Things to do in Marseille

Marseille was founded by Greek sailors from Phocaea around 600 BC, which makes it the oldest city in France. The Vieux-Port is still the middle of it. Fish are sold off the quay in the morning.

Around the old port

• Notre-Dame de la Garde. On the highest hill in the city, and visible from very nearly all of it.
• Le Panier. The old quarter behind the north quay, all stairs, washing lines and repainted shutters.
• MuCEM. A black concrete lattice at the harbour mouth, tied by footbridge to the seventeenth-century Fort Saint-Jean.
• Chateau d'If. The island prison of the Count of Monte Cristo, about twenty minutes out by boat.
• The Calanques. White limestone inlets that begin inside the city limits, reached on foot or by boat.

What is worth a guide

Marseille looks chaotic and is not, which is the argument for a guided walk. Le Panier and the old port make sense once someone lays out the layers. Food and drink is its own category here.

• Eating and drinking. Beer tastings, aperitifs built around local produce and live music, and the long argument over who cooks bouillabaisse properly.
• The Calanques. Walked from the edge of town on a panoramic route, or approached by boat from Cassis.
• Provence by the half-day. Aix and Cezanne country, the estates of Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Chateau La Coste, Avignon and its papal palace, all inside two hours.
• Self-guided. Phone routes through the old town for the price of a coffee, which suit a family or a spare afternoon.

A driver does most of the work outside the city, because the wine country sits off the train lines. A private afternoon costs several times a seat in a group. Four people change that arithmetic quickly.

Practical

• The mistral. A dry north wind that can blow for three days, scours the sky clean and cancels boat trips outright.
• Season. Summers are hot and dry, winters mild, and the swimming runs from June into October.
• Bouillabaisse. The real thing is ordered a day ahead and costs upwards of sixty euros a head; a plate of panisses costs about three.
• From the airport. The shuttle bus ends at Saint-Charles station rather than the port, so arrange a car if you are staying by the water.
• Around town. Two metro lines and the trams cover the centre cheaply, but the Calanques need a bus, a boat or your legs.
• Bags. Petty theft is the city's real reputation, so keep them shut on the Canebiere and around the Vieux-Port after dark.