Marseille

eddie

eddie

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Can anyone give me any pointers where me and a mate could park a couple of campers close to, or better still in Marseille?

Happy for a campsite, Aire or overnighting in a car park, absolutely 100% self sufficient

Thinking now we may need a decent site during the week, and go into City ‘stealth mode’ on RWC match days, so if anyone has any local knowledge that would be really useful

Thanks
 
We stayed at Cassis on Les Cigalles and got the bus in. Cassis is beautiful.
 
A very nice Aire at Carro west of Marseille right on the coast . You could get the train from there to Marseille
 
It's an industrial port, surrounded by steep hills.

Many years ago a group of us spent the night next to the beach close to the port waiting for the Corsica ferry.
We eventually had to set up a guard rota, with two people continually circling our camp throughout the night as there were so many people who came out of the cracks in the dark.

You are better off looking at the train lines north, east or west and finding a campsite with a good train link an hour down the line

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Don’t camp off grid. We got robbed while asleep on an aire in Marseille lost passports, cash and all the motorhome manuals. Police said it’s a very common occurrence.
 
eddievanbitz
Best advice I can give you is to avoid Marseilles itself. Cassis sounds nicer , especially if in a campsite. That said, it is still in a difficult area. Just keep in mind to never leave something valuable next to a window or on the dashboard. If you visit the town then just be sensible: don't leave you mobile on the table if in a cafe or in your back pocket etc...
Anyway, enjoy.... and listen to the so special Marseilles accent, it sounds like a song!
 
Marseille ! You’ll NEED security. Yes best bet is Cassis. There’s a train station and a bus into Marseille ….don’t keep yer wallet in yer back pocket !

Camping La Cigales isn’t open until 1st April….Try this one…it’s OK….bus opposite for Marseille and Cassis nice as well…walking distance.

N 43.22938
E 5.53376

Good luck !

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Marseille is great though…best Bouillebaisse in France.

Restaurant Michel…sublime !
6 Rue des Catalans, 13007 Marseille, France
+33 (0) 4 91 52 30 63 for reservations

Make sure you go to The North African quarter…again keep wallet in front pocket
Cous Cous in La Palmier …fantastic ….wish I was there.

Not to mention Le Ciotat and Corbusier ….race track in the sky on top of brutalist building.
 
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We went through there once in the Bessacar (hence between July 2009 and the end of 2012) and got diverted cos of roadworks and should have gone down a tunnel and fortunately I noticed in the nick of time it was lower than the overcab so virtually screeched that info at Pete who became exceedingly unpopular with the rest of the traffic who also needed to go down there so then we had no clue whatsoever where we should go and absolutely nowhere to pull over esp in the midst of a bin-men strike - nightmare but we survived so then we thought we'd try to visit Cassis and never succeeded in doing that either. (Could that be the time we went to Greoux les Bains?)
 
Hugoman said:
Marseille ! You’ll NEED security. Yes best bet is Cassis. There’s a train station and a bus into Marseille ….don’t keep yer wallet in yer back pocket !

Camping La Cigales isn’t open until 1st April….Try this one…it’s OK….bus opposite for Marseille and Cassis nice as well…walking distance.

N 43.22938
E 5.53376

Good luck !
Click to expand...
Hi Did you have a name of a site please?

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Marseilles is notorious for its crime. I can't see the attraction, though I was taken there as a kid.

A bulletproof vest might be handy.
 
eddievanbitz said:
Hi Did you have a name of a site please?
Click to expand...
It’s not a site…it’s just parking along the road but until Parking La Cigale opens I think it’s all you’ll find ……Parking Gorguette
 
It can’t be that bad can it?

It’s a big city and they all have issues.

I work all over the worst bits of Birmingham at all hours and it’s never as bad as it’s made out.

Is Marseille different?
 
Googlebot said:
It can’t be that bad can it?

It’s a big city and they all have issues.

I work all over the worst bits of Birmingham at all hours and it’s never as bad as it’s made out.

Is Marseille different?
Click to expand...
I'd say yes.
I've been in many of the dodgy areas of London, where, most of the time, you are OK.
Whereas even the area around the port and the central bits of Marseilles are dodgy and full of very sketchy people.

Far too many people who are a bit thin, in cheap clothing, wearing sandals rather than shoes, judging by their hairstyle dont work in an office, shifty eyes, and you notice that you may have been spotted as 'prey'

Most of the time you'll be fine, but it's not a place I'd ever wait overnight for an early ferry again.
I'd get 10 miles inland or down the coast.

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Far too many people who are a bit thin, in cheap clothing, wearing sandals rather than shoes, judging by their hairstyle dont work in an office, shifty eyes…..

Are we back to Birmingham again ?
 
Joe Lycett did a travel programme about Marseille recently. It looked a very interesting city. Just don't stay there at night.

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Reading some of the dire warnings I feel like I’ve been to a different place. I’ve been to Marseille three times. Once following my football team over there and twice my wife and I stayed at the aire at Carro and got the train in. I/we never felt threatened or uncomfortable in the tourist part of town and around the Old Port, even on the football trip. Not quite so pleasant for the match itself, but no worse than say Madrid.
 
Barryh said:
Reading some of the dire warnings I feel like I’ve been to a different place. I’ve been to Marseille three times. Once following my football team over there and twice my wife and I stayed at the aire at Carro and got the train in. I/we never felt threatened or uncomfortable in the tourist part of town and around the Old Port, even on the football trip. Not quite so pleasant for the match itself, but no worse than say Madrid.
Click to expand...
It’s fine…been there a few times. Not sure about wild camping overnight though…
 
eddievanbitz said:
That’ll do 👍🏻

Thanks
Click to expand...
Check on Algeria ferry arrival times.
As guess these guys use it as a waiting area

Obviously none will be over 3500KG ::bigsmile:

1678735168331.png

Google street view clip (Genuine!)
 
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Brains said:
Check on Algeria ferry arrival times.
As guess these guys use it as a waiting area

Obviously none will be over 3500KG ::bigsmile:

View attachment 726592
Google street view clip (Genuine!)
Click to expand...
I think Eddie's van won't fit in one of those so he might be all right 👍

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