Diabline, Aix en ProvenceAix en Provence is a compact city and many major sights around the Cours Mirabeau, Mazarin Quarter and Old Town can easily be visited on foot. But, if you want to rest your feet or venture further afield, there are various alternatives.

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BUS

To travel around within the Aix city centre and the Greater Aix area (Pays d'Aix), you can buy a single-journey ticket from the driver when you board the bus.

Be sure to have change as the driver is unlikely to accept notes over ten €uros. It's now possible to buy tickets using your smartphone or bank card, though it remains to be seen whether foreign cards will be accepted.

It is cheaper to arm yourself with a contactless card which you pre-load with credit before travelling.

And anyone planning to stay in Aix a little longer might consider a season ticket (un abonnement) in the form of a pre-paid chip card (carte à puce).

In short, there is a wide variety of tickets to choose from: see the Aix en Bus website for details of what's currently available. Unsurprisingly, the multi-journey tickets represent much better value per trip.

aix busYou can take as many trips as you like for no extra cost for one hour after validating the ticket. You have to present it again when you change buses, but you won't be charged.

All pre-paid tickets and passes are on sale at the Aix en Bus reception desk. It's located in the Aix en Provence Tourist Office, in the Allées Provençales.

Alternatively you can top them up at various tobacconists' shops (bureaux de tabac), newspaper kiosks and other official outlets around the city.

Details of where to buy them are available on the Aix en Bus website. The same website also has details of night buses which run until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and might come in handy if you're staying outside the town centre.

The Aixpress ("Ligne A") is a high-speed electric bus that runs every seven-20 minutes along its own specially reserved traffic lane.

Its 7.2 km / 4.5 mile route links the western suburbs around the Jas de Bouffan and the Fondation Vasarely, the city centre (the bus station, La Rotonde, at the bottom of the Cours Mirabeau and the train station) and the Krypton car-park in the south-east.

The bus takes just 25 minutes to complete the entire route and runs daily until late.

In addition to the local buses, there is a regular shuttle service from the bus station to Aix TGV station and Marseille-Provence airport at Marignane. Click here for the bus timetable to Aix TGV and Marseille-Provence airport.

There is also a very frequent shuttle service to the Marseille Saint Charles bus and train station. Click here for the bus timetable between Aix and Marseille (select timetable Cartreize 050).

Aix bus stationBe sure to take Line 050, which goes along the motorway and takes 30-45 minutes, depending on traffic (which can be very heavy during rush hours). There is also a slow service, Line 051, which stops at numerous local towns along the way. Bonus: free wi-fi is offered on board these buses.

For buses outside the immediate city area, in the wider Pays d'Aix region and indeed the entire département of the Bouches du Rhône, Le Pilote is the website to consult.

Pictured above, Aix's sparkling new bus station (gare routière) is at avenue de l'Europe. It was designed under the supervision of Jean-Marie Duthilleul, the architect responsible for the sleek Aix and Avignon TGV stations.

Apparently inspired by the proportions of the Cours Mirabeau, it boasts a very long arcade of elegant metal arches, where passengers can wait in the shade. Alongside is a huge plant wall - the largest in France - that is both decorative and intended to reduce noise and air pollution.

The bus station has a long, thin "Espace Voyageurs", a ticket-office / indoor waiting room that's air-conditioned and has (free) toilets, though unfortunately it closes in the very early evening.

There's also a little snack bar in the bus station itself, plus more just around the corner on the avenue des Belges.

DIABLINE

The Diablines are nippy little electric-powered vehicles, similar to Avignon's Baladines. A sort of cross between buses, taxis and milk delivery carts, they scurry around the narrow streets of Aix where the big buses can't squeeze through.

They follow three fixed circuits in the city centre: see the Diabline website for a map. But, instead of picking up and dropping passengers only at bus-stops, they can be hailed down like taxis.

diabline aix en provenceTickets can only be bought on board from the Diabline's grandly named "pilote".

You can change from the bus network without paying again under the "one hour" rule described above, and children under four travel free.

The Diablines, pictured here and top left, can carry seven passengers, sit low on the road and are therefore accessible for riders of restricted mobility.

They circulate roughly every ten minutes, though the hours of service are somewhat restricted: from 8.30am-7.30pm. The Diablines don't run on Sundays or public holidays. Diabline website (in French only).

RAIL

Click here to read our guide to Aix Centre and Aix TGV train stations.

CAR AND TAXI

There is a choice of leading car hire companies at Aix TGV station, and many more in the city. If you are planning to rent a car in Aix, please consider our comparison search engine for all grades of hire car from Smarts to 4x4s and limousines.

Powered by our affiliate partner, it will instantly compare the current rates on offer from all major suppliers at your chosen location to ensure you get the best deal.

If you are renting - or already own - an electric car, you are well catered for in Aix: there is privileged on-street parking and all the city car-parks have designed parking bays with electric sockets (bornes de recharge) to recharge your vehicle.

However driving around Aix can be tricky. Much of the centre, especially the Old Town, is now completely closed to cars, with access (via retractable bollards) for locals only. And a lot of parking capacity has been lost in recent years folowing extensive renovation works.

Even in those parts which you can access, many of the streets are narrow and space is at a premium. Foreign-registered or car-hire vehicles parked on the street are also frequent targets for break-ins. A list of municipal car parks can be found on the Aix Tourist Office website.

Insider tip on public transport in Aix en ProvenceThe most central underground car-park, at La Rotonde, is huge. And it is confusingly divided into two separate zones whose bays are very similarly numbered.

For instance, one area has bay # 4 101 and the other area has bay # 4 0101. If your car seems to have vanished, it could be that you are looking in the "wrong" part of the car-park. We speak from personal experience!

Another tip: watch out for pickpockets hanging around the machines at La Rotonde where you pay for the parking before retrieving your car. It is a popular venue for hustlers and scam artists.

Alternatively, you can use the city's parcs relais - its park-and-ride scheme - and leave your car in one of the car parks outside the city for a very modest daily (or, indeed, monthly or yearly) fee and commute in by bus.

These car parks are open from 6.30am-9pm, Monday-Saturday except for Krypton and Plan d’Aillane, which are open seven days a week. Even when they are closed, you can take your car out at any time using your ticket. Each one connects with bus routes into the city centre.

Krypton is by the A8 motorway to the south of Aix. Hauts de Brunet in the north is off the A51 motorway. Route des Alpes, in the north-east, is near the A51 and the N296. Arena, in the south-west, is off the A51 near Aix's new performing arts arena.

Plan Malacrida is near the A8 motorway to the south-east of the city. Plan d'Aillane is in Les Milles, south-west of Aix, and offers bus connections to Marignane airport, among other destinations.

The brand-new Jas de Bouffan parc relais is just north-west of the city centre and connects with the new Aixpress bus route (the Krypton car-park connects with the bus at the other end).

You can get a free bus pass from car park staff for drivers and all passengers for unlimited trips on one day only. If you are leaving your car for more than one day, you'll need to buy a ticket to return to the car park.

Taxis in Aix en ProvenceTaxis are plentiful in Aix, with several taxi ranks in the city. One of the largest companies, Taxis Aixois, is based by the bus station on the boulevard Victor Coq. Tel (+33) 4 42 27 71 11.

An alternative is Radio Taxi Mirabeau, 570 route d'Avignon. Tel (+33) 4 42 21 61 61. Or click here to pre-book a holiday taxi online. Uber cars also now operate in Aix en Provence.

 

PETIT TRAIN

Aix's petit train, or little train, offers tours of the city with earphone commentary in a range of languages, including English. It's sometimes called the minitram in the tourist literature.

The train leaves from in front of the statue of Paul Cézanne on La Rotonde at the bottom of the Cours Mirabeau. It offers a 45 minute tour of the city centre and you can buy tickets on board or at the Tourist Office.

The timetable varies depending on the time of year and the train usually hibernates for the winter. More details on the petit train website.

BICYCLE, SEGWAY, ELECTRIC SCOOTER...

Aix en Provence has no municipal scheme of bikes or electric scooters for hire. However a list of commercial companies offering bike, electric bike and Segway hire can be found on the Aix en Provence Tourist Office website. Some of these options are linked to guided tours.

In the past Aix has been one of the most cycle-unfriendly cities in France. But over the last couple of years the Town Hall has been making efforts to improve this, with increased numbers of dedicated bike lanes and secure bike racks.

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