Making the most of Marseilles
Use these notes to shape a realistic day ashore, then confirm any time-sensitive information for the date of your call.
Arriving at the port
How to get there?
From the airport (Marseille-Provence) which is 30 km from Marseille center:
From the airport a shuttle bus will drive you to the railway station St-Charles (8,50€). From there, a taxi can lead you directly to your cruise terminal.
Be aware that the different cruise terminals of Marseille are pretty far apart, check with your cruise company which dock will be used.
Joliette cruise terminals dedicated to small and medium-size vessels. Close to town.
MPCT (Marseille Provence Cruise Terminal) For most larger vessels.
By train: from the railway station St-Charles you can join easily your cruise terminal by taxi. For GPS users: Place de la Joliette, Marseille.
Although MPCT (Marseille Provence Cruise Terminal) is too far (8 km) to walk to center of Marseille and is not pedestrian-friendly. To get into town, take a taxi or the shuttle service (11 Euro) to and from the Vieux Port (the center of town). Or take City bus (RTM) no: 35, a 20 minute walk from the port, follow the green line on the ground. Get off at Joliette terminus and take bus 55 to the Old Port. (1.90 Euro, pay the driver)
Just outside the port gate there is a free shuttle to the city. Every 20 minutes. Cruise shuttles drive a little bit further to the city, but you have to pay. This one is free and the only thing is that you have to walk a little bit more. But it is worth it!
Sun Princess cruise travelors have access to their own shuttle service. Pick up/dropoff is at Gare Maritime de la Major-front of the major cathedral. It runs from 8:00am to 4:30pm and costs $16 (USA) for a day pass. Tickets are available on the Princess app and Stateroom TV.
A taxi will cost about 17 Euro to the old port.
Printable map to take along.
Marseille is by far the most visited cruise port in France.
Villefrance is the number 2 and Le Havre comes in as 3rd.
Getting around
There is no need to to take a cruise organized expensive shuttle into town.
The free shuttle service from the cruise port ends close (300m walk) where the "Petits Trains Touristiques" makes a circuit of the center of Marseille, with commentary. It starts from the end of the Old Port (Quai des Belges, where the Office de Tourisme is located) Train 1 - Notre-Dame de la Garde via Vieux Port and Abbaye de St-Victor - 50 min trip; Jan-Nov, from 10h; every 30 min during the summer. Train 2- Vieux Marseille, via Cathedrale, La Vieille Charite, Quartier du Panier - 40 min trip; Easter-Oct, from 10h15; every hour during the summer.
From 12h-14h the trains only run if there are at least 10 passengers.
You can also opt for the hop on/off services of Marseille Le Grand Tour which also starts at the same spot.
Taxis are also offering tours.
Nearby places
Aix-en-Provence: Take the shuttle bus to Old Port, walk or ride Métro to train station, then take a train to Aix-en-Provence (45 minutes, twice an hour, 9 Euro one way), Arles (1.5 hours), or Avignon (1 hour). Bus 50 also takes you from the train station to Aix-en-Provence, a 35 minute ride, approx. 6 Euro one way. Every 5 minutes or so. Tickets can be bought on the bus. Map of Aix-en-Provence.
The sun-bleached white turrets of Château d'If, the 16th-century island prison immortalized in Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, are nowadays populated by seagulls and salamanders rather than convicts. Ferries take about 20 minutes and leave every hour from the Vieux Port's quai de Belges – now officially re-named quai de la Fraternité.
Food and shopping
The city's cuisine includes many typical dishes, the best known of which is bouillabaisse, a fish stew.
Money
Euro
Staying connected
Local emergency number: 112
Opening Hours and
Most shops, businesses, information services, museums and banks in France stay open all day. The exceptions are the smaller shops and enterprises, which may close for lunch sometime between 12.30pm and 2pm. Basic hours of business are from 8 or 9am to 6.30 or 7.30pm Monday to Saturday for the big shops and Tuesday to Saturday for smaller shops (some of the smaller shops may open on Monday afternoon). You can always find boulangeries and food shops that do stay open, however, on days when others close – on Sunday normally until noon.