By plane : The international airport Marseille-Provence is located at 25 kms from the town center.> Marseille Airport
Frequent buses between the airport and Marseille (Saint-Charles train station). Duration : 25 minutes / price : 8,50€.> Airport buses
Taxi : 20 minutes / price : from 40 € (day) to 50€ (night). > Airport taxis
There are numerous flights to Paris (duration : 1h15), and direct flights to main european cities (London or Frankfort : 1h30/2h) and to many other French towns.> Air France > Lufthansa > Ryanair > Easyjet > British Airways > KLM > ...

By train : The train station is right in the town center, at 10 minutes from the institute if you take the metro. You'll also find there many buses.
Paris : 3h15 / Paris-Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle : 3h50 / Lyon : 1h40 / Nice : 2h20. > SNCF

By car : Marseille is a highway crossroad between North and South (Lyon, Paris), East and West (Italy and Spain).

Marseille is a university city and a major economic centre for the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, with an international airport and about 850,000 inhabitants.

It also knows how to charm the visitor with its rich cultural heritage, its gentle climate, its lively streets and famous Canebière Avenue. This distinctive Mediterranean city offers all these advantages and more.


Old Port (Vieux Port) :
The Old Port is the hub of Marseilles, lined by its quais, filled with fishing boats and yachts, and surrounded by small streets teeming with seafood restaurants and shops. The Quai des Belges, at the end of the port, hosts a fish market, every morning of the week, that has a life of its own. The wide quais are popular places for leisurely strolling, and the many terrace cafés opposite provide handy "rest stops" for when you're tired of walking. You can even make a "loop" of the Old Port, walking around three sides and taking the little ferryboat across from one side to the other.
The Old Port inlet was used as a landing site by the Phocaeans in 600 BC, and remained the center of maritime activity until the 19th century, when the modern port was built to handle the large steamships. The quais, so popular as promenades today, were built by kings Louis XII and Louis XIII.
The Old Port is filled mainly with small fishing boats and small sailboats, not the large yachts you'll see on the "playgrounds" of the Cote d'Azur. Tied to the quai in front of the Hôtel de Ville is the old barquentine "Le Marseillois". It looks authentic, but weary of its long sea voyages of the past. It now has a very good restaurant inside its wooden hull.


Panier :
The Panier district is like the medieval villages of Beyond. From the Old Port, Le Panier is visible as a hill of tightly-packed old houses behind the north side of the Quai du Port, behind the Hôtel de Ville. Just a few minutes walk takes you up step-streets of brick and stone, to the Place de Moulins at the top. This area certainly isn't the richest of Marseilles, but it has been under gradual renovation for the past five years or so, and you'll see more refurbished old buildings than completely run-down ones.
This is a "quartier" with both character and pride. There's a large open area beside the Rue Panier, with a view into the domed chapelle of the "Vieille Charité", and on the corner is an Office de Tourisme with information and documentation.
The Old Charity Cultural Center (Vieille Charité) has beautiful three-tiered arched balconies surrounding the lovely domed Chapel in the center. The Mediterranean Archaeology museum is inside here, along with a small café, a good bookstore and a few other small, discrete galleries and shops.


Canebière :
The 17th-century Canebière avenue runs from the end of the old port through the center of the city to the Square de Stalingrad (where it continues on as Bvd de la Liberation). La Canebière was grand during the Second Empire (the time of Napoleon III's rule from 1852-1870, when the fine old buildings lining the avenue were built. Today, most of the lustre is gone, although the bustle and activity at the bottom part is reminiscent of the older Canebière that symbolized Marseilles and helped make it famous.
The name Canebière came from the Provençal word canèbe (hemp), for the rope factory that was once here. During the Middle Ages, hemp fields (chènevières) in the drained marshes at the end of the Old Port produced the hemp. The local factory wove the hemp into rope for rigging the sailing ships using the port.
The many streets running off from La Canebière are the best shopping areas, like Rue St. Ferréol and Rue de Rome. The Cantini Museum is at the bottom this area, of to the right about six blocks.
About half way up La Canebière, on the right, is the Place du Marché des Capucins, with a daily produce market.
Place Général-de-Gaulle, at the end near the old port and opposite the Bourse, is a popular meeting place for the locals. The ground floor of the stock exchange building houses the Chamber of Commerce and the Marseilles Maritime and Commercial.


South of the Port and Garde Hill :
The area immediately south of the Old Port was built during the reign of Louis XIV, who had started the expansion of Marseilles in 1660. The docks, that had been here since 1488, were walled and enlarged in 1666, with accommodation for 20,000 people, mainly seamen and galley slaves. The old dockyards were pulled down in 1780, and the area completely rebuilt into its current form of large rectangular buildings.
The Pharo Park is on the low hill at the far end of the old port, about a 20-minute walk along the Quai de Rive Neuve and Bvd C. Livon.
The Basilique St-Victor stands near the southwest corner of the Old Port, by the Fort St-Nicolas. It's a reasonable walk from the old port, and not far from the Pharo Park.
The spectacular Notre-Dame de la Garde is visible from just about everywhere, including from the autoroute if you drive down from Aix. It sits on top of the Garde Hill with a fantastic view of Marseilles, the ports, the islands, and the hills to the north and east. It's a few blocks south of the port, with a serious up-hill climb, so car or bus cold be considered.
Borély Park is about 4 km south of the Old Port, accessible by car or by the number 83 bus. Botanical Gardens are located at the east end of the park.


Longchamp District - Quartier Longchamp :
This area, centered around the Palais Longchamp is about 2 km northwest of the Old Port. From the Square de Stalingrad at the top of La Canebière, Bvd Longchamp runs through an area of business and residential apartment buildings to the Palais Longchamp.
The Palais Longchamp with its magnificent entrance, contains the Fine Arts Museum and the Natural History Museum. There's also an aquarium in the basement. The rest of this wonderful Longchamp Park has an observatory, playgrounds, and acres of walks.
The Grobet-Labadié Museum is across the Place H. Dunant in front of the Palais Longchamp.


St-Charles District :
This is the area around the main railway station, northwest of the Old Port. It's easy to get to, just a few minutes walk from the Old Port and La Canebière. There's a fantastic view from the top of the station steps over the city of Marseilles.
The area around the station is mostly apartments, schools, universities and other large buildings. Two blocks in front of the station, at the Place J. Guesde, is the Arc de Triomphe.

Marseille by the travel guide"Lonely Planet", 2010 :

Tout cela, c'est la Provence, une Provence intime faite de petits riens rencontrés au hasard d'une journée de vacances et qui vous font penser : c'est là un pays où il fait décidément bon vivre.

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