Ideal location to *walk* across the city + discover Provence by bus or train. We almost never use our car : shops, cafés, Parc Longchamp, train and coach station, tram, underground are a few minutes walk. Adults and teens can also use the city bicycles service (which we are to lazy to use : we live on the top of a hill ;)
20 minutes walk to the beautiful Vieux Port = Old Harbour, where you can take a boat to visit the amazing, wild Friouls Islands.
A cheap boat shuttle also leads you to the north and south of the city (l'Estaque et la Pointe rouge).
You have a small sand beach near the port (Plage des Catalans, 10 minutes walk from the port) and bigger, less crowded ones that you can reach by bus or boat shuttle.
Of course, everybody loves the nature, the islands and the breathtaking Calanques... but we also love the center of Marseilles, a multicultural place without the usual gentrification, a bit to noisy and chaotic, but safe, and so authentic, interesting and warm. Open air markets, cheap cafés and restaurants...
We hope you will love it too!