Commanding access to Marseille's Vieux Port, this photogenic island-fortress was immortalised in Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 classic The Count of Monte Cristo. Many political prisoners were incarcerated here, including the Revolutionary hero Mirabeau and the Communards of 1871. Other than the island itself there’s not a great deal to see, but it’s worth visiting just for the views of the Vieux Port. Frioul If Express runs boats (return €11, 20 minutes, up to 10 daily) from Quai de la Fraternité.
Getty Images/Hemis.fr RM
Château d’If
Marseille
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
Musée Granet
18.13 MILES
Aix established one of France's first public museums here, on the site of a former Hospitallers' priory, in 1838. Nearly 200 years of acquisitions …
Parc National des Calanques
8 MILES
The calanques (coves) of the coast surrounding Marseille became France's 10th national park in 2012, preserving their astonishing beauty and harbouring an…
Basilique Notre Dame de la Garde
2.33 MILES
Occupying Marseille’s highest point, La Garde (154m), this opulent 19th-century Romano-Byzantine basilica is Marseille's most-visited icon. Built on the…
Le Panier
2.61 MILES
'The Basket' is Marseille's oldest quarter – site of the original Greek settlement and nicknamed for its steep streets and buildings. Its close, village…
Vieux Port
2.44 MILES
Ships have docked for millennia at Marseille’s birthplace, the vibrant Vieux Port. The main commercial docks were transferred to the Joliette area in the…
La Cité Radieuse
3.8 MILES
Visionary modernist architect Le Corbusier redefined urban living in 1952 with the completion of this vertical 337-apartment tower, popularly known as La…
Musée des Beaux Arts
3.89 MILES
Set in the lavish, colonnaded Palais de Longchamp, Marseille’s oldest museum owes its existence to an 1801 decree of pre-Napoleonic France's short-lived…
Cours Julien
3.09 MILES
Marseille's most vibrant bohemian quarter centres on Cours Julien, an elongated concrete square shaded by palm trees. It’s lined with great bars, cafes…
Nearby Marseille attractions
1. Îles du Frioul
0.62 MILES
Around nine kilometres west of Marseille lie the dyke-linked limestone islands of Ratonneau and Pomègues, known jointly as the the Îles du Frioul…
2. Vallon des Auffes
1.38 MILES
Nestled around this picture-postcard fishing village, a remnant of old maritime Marseille long since swallowed by modern sprawl, are traditional cabanons …
3. Plage des Catalans
1.68 MILES
The small, bustling, beach-volleyball-busy Plage des Catalans is the closest stretch of sand to the Vieux Port.
4. Jardin du Pharo
1.94 MILES
Perched high above the southern side of the Vieux Port are the six immaculately grassed hectares of the Jardin du Pharo, the grounds of the Palais du…
5. Fort St-Nicolas
2.04 MILES
Guarding the southern side of Marseille’s harbour (and threatening its sometimes rebellious citizens, who attempted to destroy it during the Revolution)…
6. Fort St-Jean
2.14 MILES
Intended as much to control the citizens of Marseille as guard them from external threat, Fort St-Jean was built by Louis XIV in 1660 on the site of a…
7. Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée
2.16 MILES
The icon of modern Marseille, this stunning museum explores the history, culture and civilisation of the Mediterranean region through anthropological…
8. Abbaye St-Victor
2.17 MILES
To the west of the Vieux Port lies Abbaye St-Victor, the birthplace of Christianity in Marseille, built on a 3rd century BC necropolis. It's €2 to visit…