Vieux-Port & Le Panier

A look around

What you’ll be living next to. Swipe through.

1/6

Where it sits

The circle is Vieux-Port & Le Panier and roughly a 10-minute walk around it.

How far is everything?

From the middle of this area to the city's headline sights — pick your own on the city page and these become your list.

• A Marseille night out13 min walk1.1 km
• Cours Julien street art14 min walk1.2 km
• Notre-Dame de la Garde16 min walk1.3 km
• Palais Longchamp24 min walk2.0 km
• The Corniche & Vallon des Auffes27 min walk2.3 km
• La Corniche & Endoume (beach)28 min walk2.3 km
• The Prado beaches11 min taxi3.6 km
• The Château d'If13 min taxi4.2 km
• The Calanques33 min taxi11.0 km

On your doorstep

What you’re living next to if you stay here.

• 2.The Vieux-Port — The beating heart of Marseille for 2,600 years — a rectangle of blue water packed with fishing boats and yachts, ringed by cafés, with a morning fish market on the quay and Norman Foster's mirrored pavilion reflecting it all. Soak up the harbour bustle, watch the boats, and it's the departure point for the islands and the calanques.
• 4.Le Panier — The oldest quarter of Marseille, tumbling above the port — a maze of steep, narrow lanes of faded ochre and pastel houses, hung with washing and splashed with street art and murals, dotted with artisan boutiques, cafés and the grand old Vieille Charité almshouse. The most atmospheric wander in the city; get lost in its colourful lanes.
• 5.MuCEM & Fort Saint-Jean — The striking Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations at the mouth of the port — a bold black concrete-lace cube linked by a vertiginous footbridge to the historic Fort Saint-Jean, with rooftop terraces and sea views. As much about the spectacular architecture, walkways and vistas as the exhibitions; the symbol of the city's reinvention.
• 6.Bouillabaisse — Marseille's legendary dish — a rich Provençal fish stew of the day's rockfish, saffron and fennel, traditionally served in two courses (the broth with rouille and croutons, then the fish), a ritual meal born of the fishermen's leftovers. Have the real thing at a proper Vieux-Port or Vallon des Auffes restaurant (it's not cheap); a taste of the city's soul.
• 11.La Major Cathedral — Marseille's enormous 19th-century cathedral by the port, a striking striped-stone neo-Byzantine pile of green and white banding and great domes, with a cavernous, richly decorated interior. Impressive and unusual, right by the MuCEM and the trendy shopping arches (Les Voûtes) beneath it; a grand stop on the revitalised waterfront.
• 17.The Frioul Islands — A quick ferry to a pair of wild, white limestone islands off the port — hidden swimming coves, old forts, and the city skyline behind. Marseille's easiest escape.
• 18.La Vieille Charité — A serene baroque almshouse in the heart of Le Panier, its arcaded courtyard and domed chapel now home to museums. A cool, beautiful pause in the old town.