Marseille current safety and crime

You are certainly entitled to your opinion and your anecdotal examples

Ditto!

A sometimes useful guide:
http://www.city-safe.com/europe/france/marseilles/
It was updated autumn of last year so reflects the concerns about terrorism. I think that concern could be
applicable to any largish city in Europe.
There's also the wikitravel on the city:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Marseille
"Stay safe[edit]

In recent years muggings and pickpockets have dramatically decreased in the city center, however, avoid carrying valuables and watch your surroundings. Most of the northern neighborhoods (quartiers nord), except L'Estaque and Château-Gombert, might be risky and should be avoided by tourists and there is no logical reason for going there.
The area around Boulevard Michelet teems with prostitutes and should be avoided on soccer nights as you can meet potentially angry and drunk Olympique de Marseille hooligans.
When driving a car make sure the doors are locked. There have been occurrences of motorcyclists opening the doors of cars and quickly snatching bags and valuables from the seats.
Overall the city is fairly safe, as is Paris, so there is no need for paranoia! "
A long time forum member has posted on Marseille before, here's a thread from last year about the city:
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/get-stuffed/topics/reasonably-priced-restaurants-particularly-bouilliabase-in-Marseille
Here's a post from 2016 from another Any Port in a Storm forum member when they visited Marseille (great photos!) http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com/thread/7807/marseille-mistral

Hello there,
I had a German woman staying with me via wimdu in October. She reported feeling intimidated around the Noailles market area. Harrassment of single women seems to be a problem across France from what women have said to me, so Marseille is not unique in this respect.
Otherwise, the same woman greatly enjoyed her time in the city and didn't have any problems, exploring the city by herself and venturing out to the Calanques national park.
I'd encourage you to come here, it's a friendly city, but it has a certain rebelliousness to it. I have a friend who had a bag snatched in Geneva, of all places, while he stopped to look at a map. Another acquaintance of mine here in Marseille had her smartphone pickpocketed on one of the escalators in the metro so I think in any city in Europe now you need to keep your valuables in contact with you at all times, be aware of your surroundings and who is nest to you and avoid being distracted by for example listening to music on the go.
Much of Marseille is fairly bourgeois and the tide of gentrification is gathering pace so I'd advise visiting before it becomes just like everywhere else.

Hi sfgirl42 and tommo68, thanks for your great posts. sfgirl42, I will check out all those links and tommo68, thank you for the feedback from the German woman who recently stayed with you. It's funny -- I actually like a certain rebelliousness to a city. I live an hour outside of New York, and I remember loving Times Square back when it was gritty, colorful and edgy. Now it has been Disney-fied and is clean, safe and entirely lacking in character. So I appreciate what you mean. I am constantly trying to balance safety against other desirable qualities like diversity and uniqueness.

On this particular trip to France, I will be with a wonderful older friend who is not in great physical condition and not terribly street-smart. My concern is more over her; that she, specifically, might make an easy target. I will read both of your posts in more detail and continue to gather information. I think we can probably figure out a way to visit Marseilles without having a problem. Merci again!

Thanks to John Steed and others who have the courage to tell it like it is. I love Marseilles but forewarned is forearmed. Nothing he's reported deters me in the least of revisiting one of my favorite French cities, especially now that I know more about how to be particularly aware.

How are things in St. Giniez, where I'll be staying next trip? Merci encore!

"Tell it like it is" ?

I don't think that the experience of one person applies to everyone.

I would think that everyone knows already that caution should be applied in any big city. I live in "safe" Paris and I am fully aware of possible dangers.

Funny, the only place I've EVER been accosted in Europe, in over 45 years of travel, is Paris, in the subway by a young Arab couple two Mays ago. Unfortunately for them, I fought them both off w/o any difficulty and left them both yelling at and blaming each other for having botched the attempted theft, to my fellow passengers' great delight. Yes, "tell it like it is" is always preferable to "saying the thing which is not."

Appearing to be rich is a magnet for thieves anywhere in the world, but it's advisable to realise that wealth is relative.
I've lived in Marseille for more than five years. I grew up in London, which is where I got the standard street-smarts that keep me out of trouble here. You do need to take normal city precautions and stay out of known no-go zones, but it is a beautiful city and not to be avoided on account of its reputation.

I have been to Marseille five times in the last three years and love it. Before I stayed there I'd been led to believe it was the crime capital of France, but I'm now convinced that is a rumour put about by the Parisian tourist board!

Like any big(gish) city, it has its rough areas, but I can't say I felt any more vulnerable in them than I have done in the equivalent areas of any major city. I went to Bougainville during the day, mainly to check it out. It was very run down with the usual attributes of such an area, but I didn't find it particularly threatening. I wouldn't recommend visiting the area simply because it's pretty redundant of saving graces, rather than any obvious dangers.

I have stayed mainly around Vieux Port and Le Panier which have become very gentrified and feel very comfortable. I've noticed nothing particularly alarming happening in the streets around there, but would acknowledge that I rarely stay out much after 10pm, so perhaps I've witnessed it at its best! Any time I've stayed out later than that, it has always been around Place de Lenche, which has always seemed most genteel. The local boulangerie both open way past 10pm and I can't imagine they'd do that if the area was dangerous. I did have my phone pickpocketed at Vieux Port metro, but that was my own stupid fault and could have happened in any major city centre.

I wouldn't presume to correct people who've actually lived in Marseille for any length of time, but far from being crime ridden, I've been surprised how relatively crime free the beaches around Prado are. People routinely leave their possessions unattended, whilst they swim or go for a walk, but I've not heard a single story about anybody having anything stolen. The staff in the local Casino supermarket and local resident Laurent, who visits Plage David daily, from April to September, confirmed there was little incidence of reported crime in the area. Even the flea market which stretches for about a kilometre at weekends, is relatively scam free.

Marseille is a strange city though, for example whilst it doesn't seem to actively encourage tourists to visit, it treats the ones who find their way there better than any other city I've visited. In the final analysis, it is probably the most 'user-friendly' city I've ever visited, as can be exemplified by its 7 day travel pass, which entitles the traveller to unlimited journeys on metro, tram, bus and certain rail routes, as well as amazing bonuses such as the coach to Cassis and the boat to Estaque. It costs just €13.00, which is less than it costs for an all zone travel card in London, valid for just a single day.

In all five previous visits to Marseille, the only 'trouble' I've witnessed, was a rather violent domestic which spilled onto the street in La Blancarde, again, not really a tourist destination. Despite the warnings of others, I find Marseille to be far less threatening than London, Paris, Rome or any other big cities I know. Yes it is down at heel in many areas, but in an attractively Bohemian way. It has swanky areas, but they don't feel exclusive, in the literal sense. Overall, Marseille has a vibrancy missing in the corporate theme parks that London, Paris and Milan have become and I'll be back there in September.

In terms of "crime capital of France," I am pretty sure that it is the murder capital of France but only if you are a drug dealer in the northern fringe of the city where even I have never been.

Down along the seafront and the Vieux Port, I have never seen the slightest problem.