Marseille on All Saints Day

[Riversedge]

We will be in Marseille on All Saints Day. Will anything be open and does public transportation still run? We thought we could do this port on our own but if everything is closed we don't just want to wander around with nothing to do. Any suggestions?

[Hlitner]

It is a real paradox that a country that prides itself on being secular loves to celebrate every religious holiday..no matter how obscure. Most of France treats All Saints Day like a Sunday. And since it falls on a Friday this year the French will treat it like a 3 day weekend. There will be trains and public transit on that day, but it will probably be running a normal holiday or Sunday reduced schedule. You will have to focus on what you want to do and then check to see if its open. When you say, do this port on your own, are you thinking of staying in Marseille? A majority of cruisers use this port as a gateway port to nearby Provence....with Aix en Provence being quite popular and other cities such as Avignon within range of a day excursion. Although we might normally suggest going to a place like Les Baux on a Sunday/holiday...we are thinking that November 1 is already outside the main tourist and shoulder seasons so we are not sure if even this type of town will doing business as usual on Nov 1.

 

Hank

[Riversedge]

Thanks, Hank. That is valuable information. Maybe we need to book a private tour as they would customize it to fit the holiday and our needs.

[marazul]

Everything will be open in Les Baux on Nov. 1. Here is the tourist board brochure:

 

http://www.lesbauxdeprovence.com/images/stories/documents/gb-2013-les-baux-de-provence.pdf