Marseille Birthday Trip (A MarSlay!)
I’m so excited to finally tell y’all all about our trip to Marseille, which I teased in this post! Why Marseille, you may ask? We knew that we wanted to go somewhere for my birthday weekend, so we went to Google Flights and put in London to Anywhere, then compared prices and our excitement about various destinations. Flights to Marseille were at good times/prices, so we jumped on it!
Day One
Our flight was so early that public transit wasn’t an option, so we took an Uber to Stansted Airport. Hot tip for the Americans here – you can’t to get your Ryanair boarding pass via their app and will need to physically check in at the airport. We were not expecting the absolute ZOO that the check-in line was – people were flipping out about missing their flights. Once boarded, we were very impressed by the leg room on the flight. Based on price & leg room, something tells me we’ll be flying Ryanair regardless of the check-in sitch.
Once we landed in Marseille, we waited for a taxi. This apparently took longer than usual due to a strike by the airport. Once we were en route, our driver warned us of a strike at 2pm directly in front of our hotel. He was lovely, recommending plenty of things to do in the area and even complimenting my French!
When we checked in at the gorgeous Maisons du Monde Marseille, Q surprised me; he’d booking an apartment rather than a room in the hotel. The two story apartment was lovely, including a balcony and a kitchenette!
By this point we were starving, so we wandered to a brunch restaurant we had passed earlier, Deia Marseille. This meal was absolutely unreal. It’s been a month and I’m still salivating over the Green Pancakes and Black Sesame Latte.
We needed to digest all that delicious food, so we started to wander. Fun fact about me: I adore niche museums, the smaller and more random the better! On our post-brunch walk, we came across Le Musée du Savon (The Soap Museum), and I immediately dragged Q inside. It’s small; one room with plaques describing the history of soap in Marseille. For €2.50, you get entry to the museum and a 100g soap of your choice to take home!
Next, we walked up to Fort Saint Nicholas, where we strolled around sipping rosé. It has gorgeous views of the city – definitely found the French version of 42 Street for my record collection!
After a little cat nap, we rallied for dinner at La Poule Noire. This meal was absolutely phenomenal, I would highly recommend getting a reservation here on your trip to Marseille.
Day 2
Our second day there was my actual birthday, so I got to decide most of what we did! All the locals we’d talked to recommended exploring Le Panier, the old district, and it was a great recommendation. There are tons of older, family-owned businesses, restaurants everywhere, gorgeous wall art, and excellent people-watching. We picked Entre Terre et Mer for my birthday lunch so I could get a seafood platter. The shellfish was phenomenal, and Q’s cheese and charcuterie plate was just as good.
We spent the next few hours wandering Le Panier, which was a delight. On our walk back, we investigated boat trips to Les Calanques, a gorgeous National Park in Marseille full of stunning coves and limestone formations. The two hour boat tour only cost €27 per person. This includes an audio tour (in French), as well as a Google maps route so you can follow along in English on your phone as you go. The calanques were stunning – I definitely recommend either a boat trip to see them, or exploring them on foot!
Our dinner that night was… rough to say the least. I never send food back, but my steak was inedible. By the end of the meal our stomachs hurt from laughing so much. We headed home to sleep it off in preparation for the wine tour we’d booked months in advance!
Day 3
Since we knew we’d be drinking wine all day, we started our morning with coffee and croissants from Boulangerie Aixoise. We booked this tour via Viator with no clue if it would be any good, and it exceeded our expectations. Our tour guide, Eric, was lovely and extremely knowledgeable. If you are interested in booking any experiences via Viator, this link will give you 15% off!
The first vineyard was Chateau de Trois Sautets, which is both a winery and a goat farm where they produce various goat cheeses. We were incredibly lucky – the tasting part is dictated by availability of various cheeses and we got to taste three cheeses! We were so enamored with the cheese that we purchased two of them to take back to Marseille with us. While we didn’t buy it, their white wine was our favorite wine of the day. Plus… we got to meet the goats!!!
Between wineries, we had an hour and a half to explore Aix en Provence. We stumbled upon an amazing cheese shop, Fromagerie Bedarrides. They carried Époisses, one of my all-time favorite cheeses from my days as a fromager, so we picked some up to take home. We found me some escargot for lunch (Q had a croque madame that was superb), then piled back into the air-conditioned van to the next winery, Terre de Mistral.
We got to try six wines (white, rosé, and red), and we bought some rosé to go with our cheese. I also found a perfume that I couldn’t resist – Carrement Belle Rose.
Once back in Marseille, we strolled back to the same bakery as that morning for a baguette, and promptly took went home to nap. We had the three cheeses, baguette, and rosé for dinner on our balcony for our final night in Marseille.
Day 4
We needed to check out by 11am, but we had time before our flight, so we left our bags at the main hotel and headed back to Deia again for another delicious brunch. The final non-negotiable on our list for this trip was walking up to the Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde. And when I say walking up… I truly mean up. It is at the very top of quite a hill, so definitely wear sneakers for that trek. It’s totally worth it, though, the interior and exterior are absolutely beautiful, and the views can’t be beat. 10/10, worth it.
We picked up our stuff from the hotel and headed to the airport, making sure to leave time for the Ryanair passport shenanigans, but turns out the Marseille airport is so small you actually can’t even check in that early. So we drank beers on the floor of the airport til we were able to go to our gate. The gate had no seating but was essentially a standing/leaning holding area. The flight itself was fine, and we made it home Tuesday night happy and full of cheesy memories.
Overall – I highly recommend a trip to Marseille. I’d say book for at least five days if you can – we didn’t make it to the beach because we had so much to pack into our trip!
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