Marseille, France
For us, on this trip at least, Marseille functioned primarily as our departure point at the end of our Provence vacation. We had a lovely 24 hours there, and found we could have easily stayed another day or two with plenty to entertain us. We’ll save that for next time!
After dropping off our car and checking into the sleek and modern C2 Hotel (we had a spacious, all-white room with large windows, and the hotel had a neat cocktail bar), we set-out on foot to explore the city. From the hotel we wandered towards Le Vieux Port (The Old Port) which is at the heart of central Marseille, and where it seems most of the tourists hang out. One discovery on our walk was a store called, plainly, The Shop. This tiny place had nice home furnishings and fun tchotchkes. We scored a number of gifts for the family — and at least one or two for ourselves.
The picturesque Harbor is surrounded by restaurants (primarily seafood, of course) and anchored by a Ferris wheel (which, as you’d expect, we skipped). At the tip of the Harbor is the shiny and new(ish) MuCEM (Museum of Civilizations of Europe and The Mediterranean), which is attached by a bridge to the pleasant (and also run by the MuCEM) Place D’Arms/Fort Saint Jean. The Fort has a very nice rooftop with cool sculptures, and lots of pleasant seating areas where you can sit and have a snack while looking out over the water. The unexpectedly modern design of MuCEM with its black steel latticework nicely contrasts with its surroundings. While we were there, we watched some locals dive from the building’s perimeter into the harbor for a swim on a warm day.
Marseille has a bit of an arty, funky vibe and is a good place for wandering. We came across lots of fun and graphic street art. Next visit we’ll explore all the various neighborhoods (see suggested listed below).
We did get out to Pointe Rouge where we had a yummy Thai dinner at P. Kitchen (formerly Pascal’s Kitchen) while the sun set over the beach. It was a lovely way to end our trip to France.
*This was part of a 13-night trip to France. To see our complete France trip itinerary click here.
The Gimlet Traveler Rundown:
All ratings are based on our experience and are on a 5-star rating system (see Site Info for more details). For mapped locations and links to the places listed here (and more) visit Google Map at bottom of page.
Gimlets: ****
We only spent one night here, so we weren’t able to explore too much. We were lucky enough to have a fab little bar in the C2 Hotel where we stayed and a cool bartender who made us delicious gimlets — those get the four stars. I had found one other appealing-looking cocktail bar (which also served food), Bar Gaspard, but we didn’t get a chance to check it out. I’m sure there are a cocktail bar or two hidden away that we just didn’t have time to find, as the city definitely has its hip and edgy neighborhoods.Restaurants: ****
We had a pleasant lunch on the harbor, where David got to dig into some good mussels (not my thing — I had a burger). It’s a very scenic area and there are dozens of restaurants (primarily seafood, natch) circling the harbor to choose from. For dinner, we took an Uber over to the beach at Pointe Rouge for a bit of Thai food at Pascal’s Kitchen (now called P. Kitchen it seems). The food and drink were good. We also met Pascal who was a lovely host (he treated us to a sampling of flavored vodka shots), but the stand-out was the view. We were seated at a table looking directly out at the beach and in full view of a gorgeous sunset. If you go, ask for a table with a view (which probably means going early).Sights: ***
In our limited time we chose to walk down to the Port of Marseille, which lies at the center of the city (and also seems to be the “tourist center”). There you’ll find the new and very modern MuCEM (Museum of Civilizations of Europe and The Mediterranean), which is connected by a long bridge (a slight challenge for this heights-adversed traveler) to the Place D’Arms/Fort Saint Jean (also part of MuCEM). Both are situated on the tip of the harbor as it opens into the sea. The latter has a roof deck with some cool sculptures and seating areas where you can hang out and have some lunch, even if you don’t feel like visiting the museum itself. We didn’t have time to really explore other neighborhoods, but there seems to be many interesting worth visiting: Panier (winding streets and old buildings), Notre Dame du Mont (rough and edgy, but supposed to have lots of cafes, bars, interesting restaurants and shops), and Cinq Avenues (home to the Palais Longchamp, with its pretty architecture and the Musee des Beaux Arts and the Natural History Museum).Shopping: ***
We happened to walk past one very cute home design shop on our way from the C2 Hotel to the Port. It is called, simply, The Shop. It’s small, but packed with stylish goods. We brought home a set of three small diamond-shaped modern mirrors (that we still haven’t figure out what to do with), as well as a couple of gifts for David’s family. There were some more tourist-oriented shops in the Port area. There is also a new shopping mall called Les Terrasses Du Port with high-end shops and a rooftop restaurant that overlooks the water. Unfortunately, we did not get to the interior neighborhoods (like Panier, or Notre-Dame-du-Mont mentioned above) that might have had more interesting boutiques/cafes/bars. If we had, Marseille may have scored higher.
Review of C2 Hotel Rating: *****
We only spent one night at the end of our Provence vacation at this hotel, but would happily have spent more. Intimate, quiet, chic and modernist in design, it is a great little boutique hotel with terrific service and a location that's close to the action at the harbor, but just far enough outside of it to feel like a quiet refuge. Definitely a great pick if your travels are taking you to Marseille. They also have a nice spa on the lower level (of which we did not partake because of our limited time). The only thing missing here is a restaurant (they do offer a basic breakfast for an extra charge), but there are probably hundreds of them within walking distance and we enjoyed their lovely bar for pre-dinner cocktails.
Date of stay: July 2017
Second Choice Hotels:
•The Intercontinental Marseille is perched on a hill, and has a more formal feel, with a couple of upscale restaurants and a nice cocktail bar.
•If you want something more young/hip/trendy, try the Mama Shelter Marseille, which has a more social feel.
Below is a map of hotels, restaurants, bars, shopping and sights found during our research. We didn’t have time to visit all of them during our trip, but all were of interest. Click on the icon at top left of the map to view the legend. Or you can click on the full-screen icon at top right to expand, which will also bring up the legend.
