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Marseilles...Parc National des Calanques and Chateau d'lf


NayaSantaFe
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We will be in Marseille on the Oasis of the Seas in May 2019 and I am in the planning process. I have been reading a lot about what to do in Marseille and I think our whole group (8 adults and 4 kids) has decided we pretty much don't want to spend the day looking at church's or museums. So, we have decided we would like to visit these 2 places. Is it possible to do them both in one day (8 hrs) and is it possible and easy to do them on our own without a tour company? If we cannot do both we would like to do Parc National des Calanques which is #1 on the list. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

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The Parc is huge and it has land and marine areas. To go to the land parts on your own you need to rent a car. To go see the Calanques, you go by boat out of Marseille or Cassis.

 

Yes, it is possible to take a boat tour of the Calanques out of Marseille and then a boat to If. Look at the links below and work out the timing and the places where you board either boat.

 

https://www.ot-cassis.com/en/calanques.html

https://travel.usnews.com/Marseille_France/Things_To_Do/Parc_National_des_Calanques_64033/

 

Here is how to visit the Chateau d'If:

http://www.chateau-if.fr/en

http://ee.france.fr/en/discover/chateau-if

 

But here is a boat tour that does both:

http://www.croisieres-marseille-calanques.com/en/accueil/creeks-and-if-castle-visit_91

BTW "creeks" is how they translate "calanques"

The only caution is to check the times of departure.

 

 

There are several vendors. Go on the Marseille tourism website to look for more info and links.

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The Parc is huge and it has land and marine areas. To go to the land parts on your own you need to rent a car. To go see the Calanques, you go by boat out of Marseille or Cassis.

 

Yes, it is possible to take a boat tour of the Calanques out of Marseille and then a boat to If. Look at the links below and work out the timing and the places where you board either boat.

 

https://www.ot-cassis.com/en/calanques.html

https://travel.usnews.com/Marseille_France/Things_To_Do/Parc_National_des_Calanques_64033/

 

Here is how to visit the Chateau d'If:

http://www.chateau-if.fr/en

http://ee.france.fr/en/discover/chateau-if

 

But here is a boat tour that does both:

http://www.croisieres-marseille-calanques.com/en/accueil/creeks-and-if-castle-visit_91

BTW "creeks" is how they translate "calanques"

The only caution is to check the times of departure.

 

 

There are several vendors. Go on the Marseille tourism website to look for more info and links.

 

The boat ride to Calanques is what we would like, but do you know if they drop you off to enjoy a swim? Or is it pretty much just a boat ride and back to Marseilles?

 

We would love time to swim in Calanques!

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You have to check with each tour company. You can certainly swim at Cassis or Marseille (do a little research on the beach locations.).

But, I hope you like cold water. The average sea temperature for Cassis in May is 62ºF. It goes up to about 68ºF by the end of June.

https://www.seatemperature.org/europe/france/cassis-may.htm

Same for Marseille:

https://www.seatemperature.org/europe/france/marseille-may.htm

Edited by marazul
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Here is your answer about swimming:

https://www.calanques-if.com/en/tours/calanques-national-park

Only in July and August.

This company has tours of all 12 calanques or only 6. The shores are rocky cliffs and there are only tiny beaches in very few places.

 

You can go to Chateau d'If with the same company.

 

Looks like this company doesn't take reservations in advance. We would have to book the day before or the day of. Not sure if that's to risky...what if they get booked that day and we are left without a tour :( I always like to pre-book to be safe...

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Search for other companies. Click on all the buttons on their websites. You will normally find all the answers like that.

 

Check the websites for "group bookings." There are 12 of you, so you should qualify and maybe able to book ahead of time.

 

I would not be too concerned if there are frequent departures for the tours. There is probably plenty of room in the boats. Some of them carry 100 or more passengers. You can look that up too in their websites. Check for "our boats" or something similar.

 

And you can contact the companies directly. Just ask them.

 

Good luck.

Edited by marazul
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Search for other companies. Click on all the buttons on their websites. You will normally find all the answers like that.

 

Check the websites for "group bookings." There are 12 of you, so you should qualify and maybe able to book ahead of time.

 

I would not be too concerned if there are frequent departures for the tours. There is probably plenty of room in the boats. Some of them carry 100 or more passengers. You can look that up too in their websites. Check for "our boats" or something similar.

 

And you can contact the companies directly. Just ask them.

 

Good luck.

 

Yes, I am going to keep looking for a company that can pre-book.

 

Another question, how easy is it to do the Notre Dame Cathedral on your own? We might want to do it after the Calanques and Cheateu d'If...but would like to do it on our own, maybe in public transportation or taxi.

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Search this board for the answer. I have seen that asked before. We almost always (90% of the time) have a car in that area so I can't help you.

 

And don't hesitate e-mailing the various providers for the boat trip with your questions.

 

Thank you so much for all your help!

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  • 4 months later...

We (family of 5) are on the same cruise in June and are wanting to head on a boat to see the Calanques (preferably with some swimming, too). I have found Blue Evasion, but it looks like their timing is off for our cruise schedule (9:30 departure or 6:30 return). I do have an email out to them, but have you found anything else? 

Thanks,

Ali

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9 hours ago, a123gator said:

We (family of 5) are on the same cruise in June and are wanting to head on a boat to see the Calanques (preferably with some swimming, too). I have found Blue Evasion, but it looks like their timing is off for our cruise schedule (9:30 departure or 6:30 return). I do have an email out to them, but have you found anything else? 

Thanks,

Ali

 

We decided not to swim because the water will be a little to cold for us. So we decided to only take the boat tour with: https://www.calanques-if.com

 

We will be in port feom 9am to 6pm, so their schedule worked good for us.

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  • 2 months later...
On 2/23/2019 at 12:55 AM, NayaSantaFe said:

 

We decided not to swim because the water will be a little to cold for us. So we decided to only take the boat tour with: https://www.calanques-if.com

 

We will be in port feom 9am to 6pm, so their schedule worked good for us.

Hi Ali,

 

I will be in Marseilles for a quick day excursion and interested in the same tour. Did you have to call to pre-book your tickets? some how i cant book my reservations online https://www.calanques-if.com

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