take a 25-min. ferry ride to the Château d’If (if.monuments-nationaux.fr), a national monument built by François I as a fortress to defend Marseille. Alexandre Dumas used it as a setting for the fictional adventures of “The Count of Monte Cristo.” The château is open October to March 10.30am to 5pm (closed Monday); April to September daily 10.30am to 6pm. Entrance to the island is 6€ adults, free for children 17 and under. Boats leave approximately every 45 to 60 min., depending on the season; the round-trip transfer is 10.80€. For information, contact the Frioul If Express (www.frioul-if-express.com; tel. 04-96-11-03-50; Métro: Vieux-Port).

North of Marseille proper, L’Estaque was once a picturesque seaside village (although it now looks out over the city’s more urban skyline). It was painted by Provence’s artistic greats—including Cézanne, Renoir, and Braque—between the 1860s and 1920s. Today, visitors can tread these legendary footsteps and easel sites, following the “Painters’ Path” signposted around town (strolling time around 2 hr.). L’Estaque’s seafront stalls sell popular local snacks, including chichi frégi (sugar-topped fritters flavored with orange blossom water) and panisses (savory chickpea flour fritters). You can reach L’Estaque via bus no. 35 from Marseille’s place de la Joliette (journey time around 30 min). Between April and September, navette ferry service runs from the Vieux Port to L’Estaque for 5€ (journey time 40 min.).

Only Paris and the French Riviera can compete with Marseille for its breadth and diversity of merchandise. Your best bet is a trip to the streets just southeast of the Vieux-Port, crowded with stores of all kinds.

Rue Paradis and rue Saint Ferréol have many of the same upscale fashion boutiques found in Paris, as well as a Galeries Lafayette, France’s largest chain department store. For more bohemian wear, try cours Julien and rue de la Tour for richly brocaded and beaded items on offer in North African boutiques.

Rue Paradis and rue Saint Ferréol have many of the same upscale fashion boutiques found in Paris, as well as a Galeries Lafayette, France’s largest chain department store. For more bohemian wear, try cours Julien and rue de la Tour for richly brocaded and beaded items on offer in North African boutiques. Le Panier is now home to a vibrant range of unique boutiques. Try ceramics store with adjoining restaurant Ahwash Concept Store, 56 rue de Lorette (tel. 04-91-44-04-60), or Les Baigneuses, 3 rue de l’Eveche (www.lesbaigneuses.com; tel. 09-52-68-67-64), which sells a gorgeous range of retro-styled swimwear.

For unique souvenirs, head to Ateliers Marcel Carbonel, 49 rue Neuve-Ste-Catherine (www.santonsmarcelcarbonel.com; tel. 04-91-13-61-36). This 80-year-old business specializes in santons, clay figurines meant for Christmas nativities. In addition to personalities you may already know, the carefully crafted pieces depict Provençal common folk such as bakers, blacksmiths, and milkmaids. The figurines sell for around 12.60€ and up.

Navettes, small cookies that resemble boats, are a Marseillaise specialty. Flavored with secret ingredients that include orange zest and orange flower water, they were invented in 1791 and are still sold at Le Four des Navettes, 136 rue Sainte (www.fourdesnavettes.com; tel. 04-91-33-32-12), for around 10€ per dozen.

One of the region’s most authentic fish markets at Quai des Belges (daily 8am–1pm), on the old port, is partially sheltered under the new Norman Foster–designed Ombrière mirrored canopy. On cours Julien, you’ll find a market with fruits, vegetables, and other foods (Tues, Thurs, and Sat 8am–1pm); exclusively organic produce (Wed 8am–1pm); stamps (Sun 8am–1pm); and secondhand goods (3rd Sun of the month 8am–1pm). The cheapest buys are in the photogenic Noailles neighborhood (see above), where stores of 50 nationalities from Algerian to Vietnamese vend spices, spring rolls, jewelry, and homeware. Noailles is also where Maison Empreur (4 rue des Récolettes; https://empereur.fr) has been selling home goods since 1827, making it one of the oldest stores in France. Along with every kitchen gadget known to man, there’s a smelling room for rare perfumes, an array of Provencal clothing and décor, and an entire room devoted to the finest of the soaps manufactured in Marseille.

For an amusing and relatively harmless exposure to the town’s saltiness, walk around the Vieux-Port, where cafes and restaurants angle their sightlines for the best views of the harbor.

L’Escale Borély, avenue Pierre Mendès France, is a recreational beach spot 20 min. south of the town center (take bus no. 83). With a dozen animated bars and cafés, plus restaurants of every possible ethnicity, you’ll be spoiled for choice until late into the evening if you wish. For more local drinking and dining, at cheaper prices, hit the homey suburb of La Camas (ride the tram to Camas or Eugène Pierre).

What beats a rooftop party? R2 Rooftop des Terrasses, 9 Quai du Lazaret (www.lerooftopdesterrasses.com; tel. 04-91-91-79-39; Métro: Joliette), booms from sundown most summer nights. Ride the 4th floor elevator to Les Réformes, 125 La Canebière (www.lesreformes.com; tel. 09-71-16-35-90; Métro: Réformés Canebière), is a bar-restaurant that lords it over the Canebière boulevard.

Marseille’s dance clubs are habitually packed out, especially Trolley Bus, 24 quai de Rive-Neuve (www.letrolley.com; tel. 04-91-54-30-45; Métro: Vieux-Port), known for techno, house, hip-hop, jazz, and salsa. Equally buzzing is Chez Pablo, 23 rue Saint-Saëns (tel. 06-47-08-44-78; Métro: Vieux-Port), where DJs spin electro, pop, and house music classics. The Bounce, 35 cr. Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves (tel. 06-13-35-12-06; Métro: Vieux-Port), hops until dawn with dancehall and latin tunes every Friday through Sunday from midnight until 5am.

For jazz right on the port, head to La Caravelle, 34 quai du Port (www.lacaravelle-marseille.com; tel. 04-91-90-36-64; Métro: Vieux-Port), an aperitif bar and dinner club that serves a different flavor almost every night, including manouche, the French gypsy style most associated with guitarist Django Reinhardt.