early this morning checked the air france site and found tickets into nice out of marseille had dropped almost 300 dollars. i snapped them up and now feel we are getting closer to a good plan thanks to many of you. will be arriving in nice the first of may and staying in an apartment not yet booked but available in the musicien's quarter. then renting a car and driving to bedoin for one week. on to st. remy for one week, also in an apartment rental. we leave that rental on a saturday and fly out of marseill on wednesday. we will spend tuesday night at the airport in marseille as we have an early flight wednesday morning. any suggestions on what to do those last 3 days? wondering about cassis, might be nice to see the calanques and be on the med. any suggestions for a hotel or chambre d'hote in cassis? or - other suggestions for 3 days with only firm date tuesday night in marseille? what a relief to have this trip almost planned. thanks to all!

anyone have any thoughts on this? thanks, cindy

Hi cindyjo, please don't take this the wrong way, but your post is really hard to read. Perhaps put some of it into bullet points and add some capital letters.

I have visited Cassis twice (as day trips from St Remy) and I would vote for a stay there. The calanques are just beautiful. Also, if you can manage it, I would suggest you not only take one of the boat trips but also hike to the first or second calanque, take a picnic lunch, swim & lounge. It makes for a fabulous day. Sorry, but I do not have any recommendations for lodging.

Cassis is very pretty but in my mind overated on this Forum, whereas Martigues (not far out of Marseilles)is underrated and rarely mentioned here. I also rate Aix en Provence above Cassis. Marseilles itself is a delight especially in the old quarter and not a bad base for three days.

I think Cassis would be a wonderful full day and overnight, depending how much of a hiker you are. I was there last summer. (I can't help with lodging, ours was a budget option without a view of the harbor and I can't remember the name!)There are cafes along the harbor, minimal shops, except very touristy. I think les calanques would be the reason to go, although we really enjoyed just sitting at a cafe and watching the people go by- not many Americans and I love to watch families on vacation.

We opted for the "full" tour by boat, but those last several calanques were pretty small! The hiking suggestion was great.

In hindsight, I wish I had spent at least a full day in Marseilles- I would research that more fully and maybe just do Cassis as an easy day trip from Marseilles.

I have stayed at :
Liautaud (Port view)
Cassitel (Port veiw)
Laurence (No port view)
All by the port and 2* category, I think. Plain rooms with shower/wc, served the purpose for me and with the first two, it was nice to have the port view. This is the view from my room at Liautaud.
http://picasaweb.google.ch/kappa3410...98707726808866
My room at Laurence had a bit of view of the Cassis Castle on the hill that is now converted to an exclusive hotel. Better 3 - 4 star hotels are on the way to the calanques a little out of the center of Cassis. As a matter of fact, I am taking 2 friends to Cassis this Thursday. 2 nights in Cassis and 1 night in Marseille. I will take them on a hike to Calanque of En-Vau
http://picasaweb.google.ch/kappa3410...00712862234866
http://picasaweb.google.ch/kappa3410...00517065799218

but if they are not fit enough, we might not go farther than the calanque of Port-Pins that's just before En-Vau. I will probably take them also to Crêt de Cap Canaille from where you can look down the bay of Cassis and calanques beyond like this.
http://picasaweb.google.ch/kappa3410...01001656231026

<<Marseilles itself is a delight especially in the old quarter and not a bad base for three days.>>

I agree. I loved Marseilles, had a hotel facing the Old Port and had a wonderful time walking, eating fresh fish and drinking at a waterfrongt cafe at sunset.

Try for at least one day in M.

Oh I don't mean to over-rate Cassis. All I do is to recommend the things I like doing there. If there were no calanques, I might not go there as many times (have been there once a year in last years). I do love Marseille too. Actually I planned this trip for 1 night in Cassis and 2 nights in Marseille as I have done a few times before. I do calanques starting from marseille too. But my friends finally wanted more time at a small port villages so we changed accordingly.

I thought you were talking about the drink!


p.s. caps or at least some paragraphs will make your post easier to read.

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