10 essential places to see in Marseille: you will love them!

If you are going to travel to the oldest city in France, it is essential that you plan the itinerary of your trip, as there are many places to see in Marseille that you cannot miss. The city has it all: a unique urban area, but also beaches and nature. To go to Marseille you must have enough days to visit it in all its splendor and beauty.

Places to see in Old Marseille, a trip to the past

Marseille , or Marseille in French, was founded in 600 BC. The Phocaeans (originally from Phocea, a Greek city in present-day Turkey) and the Romans passed through here. Marseille is a perfect mix of two different cultures that settled and developed an important city that today is characterized by its old port with its forts: Saint-Nicolas and Saint-Jean. The best thing about Marseille is that you can perfectly combine the charm of nature and beaches, with the historical aspect of the city.

Puedes disfrutar de unas vistas espectaculares
Photos by: Eulalie Ramos @_laliefrenchie_

Le Panier

Behind the City Hall is the old town or Le Panier. One of the places to see in Marseille that you cannot miss for any reason is this old neighborhood that bears the name of an old hotel that was there in the 17th century: Le Logis du Panier. Since 1983, the government began to restore the old part of the city to try to restore it to its former splendor. Efforts have not been in vain and Le Panier has become a must for tourists.

At Le Panier we recommend you visit the Maison Diamantée, built by Spaniards and Italians, but inhabited by wealthy people from Marseille, until it was expropriated during the French Revolution. It is a perfect example of the Mannerist architecture of Provence , with an embossed diamond facade and an impressive staircase that you can only see in this city. Since 1925 it is considered a Historical Monument.

The houses in the Le Panier neighborhood are picturesque, with multi-colored facades, and in one of these houses are the Museum of Mediterranean Archeology and the Museum of African, Oceanic and Amerindian Art. You can also go to bars, cafes and typical restaurants of the city that you will love.

Longchamp Palace

The Longchamp Palace is a beautiful building that houses the Natural History and Fine Arts museums. It is also home to the botanical garden and an observatory. The National Museum of Natural History has been located in the right wing of the palace since 1869 and is one of the best in Europe of its kind. During your tour, you can find a very complete zoological collection to understand the evolution of living beings. Here are more than 40,000 fossils for lovers of paleontology!

For its part, the Museum of Fine Arts (in the opposite wing of the palace), dates from 1801 and is the oldest museum in the city. Here the visitor will be able to contemplate artistic works from the 16th to the 19th centuries, including paintings by Rubens, Perugino or Vernet.

Garden of Vestiges

You enjoy history? Then you cannot miss the wonderful Garden of Vestiges. It is a park where you can not only relax and walk, but also find important Greek and Roman archaeological remains. For example, here in this garden the visitor will be able to contemplate the ancient walls (dating from the 3rd century BC), the Crinas Wall or carved stones from the Saint Victor quarry. However, the highlight is the asphalt road that leads to the Phocaean city (on the Place de Lenche in Le Panier). This iconic route is believed to have come directly from Italy.

Basilica of Santa Maria la Mayor

This Romanesque-Byzantine style church is the only one of its kind in France and is made up of two churches. The old construction is romantic in style and was built in the 5th century, although it underwent modifications between the 11th and 12th centuries. For its part, the most modern church dates from the 19th century and was in charge of the renowned architects Vaudoyer and Espérandieu. It has a Byzantine style, with Italian marble and, we promise you, the interior will leave you speechless.

Notre-Dame de la Garde

Although it is a minor church, it is an essential place to see in Marseille , since as soon as you arrive in the city you will be able to see it dominating the landscape. It is 162 meters high so, from the top, you can see Marseille in all its splendor. The design of the church was also in charge of Espérandieu. Something remarkable about Notre-Dame de la Garde is a golden effigy of the Virgin Mary, which is of great value to the inhabitants of the city.

Marsella es el corazón de la Provenza francesa
Photos by: Eulalie Ramos @_laliefrenchie_

Nature, one of the essential things to see in Marseille

The beaches of Marseille

If anything we have to envy any Marseille is the climate of their city. Here they promise 300 days of sunshine a year, so going to the beach is something that people really enjoy. The nature of Marseille lends itself to hiking, swimming and endless water activities. In Marseille there are coves, beaches, islands … You won’t know where to start!

Calanques

Anyone visiting Marseille should come to Calanques. It is a beautiful massif between Marseille and Cassis, surrounded by small streams, turquoise waters and very fine sand. Here you can do some hiking, a picnic, sunbathing, swimming and kayaking.

But what are calanques? Well, they are natural accidents that were formed 12,000 years ago after the last ice age. Then a warming caused the sea to rise and form emerging rocks of unsurpassed beauty. In these spectacular landscapes you will come across the famous Gouffé herb, which only grows in Marseille.

Las calanques son de los lugares imperdibles que ver en Marsella
Photos by: Eulalie Ramos @_laliefrenchie_

Other places of interest to see in Marseille

Castle of If: the prison of Edmundo Dantés

One of the places to see in Marseille that you cannot miss for any reason is the famous Castle of If. To get here you must take a boat in the port. But why is the Castle of If so famous? Well, it is emblematic because it appeared in The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexander Dumas. But not just the Château d’If: part of the action in Dumas’ famous novel takes place in Marseille . The ship El Faraón (in which Dantés was traveling) docks in the Port of Marseille. And of course, Dumas’ narrative takes us into the traditional houses and sites of 19th-century Marseille.

The Castle was built between 1527 and 1529 and is located on a small island in the Frioul archipelago. From the seventeenth century it became a prison dependent on the state, hence Dumas used it as the prison in which, due to a betrayal, Edmundo Dantés would spend a good part of his life confined. We have not been able to verify it; But, according to some myths, the enigmatic man in the iron mask and the Marquis de Sade were also imprisoned here.

Today we know that Edmundo Dantés existed and that Alexander Dumas only compiled his adventures. Although there is no information about him in the archives of the Castle of If , there is a tunnel that he allegedly dug and that all visitors can see on their tour of the old prison.

The Old Port, one of the busiest places to see in Marseille

The history of this city is closely linked to the Old Port . The port of Marseille has been a port for 26 centuries. We already anticipated that it is guarded by two forts: Saint Nicolas and Saint-Jean. Why is it essential? Because according to what they tell us, it is the heart of the city.

Saint-Ferréol Les Augustins

The place where this church is currently located was the command of the order of the Knights Templar in the 12th century. The present-day building was built by the Augustinian monks in 1369 in the Gothic style. Over the centuries, it has undergone multiple reconstructions, and in 1803 it was given the name it currently has.