ksm

We are flying out of the Marseille airport early Wednesday morning, so we are going to spend the night in a hotel close to the airport Tuesday night. So we will have Tuesday during the day for an activity "near" the airport. We will have a rental car but I do not think we want to drive into Marseille and have to deal with parking for just a few hours time. I think I am more interested in just finding a place to have lunch on/near the water that is not "too" far from the airport (maybe less than 30-40 minutes).

The other thought is to try to catch a boat to tour the Calanques.

At any rate, does anyone have any good suggestions?

Thanks for the help

Christina

Do you know where the Calanques are? They are on the opposite side of the city as the airport. How would you get there? You said you didn't want to drive into Marseille. It would be easier to drive to Aix-en-Provence from the airport than Cassis, it would only take about half the time (around 30 minutes).

You could look into Martigues which is probalby about a 30 minute drive, to the west on the lake.
https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-b...tigues-france/

I don't know much about the places on the north, like Berre d'Etang, but I think it's kind of industrial around there.

ksm

Thank you, Christina. I knew you could get to the Calanques from Cassis but thought you might be able to get a boat from another location to get to them. I did not do any research before I posted, so thanks for the info. I will have to save that for the next time.

Aix-en-Provence is a good suggestions, but we already spent two days there (and loved it).

Thought about Martigues also and that might be the best bet. Any recommendations for a good place for lunch there?

Also doing a search in this forum I see Vieux Port as a suggestion. It looks like only about a 35 minute drive, but can you go around the city to get there or do you drive through? How safe is this area? (we will drop off our luggage at the hotel so will not have anything in the car)

Always appreciate the help

yestravel

Vieux Port is in Marseille. There are parking garages quite nearby. We spent 4 days in Marseille and felt safe. We got our rental car in Marseille and left it overnight in a garage with no problems.

As I understand there is a bus and train you can take from MRS to Marseille and then the strong which has a stop at the port. I'm sure your hotel can give you instructions.

Boats from the Old Port go to the Calcanques.

Aix is nice but parking and traffic is a pain. Check to see if there is a train or shuttle from the airport.

ksm

Ended up going to Carry-le-Rouet. They have a wonderful trail right along the sea that we walked to La Cale to have lunch with a wonderful view of the water (food was only OK, but I was more interested in the view for this lunch). So exactly the kind of afternoon outing from the airport that I was looking for.

Thanks for the help