Here's another vote for Marseille being to me a very interesting totally unique city - many eschew it out of dire warnings of long ago but as kerouac says it is all gussied up now in the old town and the Old Port area is mesmerizing.

Add one more vote for Marseille being a vibrant and interesting city.

Flights all booked! Now I need to find accommodation in Aix for 3 nights and Marseilles for 5 nights. I will be travelling on my own so would like to find hotels that are very central and not overpricey. Can anyone suggest??? :)

We stayed here in Marseille and it was very convenient and reasonably priced:

http://www.grandtonichotelmarseille.com/

And here is the report I made about Marseille when I was there last: http://tinyurl.com/mrscapital

You can see all of the nice things and also probably a lot of the things that repelled pariswat when he was there.

Karenhoho: So happy the forum has helped.

Your post serves a lot of us: Next time, I BE going to Marseille!

AZ