The 4 best day trips from Marseille

30.07.2024 - 12:23 / lonelyplanet.com

Jul 29, 2024 • 5 min read

Marseille is an easier city to leave than most. It is a wonder to arrive in, yet a place that rewards you when you escape it from any direction.

They city's notorious attitude and roguish charm will enthrall all your senses and remind you of the chaos it is to be alive, but there's even more beauty in the contrasts found elsewhere. Whether leaving on foot, by train or by driving out into the gentle rural life of Provence, there is a world to explore beyond the grit of a metropolis that has become almost too fashionable.

Here are four of the best places you can visit on a day trip from Marseille.

Travel time: 30 to 50 minutes

It may not hold the romantic allure it once did, but wandering the narrow streets of Aix-en-Provence in the early hours suggests a forgotten time when everyone read poetry. Sitting in a tiny square in the dead of night, fountains spray melancholically before you as petals from a discarded flower rest forlornly in the cobblestones – well, you get the idea.

The main reason to visit Aix today is less about poems in dusty books or painting landscapes, and more about shopping, sitting in cafes and perusing the grand food market, which boasts fine regional produce. Have a breezy lunch under a parasol and then head out to one of the incredible wineries in the region. Driving up into Cezanne country and buying a crate of plonk from a vineyard like the Domaine des Masques, for example, is as much about the journey as the wine. Here, you can live like you're in a Godard movie: be Alain Delon or Anna Karina for the afternoon. 

How to get to Aix-en-Provence from Marseille: It's a 30-minute drive north on the A55 and A51, or you can take the bus from Gare St-Charles, which takes around 50 minutes.

Travel time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Arles is another world altogether. The city's Roman remains are almost perfectly preserved and its impressive arena, theatre and cryptoporticus (covered passageway) are all within close walking distance of each other. August’s Arelate festival is an event that brings history to life. Highlights include outdoor Roman-themed movie screenings and oiled-up gladiators fighting it out in the dust.

Arles is defined not only by its history but by the arts. Contemporary art fans flock to the uber-modern Luma Arles institution on the edge of town, where millionaire art collectors and fashionable students amble happily side by side.

The city is set within the mysterious flatlands of the Camargue region, so you are also entering cowboy country here. Expect plenty of opportunities to consume steak under some framed vintage posters of matadors. With so many local delicacies, Arles is an easy city to eat your way through greedily; La Chassagnette and Le Tambourin