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Guide to Marseilles

France's Busiest City and Most Peaceful Fjords

Sep 3, 2007 Andrea Kirkby

Marseille will host six matches in the Rugby World Cup, including two of the quarter finals. Hang out in the city or head for the coast - there's a lot on offer.

Marseille is an amazing place – and a huge one – and it’s difficult to know where to start. Most tourist guides start with the Cannabiere, the main thoroughfare of the old town, and the old port. There’s still a daily fish market, and lots of places to eat. And although it’s very much laid out for tourists these days, the Cannabiere still retains some of its slightly seedy charm.

But some of Marseille’s most rewarding sights require a rather more intrepid approach.Get out of the centre, learn to use the city’s public transport system, and you’ll find some intriguing sights – as well as great views.

For instance, take bus 22 or 21 from Rond Point du Prado metro station to the ‘Le Corbusier’ stop, and you’ll find Le Corbusier’s ‘Unité d’Habitation’. This epoch making residential development from the 1940s developed Le Corbusier’s ideas on how to create a truly modern city. Though Le Corbusier is often slated for creating concrete jungles, his idea here was to combine industrial scale and efficiency with light and gracious living.

Still, his rational, rather severe architecture continues to divide opinion. The Unité is also known locally as ‘La maison du Fada’ - slang for ‘the lunatic’s house’. Individuals are welcome to visit, though large groups are discouraged.

Forget the idea of Marseille as a typical French port. Instead, look for multicultural buzz. (Nothing new in that – two millennia or more ago you would have seen Phoenicians, Greeks and Etruscans on the streets here.) Take a trip on the metro to Noailles, a district full of Arab and Chinese shops. This is the gritty, vibrant Marseilles you won't see on the Cannabiere. Remember, Marseille is the centre of the French hip-hop scene, as well as the capital of bouillabaisse! Keep an eye out for trouble though; muggings do happen occasionally.

If it’s views you’re after, the easy way is to take the minitrain or bus up to Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde basilica. Slightly harder is the walk up. The church might look Byzantine, but it’s actually nineteenth century – a close cousin of the Sacré Coeur in Paris. Tasteful it isn't – a bigger contrast with Le Corbusier’s work could hardly be imagined.

For a different view of the coast, take the bus to Luminy – the university area of the city – and hike out to the Calanques. These beautiful fjords are connected by well marked hiking paths including a ‘Grand Randonnée’ (long distance walk), with red and white painted flashes to show the way. Take a swimming costume, too; every so often the path comes down from the limestone cliffs to a sandy beach, and the water is still warm even in September.

The copyright of the article Guide to Marseilles in W Europe Travel is owned by Andrea Kirkby. Permission to republish Guide to Marseilles in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.