I think I'm going to be in Marseille next summer for a few days and then I want to rent a car to tour Provence some. Since I'll be staying right near Vieux Port most likely, or around there, I was thinking of renting a car at the main rail station, it seems the closest spot. I know Marseille is a very big city and wondered if it will be fairly straightforward to drive from the rail station out of town, probably going up the A7 (route de soleil?). Anyone have a feeling or experience with this? I just don't want to go all the way out to the airport to get a rental car (I have driven from that airport to Aix, and that is easy).

Christina -

I've driven in and out of Marseille so many times that I don't even think about it now, so maybe I'm not the best person to answer. But that being said, there is a feeder road off the highway system which starts right in the heart of Marseille. It's about a 5 minute drive from the Gare St. Charles and 10 minutes from the Vieux Port. It's well sign-posted, but in a big city, spotting the signs isn't always obvious.

I'm sure you'd do fine and I'd imagine at the rental place they can give you detailed directions to get you out of town.

An alternative if you really don't want to deal with Marseille is to take the shuttle train to Aix and then rent your car there (the rental car places are just across from the station). Not that Aix is any easier to drive around but it's smaller and so maybe less intimidating...

-Kevin

I drive to and through Marseille a few times per year.

Driving is straight forward, but can be busy in the rush hours. Autoroutes are well signed and there is a tunnel/bridge link into the autoroute system at the ocean end of the Vieux Port.

If your hotel doesn't have parking there is a large (and quite cheap) underground park signposted from the Southern road around the Vieux Port.

You can now check out much of the French road system with google street view :
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=marsei...0.11,,1,-16.63

Peter

Thanks, Kevin, I was thinking it wouldn't be too bad going from the gare right out to the main big highway (which goes into both A7 and A51, I think). I won't have a car upon arrival so no need for car parking at the hotel. I did actually think of going either to Aix by train (which is in the right direction, and I have driven in Aix so know it) or taking a shuttle to the airport, actually. I found it easy to get on the main roads from the airport. Seems kind of silly to go all the way back to the airport, though, but I'll have to take a shuttle or taxi to the gare, anyway (or metro if I'm lucky). And I think car rentals might be more from the airport, although maybe not really that much .

I've done it once. After staying in Provence for a week, we had reservations at the Best Western at the Marseille Airport as we had an early morning flight. We drove to the port, spent the afternoon then drove to the airport. I don't recall problems so it must have been fairly easy.

Just a follow-up -- I kept my reservation at the Marseille train station. And this is the best location possible for getting out of town onto the A7. You simply come down the ramp from where the rental car companies, take a right at the bottom and you are directly onto a street which within a block goes right into St Charles tunnel which turns into A7. It was the easiest thing in the world.

On another note, I got a terrific Mercedes A A/T little compact car which I loved. I had called Kemwel in advance to ask if they had ever had complaints of people not getting a reserved A/T at that location (the car was from Europcar) and they said no, never, that is a large location and you will have absolutely no problem. And they were right. I recommend this location to anyone renting a car in Marseille and wanting to leave to tour the Luberon, etc.