Marseille Travel Guide: Flights & Hotels

France's oldest and second-largest city centers on the lively Vieux-Port harbor, with the hilltop Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica overlooking the whole bay and easy boat access to the dramatic limestone Calanques coastline just outside town. It's grittier and more multicultural than the Riviera resort towns further east.

May-June and September offer warm Mediterranean weather for hiking or boating the Calanques without peak-summer crowds. Marseille also works as a practical, cheaper base for day trips to Cassis, Aix-en-Provence, or the Riviera.