Thoughts about excursions out of Marseille?

[Ashlea13vb]

I'm stuck on what to do in Marseille. I know that I want do not want to stay in Marseille proper, but would like to travel to one/two or more of the small cities around Marseille. Having said that, I have the following options per the ship's offerings:

 

1. Arles and Les Baux

2. Cassis

3. Lourmarin and L'Isle-sur-Sorgue

4. Pont du Gard and Avignon

5. Aix-en-Provence and Lourmarin

 

Now, of course, I wish I could pick and choose between all these - my ideal would be to do both Aix-en-Provence and Les Baux. But after looking at a map, it seems like many of them are in different directions from Marseille, so it makes sense to keep them in the pairings they're in.

 

I'd love to hear thoughts on which towns stand out over the others. I'm looking for something unique to the area, quaint, and beautiful (which I'm sure all of them are!). Can I cross any of these options off my list? Which option do you recommend? We'll be in Marseille port for about 9 hours.

 

Thanks so much!

[dbh62ark]

I have not been to Lourmarin but have been to the others. My favorite in the area is Aix-en-Provence. If you’re looking for lovely, quaint, etc., then you’ll love Aix. However, since I’m not familiar with Lourmarin, I can’t compare a day combined with Aix and Lourmarin. Arles and Les Baux combined would be my 2nd choice after Aix. If you decide to go to Aix, it’s very easy to do on your own from Marseille. Have you considered checking in on your roll call board to see if you can form a group to go with a private driver? That might be a good option for you so that you can make your choices. The price would be the same as an excursion, but you would have more freedom.

 

Have a great cruise,

Donna

[envy4u]

Could you tell me exactly how to get to Aix on our own from the ship .

[dbh62ark]

I can't remember exactly where the train station is in Marseille (we've been to a LOT of ports over the years), but I can direct you to the tourist information center, and they are the ones who sent us on to the train. The following is the information that I listed on another thread on Marseille. I remember another post that indicated that the bus station is behind the train station and that the bus to Aix is also a good option.

 

The ship’s docks are in an industrial area that is at least 10 minutes by vehicle from the yucky industrial port to the historic Vieux Port (old port) area of town. So hopefully your cruise line will have a shuttle because I think most of the cruise lines run one in Marseille. When we arrived at the Vieux Port area, we found a tourist information center on the street in the left side of the harbor next to a store with a beautiful blue front, and I think the name of the store was Les Baux (I bought some nice things there). The TI center had a walking tour map of the Vieux Port area of Marseille, and it was a nice walking tour that took approximately two hours. The cathedral in Vieux Port is black and white striped—kind of like prison stripes—and is really a unique site. The walking tour was so easy because there was a red stripe painted on the streets, and we followed that while reading about the sites in our brochure.

 

Then we took a train to Aix-en-Provence. I don’t remember exactly where the train station was, but we had obtained the information from the TI office, and it was very easy. We just walked around enjoying our visit to Aix-en-Provence and think it’s just lovely.

 

In Marseille, there is also another cathedral, the Notre Dame, high up on a hill that you can visit; some of our friends from the ship hiked it, and it was about 25-30 minutes straight up. There is a mini train in Marseille that is basically a shuttle from site to site that looks like one of those shuttles you ride from the parking lot in theme parks, and I think it also goes to that cathedral. You can catch the mini train in the Vieux Port area.

 

Have a great trip,

Donna

[uk1]

Marseille station:

 

http://www.sanary-hotel-soleiljardin.com/photos/20_map_soleil-et-jardin.png

[Ashlea13vb]

Excellent info dbh62ark and uk1! Thanks! I have thought about private tours, but the rollcall for our cruise is not active, so I'm working on other options. If we do decide on Aix, we'll definitely have to think about doing it on our own. Is there any other town close to Aix that we could travel to via the same train?