Marseille boat trips – those words belong together. But beaches and the Château d’If are also great ideas for trips out from Marseille and so this post covers all three. And then it offers suggestions for other little excursions, to l’Estaque and Cassis, which both mix boating and arty vibes, and a trip on the coastal train which takes you past many of the most scenic views in the area and offers possibilities for stopping off to explore somewhere new. As ever, there’s much more on the podcast, not least a reading recounting the Count of Monte Cristo’s daring – and fictional! – escape from the Château d’If.
Boat trips to Frioul
A promenade en mer, ie a boat trip is an essential part of any visit to Marseille and there’s a good range to choose from. The Frioul archipelago is only 4km away and there are various trips available, allowing you to stop at one or more of the four islands. More information
On a standard Frioul trip, you can disembark on the lesser-known islands to find beaches, creeks and walking paths to explore and harbourside cafes to linger in. But the most popular stop is the Île d’If, site of the Château d’If, where you can visit the formidable former prison and learn its history, real and – from the pen of Alexandre Dumas – imagined, that is the story of the Count of Monte Cristo. In the novel he was imprisoned here and escaped, although as far as we know, no real person has ever managed to do that.
The Château d’If
This island was wild until the 16th century when King Francois I visited, realised its strategic importance and ordered the building of a fortification to protect – and maybe also keep an eye on – Marseille. By 1580 it was a state prison, and remained one until the 20th century, housing such varied inmates as protestants during the wars of religion, revolutionaries from 1848, Marseille sympathisers with the Paris commune of 1871 and German prisoners captured in World War I.
90,000 people visit the Château d’If each year to enjoy the panoramic views of Marseille and its environs and see the main courtyard, dungeons and cells of the former prison. There are dozens of inscriptions carved by the prisoners brought here after their uprising against government troops in Marseille, one of whom left us an ironic description of the prison as a ‘hôtel du peuple souverain’ (hotel of the sovereign people’). There’s also a plaque ‘in memory 3,500 protestants imprisoned for their faith between 1545 and 1750’ who ‘chose chains, prison and death over renouncing their faith.’ Signs point to the possible cells of famous inmates, such as the political prisoner known as ‘the man in the iron mask.
3 colourful characters from the Chateau d’If
The Comte de Mirabeau – nobleman, writer, member of the Assemblée Nationale – spent a year imprisoned here in his youth, after his father, disgusted that his son had seduced a colonel’s wife, arranged for him to be sent a lettre de cachet, which meant he could be imprisoned without trial. Events in his colourful later life included adventures, affairs, pamphleteering, being a secret agent, and getting a death sentence against him revoked.
In 1516, the first rhinoceros ever seen in Europe stopped by. He was destined to be a gift for Pope Leo X, but was quarantined here on the way. People came out on day trips to see the exotic creature – including François I – and the artist Albrecht Dürer did a woodcut of him, a copy of which is displayed here. Sadly, the rhino died during a storm on the last leg of his journey, but his stuffed body was presented to the pope anyway.
The Count of Monte Cristo was purely fictional, the hero of a novel by Alexandre Dumas published in 1846. At the beginning of the story, the hero, Edmond Dantès was wrongly imprisoned here and left to languish for 14 years. But he made a daring escape – detailed at the end of the post – even though it’s thought that no-one managed this in real life. The room said to have been his cell is duly labelled: ‘cachot dit d’Edmond Dantès.’
boat trips to the calanques
The calanques are the other main destination for boat trips from Marseille and possibilities include excursions of different lengths, including ones where you can stop off to sunbathe or swim. ‘Calanques’ comes from the latin ‘calanca’, meaning rocky creek and the coastline around Marseille is dotted with little inlets framed by high limestone cliffs, most of them reachable only on foot or by boat. They form one of France’s most popular national parks, loved for their dramatic scenery, exceptional wildlife and archaeological interest. Here are over 9000 species of plant and the area is a breeding ground for rare eagles. It was also the place where the original Cosquer caves were discovered, containing artwork dating back over 27,000 years.
Most calanques can only be accessed by boat or on foot, although a car or public transport from Marseille can get you quite close. Consult this website for advice on all the options. As one example from many, the Calanque de Sormiou has been described as ‘one of the most instagrammable spots in Marseille’. These words from the Marseille Tourism website explain why: ‘In the distant indentation of the hills, the sea shines, an azure blue that blends with the horizon. The white limestone of the massif is stained with the green of the garrigue and the pine trees, a real palette of three colours’.
beaches near marseille
Surely you’ll want to visit at least one of Marseille’s beaches and there’s a good summary of the main ones here. The nearby Plage des Catalans and the Plage des Prophètes are popular with families and at the Parc Balnéaire du Prado, you can even visit an underwater museum, showing statues which team art with conservation messages. The pebble beach of Plage Borély makes a good day out and at the nearby Parc Borély the attractions include rose and botanical gardens, a museum of decorative arts and boat rips, roundabouts, etc for kids. The Plage de la Pointe Rouge has a fine sandy beach and shallow water, mixing wind-surfing and paddle-boarding opportunities with pizza and barbecue-style restaurants.
day trip ideas
L’Estaque, originally a fishing village, is now part of greater Marseille and easily reachable by ferry. Its beautiful coastal setting drew artists too, including Cézanne who lived there and painted it many times. Today it is popular with tourists who come to swim, visit the Saturday morning market, the restaurants with sea or harbour views and maybe do the promenade des peintres, the ‘artists’ walk’, a two- hour stroll around the village and surroundings which is signposted from the harbour. On Sundays you may see members of the Estaque Jousting Club practising for tournaments – teams on boats trying to push their opponents into the water. Snack-wise, look out for chichis fregis, a fried pastry.
The Train de la Côte Bleu is the name for the train route from Marseille to Miramas (32km) on which passengers see picture postcard views of the coast all the way. It takes an hour and a quarter, but you can buy a special ‘pass’ which allows you to get on and off en route. There are about 15 stations, including Niolon, great for diving, and Martigues, a little port known as ‘Venice in Provence’, where there are caves to visit and kayaking possibilities.
In the charming port town of Cassis, about 20km from Marseille, you’ll find cobbled streets, fishermen’s cottages, a Wednesday and Friday market, a range of arty shops and galleries to browse and a good choice of restaurants. On summer evenings artists and engravers set up stalls selling their work in the port. Cassis has a long connection with artists who have come to paint the town and its surroundings, focussing on coastal views as well as cypress trees, pine forests, the harbour and the town itself. It was here, for example, that the artist and dealer Paul Signac painted much-admired works such as The Jetty at Cassis and the Cap Canaille at the turn of the 20th century.
Here too are a Museum of Art and Popular Traditions and the ‘Four Banal’, a 17th century fisherman’s cottage which housed the communal oven used by all the locals. It was only discovered in 2001 and has been turned into a little museum showing the life lived there when it was first built.
the count of monte cristo
The early chapters of this swashbuckling blockbuster are set in the Château d’If, linking the book forever to Marseille. The story portrays the turbulent days of the Bourbon Restoration (1814-1830) when the Bourbon kings ruled again after the fall of Napoleon. The hero, Edmond Dantès, later the Count of Monte Cristo, is wrongly suspected of being a Bonapartiste and thrown into prison on the island of If, where he languishes for 14 long years before doing what no real prisoner ever managed, namely escaping. He befriends an elderly prisoner, the Abbé Faria and when the latter dies, Dantès hides the body in his own cell and climbs into the sacking in which the corpse had been wrapped.
It works. Two jailers come along late at night, retrieve what they think is the body and hurl it over the cliff into the sea. It’s weighted down with a 36-pound cannonball, but Dantès has brought a knife to tear himself out of the sacking. The tense scene describing all of this is read out on the podcast and as it’s early in the novel it’s not too much of a spoiler to reveal that Dantès manages to swim free, even though Chapter 20, in which this is retold, ends with the fatal words ‘The sea is the graveyard of the Château d’If’. Heady stuff! If you have time for over 1200 pages, then it’ a cracking read.
Listen to the podcast
reading suggestion
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
links for this post
Boat trips from Marseille
The Château d’If
The Calanques
How to get to the Calanques
Marseille’s Beaches
The Underwater Museum of Marseille
L’Estaque
Cassis
Cassis Museum of Art and Folk Traditions
More on visiting La Côte Bleu
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Last Updated on November 19, 2024 by Marian Jones
