Cassis or Aix-en-Provence

When will you be there?

The town of Cassis itself is secondary to the views from a boat or a hiking/swimming day along the Calenques. These boats give you a scenic ride along the coast, but don't actually deliver you to the town of Cassis. Buses run most conveniently from Marseille to Cassis harbor, or trains drop you up the hill, above the town.

Aix is primarily a city for strolling and café sitting, and has a great Saturday morning market.

I very much recommend the bakery stops that Rick describes in Marseilles' North African Market - Soeil d'Egypte and La Carthage.

They are both wonderful but very different. You could go to Cassis and take the Calanque boat ride from there. However, you should avoid Cassis on the weekend when it's bumper to bumper traffic and people. From Cassis, you can also walk the Calanques, or hike to the top of Cap Canaille, which takes a couple of hours, stroll and window shop. There's also a very small local museum.

Aix is a lovely strolling town/small city, much larger than Cassis, with a lot of sites, fountains, a regional museum, Cezanne's house.... It's fine to go there on the weekends.

Here you go. It's now boosted back to the top.

A note of caution . . Before you set out for Cassis, if that's what you choose, call the TI office to be sure the Calanques boats are running. We were there on a clear sunny day, but the winds were too strong for the boats to go out.

Rosalyn's caution can also apply to boat departures from Marseille. On my visit in the first week of November, the ticket office warned everyone that people had been sick on the morning boat, due to seas a bit rough, and that they wouldn't operate without a minimum number of passengers. But the afternoon run did get enough people to depart and we didn't have any problem.

We combined the two for a long day of touring. Cassis first, visited a small market, boght some lovely local perfume ( L' Eau De Cassis: 2 Place Baragnon, www.leaudecassis.com , multiple pure floral scents and affordable) and local candy, looked at many nicely locally made hats/clothes/ knives, went to the tiny local museum, sat in a cafe, drove up to the cliffs overlooking it- then Aix, with a relatively quick lunch and a fine walk through it. We had a private guide who also drove her van- a delightful day- don't think I would have enjoyed a full day in Cassis, it is small, and Aix is lively and historic.
I would go back to Aix if i had to chose only one.