Please help with our port day in Marseille

We will be in Marseiile on October 20th as the last port of a long, exhausting cruise (9 ports in 10 days).

Wanting to decide at the spur of the moment, but not losing out of a great opportunity to see the region, I reach out to you.

Can we wait until we arrive at the port and see whether there are vendors offering tours that morning?

We were thinking of seeing Cassis or Aix-en-Provence, but not spend 8 hours touring.

Ages are 14 to 82, so taking public transportation is not really an option.

Could anyone please give us suggestions?

There will likely be no tour companies/guides just waiting at the port, although there are normally some taxis (drivers likely speak little or no English). So if you want to arrange any kind of tour, you should do this in advance! Since you have eliminated using public transportation, your other options are to book a cruise line excursion, pre-book a private tour, or hire a taxi. Both Cassis and Aix are reasonable options, and if you are doing this on your own it is within your power to control the itinerary. So if you only want to go to Aix for a few hours, just arrange for a private guide or a taxi to accomplish that task. There is no right or wrong...just a matter of your own preference. We would just warn that hiring a private car/guide in France can prove to be quite expensive (300-500€ is not unusual).

Hank

Thank you! Based on your advice we went ahead and pre-booked a private tour.