24 hours in Marseille, France

I’m excited to announce that I spent 10 days embarking on an adventure to various cities, towns and villages in the French Riviera and Provence. On the first leg this French Riviera and Provence trip, my boyfriend and I flew into Marseille Provence Airport (MRS).

Marseille is actually the second largest city in France following the city of Paris. Marseille is a very unique boat accessible port city that boasts lots of diversity on the southern Mediterranean Sea Coast. The city attracts people from all over the world and it has been said that the locals have a reputation to engage you with a slight city attitude.

This post will provide a description of what we decided to fit into our 24-hour Marseille stay and provide you helpful French Riviera trip logistics, insights on fun activities and sights to help you plan your very own French Riviera adventure.

Day 1: Marseille Itinerary

10:30 AM – 11:30 AM: Arrival at Marseille Provence Airport, pick up checked luggage, and rental car.

We landed at Marseille Provence Airport, and because my boyfriend has complimentary checked luggage and airport lounge perks with his credit card, we checked a bag and brought along an empty carry-on tote to fill with goodies over our 10-day adventure along the French Riviera.

We made our way to Enterprise to pick up the car we reserved for the first 5 days of our 10-day French Riviera adventure. We searched Enterprise in our Google Maps app powered by T-Mobile because this carrier actually offers 256 Kbps of data internet coverage in more than 215 countries and destinations at no extra charge. When we weren’t using the internet, we placed the phone on airplane mode so that it didn’t eat up the data.

Suggested Pre-Planned Logistics for Renting a Car Abroad: Before you secure your car rental abroad, you should visit a local AAA location and purchase an International Driving Permit accepted abroad for around $50. I would recommend researching local driving regulations before embarking on your adventure as well. I personally would go with Enterprise abroad because it is a global company that generally has the best reputation in the car rental industry. To provide insight on pricing, it cost us about $285 for five days. We also opted to purchased the car insurance for an additional fee through Enterprise.

We waited in line while people from many different countries, speaking many different languages, stopped by the kiosk, and everyone seemed to have issues. A group of men from England had issues using credit cards to pay for the safety deposit. The women next to us got in an accident and owed € 1500 on the spot. As I approached the woman at the front desk, I said something along the lines of “Bonjour, ça va? Je suis américaine. Parlez-vous Anglais?” I recommend possibly memorizing basic introductory French phrases introduce yourself in the native language and ask them to speak English if possible. The woman behind the kiosk kindly spoke to me in English, and I made sure to speak English calmly and slowly back to her so she could comprehend what I was saying in her non-native tongue. She ended up upgrading the manual car we had reserved to a brand new mid-sized SUV Renault with an automatic driving system! There were 10 miles on the car when we first got into it meaning we were the first to drive it. We were off to take on the French Riviera in style.

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM: Drive to Sofitel Marseille Vieux-Port

We drove about 16 miles and got to the hotel in about 30 minutes. We used our T-Mobile carrier cell phone to help us navigate with satellite internet-powered Google Maps GPS.

Because we were renting a car, I made sure the hotel had secure, private overnight parking. We chose to stay at the Sofitel, a 5-star hotel and one of the few hotels in all of Marseille with a private parking lot that I felt could guarantee the car’s safety overnight. I read that there is a lot of car crime in this city, and cars are often broken into in public parking lots, so I opted for the safest option, in my opinion, for our car.

In retrospect, I’m sure it would have been okay if we had taken our chances in a public parking lot, although I would note that you possibly shouldn’t keep anything in the car overnight. I felt very comfortable in this city and did not once think I was in a troubled situation or think that I felt unsafe. This city is an international hub, and I was in awe of the diversity in people and cultures.

12:00 PM – 12:30 PM: Check-in at Sofitel Marseille Vieux-Port & see if they will hold items until 4 PM

The man at the front desk kindly let us into the room earlier than expected. The room was on the first floor, facing the port, which was very nice. It was supposed to be a slight upgrade because there was supposed to be a cost of $75 for the port-side room with a balcony. I will be honest; the rooms were pretty dated although ornate, spacious and tasteful. There was a pool that was shared by the newer Novotel hotel although we actually didn’t even check it out because we were interested in exploring the city.

12:30 PM – 1:15 PM: Walk to Plage Des Catalans

We walked from the Sofitel to the local ‘Plage des Catalans’, the beautiful beach right in the city that was packed with locals. We walked out along a path that jutted into the Mediterranean Sea and gazed at the view.

Note the Azure blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea in Marseille, France

1:15 – 2:00 PM: Explore the ‘Palais du Pharo’ area

We then walked back and explored outside the ‘Palais du Pharo’ which is a palace that was originally built for Napoleon III in 1858 with gardens overlooking the the port and panoramic views of the seafront. This is a ‘doit’ as I felt it was gorgeous and memorable. We bought coke zeros at the cafe at this location, sat on the benches and soaked in the city sights.

2:00 PM – 6:00 PM: Walk to The Vieux-Port area & then explore Le Panier District

We walked to the Vieux-Port area and started to think about where we wanted to eat a late lunch/dinner as we passed a variety of restaurants.

We decided to venture into Le Panier, Marseille’s oldest district, and wandered the windy narrow streets with boutiques and colorful graffiti. We also popped into some boutiques in this area.

6:00pm: Dinner

We ended up having dinner at a seafood restaurant along the Vieux-Port. We shared octopus, calamari, mussels and fries. This meal was good however I felt it was almost a little too hot for seafood.

7:30 pm: Pick up a Souvinir on the walk back to the hotel

Marseille is actually known for savon or soap. In the 1600’s Louis XIV ruled that soap of Marseille must not have artificial additives, animal parts, colorants, fragrances, and must contain at least 72% olive oil. You can purchase this version of the naturally green olive oil soap or you can purchase soap with more fragrances that doesn’t meet this original regulation.

I opted to purchase a souvinir savon from ‘Savonnerie de la Licorne‘ which is located in the Vieux-Port area as well as other areas in Marseille. I stumbled into this shop as we were walking back to the Sofitel from dinner as the storefront was along Vieux-Port. I picked up a plastic tote bag for € 6,00 and a pink unicorn shaped hand soap for € 1,00 in the store. Savonnerie de la Licorne definitely felt authentic and offered high quality souvenir worthy products.

We had a great day although were pretty exhausted and went back to the hotel where we were ready to wind down for the evening.

Day 2: Marseille Itinerary

10:00am – 12:00pm: Woke up and checked out of the hotel

We slept in pretty late in an effort to feel mentally prepared for the long day ahead. We enjoyed the espresso machine, fine teas, waters and all the nicely packaged self care freebies we found in the spacious room. The Balmain body wash and shampoo/conditioner smelled gorgeous and there was a nice tub and shower in the unit. I sat on the back porch overlooking the Vieux-Port for the last time, took a selfie, and we were off.

We checked out and learned that someone actually billed a breakfast to our room and dashed. Luckily, we didn’t have to cover that breakfast hah. We were able to leave our bags in the holding area while we explored the city for a few hours.

12:15 PM – Hike up to Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde

We hiked the city streets to overlook the city of Marseille from the Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde. The views were breathtaking and I highly recommend this activity in the early afternoon. On one side of the church you see the city and on the other you overlook the ocean. We bought water at the top of the hill which was so worthwhile and necessary in the July heat.

We then hiked back down the city streets in search of lunch.

1:00 PM – Delightful Lunch at L’Oliveraie in Vieux-Port

We had a delightful lunch at L’Oliveraie. The menu was presented to us, handwritten on a board, similar to how I’ve experienced menus presented to tables in Italy. We opted for ‘Le menu’ which is a three-course meal for around 30 euros. For starters, I had the gazpacho, and my boyfriend had some sort of bird with cranberry sauce and salad. For our main course, I had the chicken and a delightful medley of cooked vegetables, and my boyfriend had a pork with vegetables. For dessert, I had the nougat glacé with tangerine syrup, and my boyfriend had apricot sorbet. We thought this was such an upgrade from our previous meal and that there was such attention to detail at this restaurant. I was excited to order in french as the waiter did not speak English. My high school French education was finally put to work!

French Language Hack: You can take a picture of the menu in French and ask ChatGPT to translate it. ChatGPT’s natural language AI model was successful in translating the pictured hand written menu immediately in the English language.

After lunch, we headed back to the Sofitel to pick up the luggage and drive off to our next destination! Stay tuned for the 24-hour itinerary in Gréoux-Les-Bains and Valensole located in Provence, France.