Marseille, France: A 24-Hour Travel Guide

is marseille worth visitng?

One of the Oldest Port Cities in Europe and France’s Second-Largest City

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marseille vs. Paris

How the French cities differ

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is marseille worth visiting for one day?

Whether or Not Marseille is Worth Visiting, Even If You Only Have One Day

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the marseille in one day travel guide

How We Spent One Full Day in Marseille

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where to stay in marseille

Where We Stayed in Marseille and Other Places to Stay

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how to get to marseille

Accessing Marseille by Plane and Train

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Bonjour

If this is your first time on The Weithouse - welcome! My name is Taylor and I’m the face behind the screen and camera bringing you resources to help you plan the trip of your dreams.

In January of 2022, my husband and I left our home in Atlanta, packed our bags and moved to Paris! We lived in Paris for three years and every day we woke up in disbelief that we got to call this incredible city our home

In this 24 Hours in Marseille travel guide, I’ll share the details of how we spent a day exploring the Mediterranean port city of Marseille in the South of France.

is marseille worth visiting?

France’s second largest city, Marseille sits in the South of France and is one of Europe’s oldest ports, founded around 600 B.C. by the Greeks. Despite often being overshadowed from a tourism perspective by more popular French-city destinations like Paris and Nice, Marseille is a French city bursting with all things French, Mediterranean, history, culture and diversity.

If you have the opportunity, Marseille is definitely worth visiting, especially if you love any of the previously mentioned attributes, or are looking for a sun-drenched port town with all the hustle and bustle a city offers.

paris versus marseille

Not that the two are even comparable, but maybe you are wondering how France’s two largest cities, Paris and Marseille, differ from one another. In French cities like Paris, Lille, Bordeaux and Lyon, you can often find similar atmospheres, with varying architecture and regional cuisine. This is, in my opinion, mostly because French culture is just THAT strong, meaning cities might feel the same, even if they have differences.

Marseille, however, feels much different than the other French cities we had the opportunity to explore during our three years living in France. Where Paris is chic and curated and elevated and dare I say “uppity,” Marseille is wild and grungy and expressive and welcoming. In Marseille, you feel beyond the French culture oozing around you, whereas in Paris you find the most perfected items of all things French. In Marseille you’ll find color and warmth and graffiti covering the city, and in Paris you’ll find opulence and elaborate details and substantially less graffiti.

You’ll have to discover both Paris and Marseille for yourself and see what you think.

is it worth visiting marseille for one day?

If you have the opportunity as part of a larger trip to the South of France or Provence, I absolutely think Marseille is worth visiting, even if you only have one day. After our many travels to Provence, I had always been curious about Marseille (French people have VERY strong opinions about Marseille - both directions), and so in our most recent trip to Provence, we opted to stay two nights in Marseille to finally get a taste of the city for ourselves.

24-hours in marseille

Despite having two nights in Marseille, we really just had one full day to explore the city. We stayed in Marseille at the end of our 9 nights in the Luberon region of Provence, and would be taking the train from Marseille to Paris.

This Marseille in one day guide is by no means a comprehensive travel guide to Marseille. We were traveling with our 12-month old, which meant we were a bit limited on how much we could push ourselves. Even if you’re traveling solo or baby-free, it would be very challenging to see all that Marseille has to offer in one day.

Nonetheless, if you only have 24-hours in Marseille, you do have the opportunity to get a salty taste of all this diverse city has to offer, and the remainder of this guide will outline how we spent our one full day in Marseille.

BEgin your day in marseille with CLASSIC FRENCH PASTRIES

To kick off your 24-hours in Marseille, you should start as you should exploring any French city: with French pastries and coffee. Marseille is scattered with coffee shops and boulangeries where you can find all of the classic French treats like croissants and pain au chocolats.

We opted for morning pastries and coffee from La Bakery Deia in the 1st arrondissement near the Old Port of Marseille. If you need a full breakfast option, you can get breakfast and brunch from the connecting restaurant: Deia Coffee & Kitchen.

EXPLORE THE vieux port or old port of marseille

After your croissants and coffee, head to the Vieux Port or Old Port of Marseille, which is the heart of Marseille and is still bursting with sea faring activity. In the mornings, you can find fisherman selling their morning catch and some other market goods. The morning we visited there was what seemed like a sail boat race happening and we got to see a mini sailboat parade as we wandered through the fish stands.

purchase traditional marseille soap (savon de marseille)

All around the Old Port of Marseille are shops selling the traditional French soap of Marseille. You’ve likely seen these soaps, even internationally, as they have become very popular in recent years. Distinguished by their various shades of green and cube shape, the soaps are made from 100% vegetable oils and contain no perfumes, dyes or preservatives. The soap seems to have endless uses and is great for both your skin and for laundry stains.

WANDER THROUGH marseille’s oldest neighborhood:LE PANIER

Just a short walk from the Old Port of Marseille is Marseille’s oldest neighborhood, Le Panier. Le Panier is where the original inhabitants of Marseille lived and not only is it Marseille’s oldest neighborhood, but it’s also one of the oldest neighborhoods in France.

Walking through Le Panier today looks like climbing stairs and hills lined with stunning examples of graffiti, bougainvillea, various shops and restaurants and many residential homes. I could have spent a few hours just wandering through the streets and photographing the graffiti and facades in Le Panier.

If you’re interested in getting a more in-depth experience of Le Panier, I would recommend booking this highly rated walking tour of Marseille, which includes the Le Panier neighborhood.

FROM LE PANIER - WALK TO Cathédrale La Major Marseille

If you’re already in Le Panier neighborhood or near the Old Port of Marseille, you can easily walk to the stunning Cathédrale La Major Marseille. A less famous cathedral than Marseille’s Notre-Dame de la Garde, Cathédrale La Major is an 1800s neo-Byzantine church with an intricate interior of marble and mosaics (more similar to the interiors of Italian cathedrals).

Cathédrale La Major Marseille is free to enter.

VISIT MUCEM and fort saint-jean

Steps from Cathédrale La Major is Marseille’s MUCEM: Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations. The MUCEM is perched on the edge of the Old Port of Marseille and houses both permanent and temporary exhibits that can all be visited under one purchased ticket. We opted not to visit any exhibits but headed straight to the rooftop cafe to grab a bite to eat.

From the MUCEM rooftop, you can walk across the water to Fort Saint-Jean and wander around the old fort while soaking in views of the Mediterranean and Marseille. MUCEM would be a great spot to visit on a hot day to beat the heat or on a rainy day for shelter.

You can book tickets to MUCEM here.

try the local cuisine of marseille and don’t forget ice cream

To end your full day of exploration in Marseille, try any of the, diverse cuisines available throughout the city and don’t forget to end with ice cream! Unfortunately we did not have time to eat all of the cuisine Marseille has to offer, but we did have amazing Syrian cuisine the first night for dinner at Brasserie Daymé L'Opéra and feel good pizza the second night from La Bella Pizza.

For unique flavored ice cream near the Old Port of Marseille, try Ciao Amore or Glacerie La Cigale.

Restaurants I had saved to try but were either closed or didn’t make sense with the baby are:

• Pizzeria chez Jeannot

• Dailycat

• ZinZin

• Ourea

• Piou

• Moune

• Lion Bonjour

things we want to see next time

Of course, there is substantially more to see in Marseille than what we saw during our 24-hours in the city. We did everything by foot because of the baby, but there is a lot to see outside the main city center accessible via public transport.

Below are some other things to do and see in Marseille that we didn’t have time for (or wouldn’t have been easy with our 12-month old):

• Calanques National Park: Visiting Calanques National Park in the South of France was top of my list, but it didn’t seem too feasible to take our 12-month old on a half-day boat tour in the heat. However, you should absolutely do this and can book Marseille boat tours to the Calanques on GetYourGuide, like this highly rated one.

• Marseille Beaches: There are a handful of beaches in Marseille you can access via public transport, and two I had saved are Plage de Malmousque and Calanques des Goudes.

• Marseille Islands: Off the coast of Marseille are a handful of islands, such as the Friuli Islands, Le Château d'If and the Riou archipelago. You can also book a boat tour to these islands, such as this sunset tour to the Friuli islands with a cocktail dinner.

• Palais Longchamp: Located in the 4th arrondissement, a beautiful garden that houses two museums.

• The Cité Radieuse of Corbusier: For the architecture lovers, located in the 8th arrondissement of Marseille, The Cité Radieuse of Corbusier is a post World War II housing design in response to the housing crisis.

Where to Stay in Marseille

Marseille has no shortage of interesting, design forward properties to accommodate you during your visit to the city (whether for one day or longer)! The arrondissements of Marseille can be a bit spread out, meaning you’ll want to pick your property based on how easily you want to walk or how willing you are to take public transportation.

With the baby, I wanted to be as centrally located as possible, so we booked the below property in Marseille’s city center. The accomodation was a breath of modern fresh air (after our more rustic stay in Provence) and is a great option if you do happen to be traveling with a baby (as it provides a travel crib and a high chairs.

If this doesn’t fit your travel needs, you can see other Airbnbs we were eyeing for our travels in this post.

If you prefer to stay in a hotel versus an Airbnb when you travel, here are a few Marseille hotels that we selected for our curated list of hotels in the French Riviera.

casa YOUM

A great hotel in Marseille if you want a child-free experience, a small format setting (only three rooms), and views overlooking the bay of Marseille in an 1870s house.

tuba club marseille

A hotel option in Marseille if you want a luxury experience, away from the hustle and bustle of the city and with immediate access to the water from the hotel’s property.

how to get to marseille

The main reason for our visit to Marseille was to take the train from Marseille back to Paris after our travels to Provence. Marseille is also the airport we flew into from Amsterdam to access Provence, so if you’re headed to the Provence region you might be near Marseille just due to logistics.

Flying to Marseille: Marseille has an international airport: Marseille Provence Airport. There are currently no direct flights from the United States to Marseille, however you can reach Marseille from major European cities like Paris, London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

Taking the Train to Marseille: Marseille Saint-Charles is the train station in the center of Marseille, and can be reached from major cities in France such as Paris, Lyon and Nice. You can also take the train to Marseille from the major train stations in Provence: Avignon, Arles and Aix-en-Provence.

STICK AROUND FOR A WHILE

Need help planning the rest of your trip to the South of France?

If you’re planning a larger trip through the South of France, be sure to check out this section of our website that includes information on all the South of France destinations we’ve had the opportunity to explore.

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