zaksgrandma

We will be staying in the St. Remy area -- not sure yet which town. We have a 10 AM flight home to the US out of MRS and will need to return our rental car. Does anyone have a suggestion as to where to stay that last night (or two), It looks like St Remy would be too far given the stress of catching an international flight. On the other hand, I don't want to end a wonderful trip in an airport hotel. Is there a charming town/hotel closer to MRS? Would staying in Marseilles be recommended? How about Aix? Is there somewhere else?

THanks for all the help.

Kwoo

I haven't been to Aix yet, will be there in May, but I think it's about a 30-minute drive from the MRS airport, so that could be a possibility. We will be in the same situation, staying in Aix, and we have to catch a 10:15 am flight from MRS to the U.S. in the morning. Or you could stay overnight in Marseilles.

DebitNM

We recently flew out of MRS and found that staying the night before in Marseille worked well for us.

We stayed at The Grand Tonic, which is right on the harbor. It was very nice, reasonably priced and very conveniently located for dinner the night before and the trip to the airport.

We took the Metro to train station and from there we took the bus direct to the airport. It was simple, easy, inexpensive and worked great.

http://www.marseille-airport.com/acc...uses/marseille

It was 8 euros for the shuttle. There is packaged ticket for 8.5 euros which includes the metro ride, but you have to buy that ticket at either the airport or the train station.

DebitNM

I meant to add that we actually stayed 3 nights in Marseille. I think that spending a day of 2 there is well worth it. Also, the rate for the Grand Tonic was about 72 euros per night. It was during winter, so the price is obviously not going to be that low now. We had a free walking tour with a wonderful guide one day [donation to the group is always welcome]and he spent the entire day with us! You can design your own tour and length, I think most are 2 hours long.

Marseille is often maligned but they have worked hard to spruce the city up [Cultural Capital of Europe for 2013] and we really enjoyed our time there.

http://www.marseilleprovencegreeters.com/en/

http://www.hotels-de-marseille.com/english/index.asp

Christina

Aix is somewhat closer, that's a psosibility as the airport is really to tne NW of Marseilles. I've drive betweeen the two, I guess it is 30-60 minutes drive, depending on where you really are and traffic. You don't really get wonderful charming towns with great hotels within a short distance of a major metropolis and airport, it's too urban and built up.

But it depends if you want to keep your car and turn it in at the airport, or stay in Marseilles and ditch the car and take some other method of transport to the airport that day.

If you want to stay in some small village, some place closer to MRS, here is a winery with a few B&B rooms that is in Velaux, not far from the airport. It's nothing deluxe.
http://www.mas-bleu.com/

this is the village http://www.provenceweb.fr/e/bouches/velaux/velaux.htm

zaksgrandma

are there other small villages near the airport, or at least not too far. I am not sure I can do a large city like Marseille after almost two weeks in the country!!! (And I love cities.)

KathyWood

If I had a 6 - 7 am flight, I'd stay at the airport. But for a 10 am flight, you could easily stay on in St. Remy. It's just one hour drive from St. Remy to MRS. Aix-en-Provence is about 30 minutes from MRS.

We fly Air France out of MRS often and you're usually fine to arrive one hour before the flight.

Kathy