Marseille taxiMarseille is a relatively easy city to get around, either on the public transport system or on a wide range of fun alternatives aimed at tourists.

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Insider Tip for how to get around MarseilleIf you are planning to do some intensive sightseeing in Marseille, it's well worth considering the 24, 48 or 72 hour City Pass Marseille.

It includes unlimited rides on the metro, buses and tramways and a trip to Notre Dame de la Garde and/or the Old Town on the petit train (little tourist train). You also get free or discounted entry to many museums and attractions and discounts on the calanques boat tours.

Click here to read about the ZOU! card, which offers discounts of up to 75% on regional bus and rail transport.

It's really only on foot that you best absorb the atmosphere of Marseille. But when energy flags, or your destination is too far, or the climb up the hill in the midday sun to Notre Dame de la Garde or the top of the Old Town is just too much of an ordeal, a variety of solutions are at hand.

THE MARSEILLE METRO, TRAM AND BUS NETWORK

Marseille has two metro (underground / subway) lines. M1, the blue line, runs roughly east to west and back in a broad loop. M2, the red line, runs roughly north to south.

Both lines have stops at the main train station, Marseille Saint Charles, and they also intersect further south at Castellane.

They are criss-crossed by a network of over 50 bus routes and three tram lines. To get to L'Estaque, notionally an arrondissement of Marseille though really a small town in its own right, take any train from Saint Charles station in the direction of Miramas. (Bus no.35 also runs to L'Estaque from the Joliette district.)

 

Click here for a list of maps of the Marseille metro, bus and tram network. The system is clean, cheap, regular and fully integrated, and the good news for summer visitors is that it is all air-conditioned. Announcements in the metro are now made in English as well as in French.

Old Port metro station MarseilleThe metro service was recently extended until 1am all through the week. Some bus and tram routes run until midnight-1am. Click here for a map of Marseille's night transport network.

Some elements of the public transport system are better equipped for disabled travellers than others.

The trams are exemplary. And the petit train (little tourist train), the new boat terminal, the so-called "ferryboat" across the Old Port and the boat shuttles along the coast are all wheelchair-friendly.

But the metro and many of the buses are less so and Marseille scores very low in surveys of French cities and their provision for handicapped access on public transport.

Few of Marseille's metro stations are equipped with a lift / elevator. There are escalators instead, which are quite often out of service. Some stations have stairs only. Anyone with a shopping trolley, bulky luggage or pushchair will find the metro difficult too.

Insider tip for local transport in MarseilleYou can now check on the city transport website which metro stations have escalators and lifts / elevators - and which ones are currently out of service. This is available in French only but is fairly easy to understand.

City officials point to a personalised point-to-point transport service for people who need assistance, but this is available for local residents only. Meanwhile disabled visitors to Marseille are advised to avoid the metro.

The RTM (La Régie des transports métropolitains, or Metropolitan Transport Authority) offers a bewildering range of tickets and tariffs. Full details are available on the RTM website.

News for Marseille public transportIn 2023 Marseille finally catches up with other cities in offering passengers contactless payment by bank card or phone. The so-called Open Payment (sic) system is being introduced across the network in the course of the year.

In terms of conventional tickets, there follows a summary of the best ones for visitors.

A single-journey ticket can be bought on board the buses, and from machines at metro and tramway stops or from an accredited vendor: look out for the RTM sticker in bar and shop windows.

A new tram in MarseilleAs with most urban transport systems, the tickets are cheaper if you buy them beforehand. You can make a small further saving by recharging any of these cards once they're empty, rather than buying a new one.

This ticket allows unlimited travel for one hour, with the restriction of one metro journey. A two-journey ticket offers the same rate per trip.

The Carte 10 Voyages is slightly cheaper: it offers ten journeys and the same card can be used by several people travelling together.

Valid for 24, 48 or 72 hours, the Marseille Pass gives you unlimited travel on the buses, trams and metro. It's a bit pricey but also includes access to some of the main tourist sights.

 

TOURIST BUSES

Marseille's Hop-On-Hop-Off tourist bus was recently taken over and rebranded as the Colorbus. It covers a large circuit around the Old Port (Notre Dame de la Garde, the MuCEM, etc.)

It runs roughly every 30 minutes throughout the summer (and at less frequent intervals through the winter) and has an earphone commentary in eight languages, including English. The tour lasts around 90 minutes.

A second circuit goes round some of the lesser known (but still impressive) sights south of the Old Port, including the Vélodrome and the Radiant City, and takes around 75 minutes. It's possible to buy a two-day combination ticket for both the routes

You can board the HoHo bus at any of the stops and buy tickets on the bus itself, or book them in advance here.

PETIT TRAIN

Marseille, the petit trainThe petit train (little tourist train) is a kitsch but fun toy-town choo-choo painted in the Marseille livery of blue and white.

Leaving from the Old Port (the stop is towards the end of the quai du Port, near the Fort Saint Jean), it plies two routes: one of them up to Notre Dame de la Garde and the other one through the Panier (Old Town).

It's by far the best mode of transport around these steep and narrow streets. The trains can accommodate wheelchairs.

The train to Notre Dame runs every 20 minutes in summer and every 40 minutes in winter. The ride lasts around 80 minutes, including a 20 minute stop at the church.

The train to the Old Town runs from April to December only, every 30 minues in summer and every 45 minutes in winter. It also takes in the new development around the docks, the MuCEM and the huge Terrasses du Port shopping mall.

You can get out for 30 minutes at the Vieille Charité in the Old Town and/or the Terrasses du Port. Depending on your choice, the entire circuit takes up to 105 minutes.

A third train runs from Port Frioul on the island of Ratonneau to the Hôpital Caroline in July and August only. It's a 30 minute circuit.

Don't be surprised if you can't find the ticket booth on the Old Port in the late evening: the train tows it away at the end of each day. Website for the Petit Train de Marseille.

BICYCLE AND SCOOTER

The "le vélo" bicycle hire scheme allows you to pick up one of the city's rent-a-bikes at one of its racks and park it at any of them at the end of your ride. A hefty deposit will be taken, but the rental itself is cheap.

cycle track corniche marseilleMore details (in English) on the "le vélo" Marseille bike rental website which features an interactive map showing bike racks in central Marseille, with live information about the availability of vehicles and parking slots at each one.

Car-clogged Marseille is not designed for cyclists and it regularly comes way down the bottom of surveys polling the bike-friendliness of France's major cities. However the new adminstration at Marseille Town Hall hopes to charge all that.

A dedicated cycle lane (piste cyclable) is being created on the busy but spectacular Corniche coast road along Marseille's southern beaches, pictured.

And, on occasional Sundays a section of the coast road is entirely closed to cars for a street festival. Watch out for posters promoting this event, called La Voie est libre.

Marseille also recently introduced self-service electric scooters (trottinettes électriques), of the type already popular in other French cities. However they are also controversial and, in 2023, citizens in Paris voted overwhelmingly to ban rental scooters there entirely.

For the time being, you can still hire them in Marseille. At first, users were allowed to drop the scooter off later anywhere in the centre.

But this practice caused increasing problems, with vehicles left all over the city - some even ended up dumped in the Old Port or the sea! Hundreds of scooters were rescued by divers. Now all scooters must be returned to a designated docking station.

The scooters have also been been involved in hundreds of accidents and in 2019 and again in 2023 the French government introduced strict new regulations.

It is now forbidden to ride electric scooters on the pavement, to take extra passengers, to wear earphones and to go faster than 25 kph / 15 mph. There is even a move in Marseille to cut off the speed automatically at 10 kph / 6 mph in busy areas.

Mighty fines await anyone who disregards the law, especially regarding speeding - though we've still seen numerous scooters zooming along the pavement since the ban came in!

Various private companies such as Lime and Bird also offer electric bike, scooter and Segway rentals and/or guided tours of Marseille on their vehicles.

TAXI, BICYCLE TAXI AND TUK-TUK

The two main taxi companies are Taxis radio Marseille and Taxis marseillais, and both have a smartphone app.

Bear in mind that, as in most major cities in the world, unscrupulous taxi drivers are a hazard. If you think you have been cheated, make a note of the taxi registration number and report it to the Tourist Office. To avoid such annoyances, you can also pre-book a holiday taxi in Marseille here.

Uber now operates in Marseille and recent additions to the streets include the little Asian-style tuk-tuk and tours in a motorbike sidecar. Various itineraries are offered, including the Old Town or Panier and commentaries are in French and English. Details of these from the Tourist Office.

CAR

Marseille now belongs to the French government's scheme to reduce vehicle pollutant emissions in its main cities.

Known as Crit'Air, it requires drivers to display a windscreen sticker identifying their car's emission level. You can read more about the Crit'Air scheme and how to buy a Crit'Air sticker here.

Failure to display the sticker can lead to a hefty fine. Note that some older vehicles may be disqualified from circulating in cities at all.

One-way traffic system around Marseille Old PortThere is a one-way traffic flow around the Old Port to fit in with the large new pedestrianised area on the quai des Belges.

Essentially, traffic flows "anti-clockwise" round the port from half-way down the quai de Rive Neuve to the quai du Port. Cars heading in the opposite direction (i.e. towards the south) will need to use the Old Port tunnel.

Note that large areas of central Marseille, including the lower (Old Port) end of the Canebière, have been, or are in the process of being, pedestrianised. They are now closed to motorcycles and electric scooters as well as cars.

Despite all this, driving around the city is not quite as hairy as you might expect. There are plenty of car-parks in the centre, though Marseille's parking charges are among the highest in France.

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Various motorways can bring you straight into the heart of the city and there is also a network of tunnels to speed your way through.

The Rocade L2 (sometimes also referred to as the A507) is is a major bypass round the north-east of Marseille linking the A7 and the A50 motorways. Finally completed in late 2018, the L2 bypass is toll-free.

Traffic entering Marseille along the A55 autoroute from the north can drive straight to the south side of the Old Port via the Joliette and Old Port tunnels.

After that a second tunnel, the Prado Carénage takes you to the A50 motorway which leads on to Aubagne, Toulon and Nice.

The Joliette and Old Port tunnels are free, while the Prado Carénage tunnel - 2.5 km / 1.55 miles long - costs a couple of €uros (beware: it can be easy to drive into it in error when exiting from the Old Port tunnel).

Marseille road tunnels mapIn 2013 a new tunnel, the Prado Sud opened. This tunnel is 1.5 km / 1 mile long and is also subject to a small toll charge. It leads south from the end of the A50 autoroute to just beyond the Prado roundabout.

If used in conjunction with the older tunnels, it can save considerable time driving between the Prado area in southern Marseille and the autoroutes leading north. Click here for details of the Prado and Carénage road tunnels.

On the downside, you will be navigating among some very excitable local drivers. Marseille is one of the most congested cities in Europe and its drivers are especially fond of wild and double- or triple-parking, which hardly helps the traffic flow.

BOAT

Marseille's boat terminal is on the Old Port, near Norman Foster's distinctive sun canopy where the quai de la Fraternité joins the quai de Rive Neuve. Opened in 2018, the new wooden building now offers full access to wheelchair passengers.

From late April until late September a fast boat service - the navette maritime / "water taxi", pictured - shuttles between the Old Port and Pointe Rouge to the south of the city, where you can find one of Marseille's prettiest small beaches, avoiding the chronic traffic congestion along the Corniche JF Kennedy.

Batobus, MarseilleBoats run once an hour, the journey time is around 25 minutes and the trip is free for holders of an RTM season ticket. There's a charge for casual users, who can use their ticket to transfer, free, on to a bus when they arrive at Pointe Rouge or the Old Port.

A second route links the Old Port to L'Estaque on the other side of Marseille. Again the journey time is around 35 minutes. Marseille-L'Estaque is already catered for by the Blue Coast Train, but the new boat shuttle has dramatically increased the travel options and brings you closer than the train to the centre of L'Estaque.

A third route runs from late June to late September between Pointe Rouge and the remote beaches of Les Goudes on the edge of the calanques. These were previously difficult to get to by bus.

This service has smaller boats and a less frequent service. Click here for maps of all three boat routes and the timetables.

The boat shuttles have been an enormous success. Thousands of people, both tourists and local commuters, use them daily, many more than originally projected, and there are often very long queues.

You'll need to arrive early at rush-hour and at any time in the mid-summer to be sure of a seat. High winds force the boats to be cancelled on two to three days a month.

But, in spite of their popularity, the boat shuttles have been losing money and the ticket price has been sharply increased. Let's hope the social and environmental benefits they bring will ensure their long-term survival.

A traditional Marseille boat or pointuThe Frioul If Express is a regular shuttle to Marseille's nearby islands, including the legendary Château d'If. Expect long queues for this too in summer especially for the return crossing at the end of the day.

In addition several other companies offer half-day, full-day or evening trips along the coast throughout the summer: Levantin's five hour catamaran cruise to the calanques includes lunch.

Note that some of these maritime services may not run on days of high wind.

Alternatively you can hire a boat for the day or take a tour of the Old Port in a traditional pointu (fishing boat) like the one pictured above.

Some of the boat companies' websites are not especially user-friendly. Several are in French only and most do not offer online booking. By far the easiest option is just to stroll down to the Old Port, where many of them are based, and enquire in person.

Finally, a ferry crosses the Old Port every few minutes between the Town Hall (Mairie) and the rive Neuve close to Marseille's iconic Bar de la Marine.

This service has long suffered problems. But it has now been taken over by RTM (the metropolitan transport network) - although we still quite often find it out of service when we go past!

The bad news is that it's no longer free, as it used to be. There is a small charge for the four minute crossing unless you hold an RTM season ticket.

A new ferry boat part-powered by solar panels on the roof was introduced in 2010 but has been plagued by technical problems. As a result the César, the historic ferry boat which previously plied this crossing, has been brought back to help out the newcomer.

The César is a little piece of Marseille history. In one of its earlier versions, it starred in Marcel Pagnol's 1931 film, Marius and appears again on screen in Daniel Auteuil's remake.

 

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