Travel guide
Everything we tell our guests before they arrive, written down. Practical first, history second, and always from the point of view of someone who lives here and speaks your language.
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The ten places every first visit should include, chosen and photographed by our guides.
The ten places every first visit to Marseille should include, chosen and photographed by local guides: Vieux-Port, Notre-Dame de la Garde, Le Panier, Château d'If, Vallon des Auffes, MuCEM, the Calanques, La Major, the Corniche and Malmousque.
Read the article →Plan your trip
Getting here, moving around, and what to know before you land.
Every way of reaching Marseille compared by people who live here: Marseille Provence airport and its shuttles, the TGV to Saint-Charles, long-distance buses, driving and parking, and the ferries from Corsica.
Read the article →A resident's guide to moving around Marseille: the RTM metro, trams and buses, which tickets to buy, the Le Vélo bike share, the ferry boat across the Vieux-Port, taxis, ride-hailing and when walking is simply better.
Read the article →What to know before you land in Marseille, from people who live here: entry requirements, the best months to come, budgets and payment, how far English gets you, the neighbourhoods, safety and the small habits that make locals warm to you.
Read the article →Boats, transfers and the cruise port
The practical pages people ask us about most, with honest advice and prices where we can give them.
How to get from Marseille Provence Airport (MRS) to the Vieux-Port and the city centre: shuttle bus, train via Vitrolles, taxi, ride-hailing and private transfers, with realistic times, indicative costs and the mistakes to avoid.
Read the article →Private boat rental with a skipper in Marseille, explained by locals: where the boats leave from, how far you can go in three hours or a day, what the National Park allows, what a fair quote includes and the questions to ask before you pay.
Read the article →One day in Marseille from your cruise ship: how the shuttle from the Môle Léon Gourret terminal works, a walking route from La Joliette through La Major, Le Panier, the Vieux-Port and the MuCEM, timings, where to eat and when to head back.
Read the article →Marseille for English speakers
How to enjoy a city that does not always speak your language.
Marseille speaks less English than visitors expect. Here is how to find a guide who really speaks your language, the difference between licensed guides, hosts and shared tours, what to ask before booking and what a private tour should cost.
Read the article →Everything an English-speaking visitor can do in Marseille without struggling with French: museums with English guides and audio, tours and boat trips in English, restaurants that welcome you, bookshops, football, and the phrases that make the rest easy.
Read the article →History and culture
Twenty-six centuries in four readable chapters.
How Greek sailors founded Massalia around 600 BC, why the legend of Gyptis and Protis still matters, how the city grew rich, fell to Caesar and survived the fall of Rome, plus the fun facts our guides tell on every tour.
Read the article →From the revival under the counts of Provence to the Black Death of 1348, the rebuilding by King René, the union with France in 1481, the forts of Louis XIV and the great plague of 1720: a thousand years of Marseille's history in one readable chapter.
Read the article →What Marseille is today: the largest port in France, a university city, the European Capital of Culture of 2013, the home of Olympique de Marseille, and a city that keeps reinventing its old stones, told by guides who live in it.
Read the article →What makes Marseille unlike anywhere else in France: its mix of origins, the accent and the words, religion side by side, the food from bouillabaisse to navettes, the pastis ritual, the santons, the football, and the rhythm of daily life.
Read the article →
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