marseille advice needed

[andrew_huxtable]

The better half and myself have flight booked into marseille on the 11th September this year. How much is a typical half litre of lager? We wont be fine dining either so what will a typical meal cost?

[smifffymoto]

Eat out at lunchtime,like the French,and have the pdj.You will keep costs down considerably by doing this.

[andrew_huxtable]

whats the pdj?

[Pvapour]

plate of the day

plat du jour

PDJ

dont do Marseille

hth

[andrew_huxtable]

Why not? We spent our summer holiiday in carcassonne last year and really enjoyed. Yeah our French is poor but we know enough to get by

[smegmore]

Carcassonne, Narbonne or Perpignan if you want to go down that way

Marseilles is a sthole, you wouldn't want to be there unarmed, believe me.

[andrew_huxtable]

it cant be that bad, aw well the flights are booked anyway. Might hire a car and drive down the coast a bit

[Leadfoot]

Stay in Aix, much nicer!

A daytrip to Marseille is plenty. Same applies to Toulon.

[johnnyreggae]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/eur...

[Bat28]

I agree with what as been said ... if you can avoid Marseille ... do it.

[jimbo fr]

Load of rubbish , I go about 3 to 4 times a year and have a great time , never had a problem at all . its a port town so it can be a bit edgy in some parts ie the port area so just don't head there , anyway there is no reason to .

[Johno]

Agree with all comments on Marseilles, I'm there on business from Paris at least twice a year and it's awful. The train network is outstanding in France, use it to get away from Marseilles, the TGV goes straight into Aix en Provence from Marseilles so I'd be using that straight away.

Marseilles is a port town essentially and in decline, use your imagination . . .

[ManuFromParis]

Marseille is a very unique and very crowded city in France, it's actually one of the oldest city and it would be a shame not to visit it, even thought some remarks above can't be totally denied. As in Paris, tourists may be targeted by pickpockets but the place is certainly not more dangerous than Pigalle or Champs-Elysées at night !

The city has always been, and still is, the point of entry in France from all Méditerranée countries. So, mixed population is everywhere in the city and in the area, but the "natives french" are of course there as well and, to me, this very mix is fascinating.

As other said, you may find some other quiet city or village to settle down, but the whole coast around is wonderful. Don't miss it !

Edited by ManuFromParis on Tuesday 17th July 23:36

[andrew_huxtable]

Well arrived back from Marseille early Saturday morning, the only problem we had was the villa we booked in Bandol. Arrived and it was a total sthole and miles away from the description on the site that advertised it, so a small argument with the owner and got refunded the 300 euro, lost out on the deposit as you can imagine, unfortunately no place had any vacancies in Bandol so back to Marseille on the train.

We both really liked the place, transport was excellent, we ended up exploring the province during the day then back to the city for dinner and drinks at night. The city really changed once night set in and was a really nice place to explore, we tried to experience everything it had to offer, so ended up having 2 curries, a Chinese, and a kebab from the Arab quarter.

Security stepped up after a french newspaper printed another cartoon criticising the prophet, properly heavily armed police with fully automatic weapons were on patrol.

I`d recommend it, our plan was 11th to the 15th in Marseille then the next week in Bandol, but as I have said that went tits up.

So spent 12 nights in the city, didnt get robbed or beaten. The Arab quarter was interesting after a certain hour but still no one really pushed their limits. The closest I felt to trouble was leaving the train station and a young looking Didier Drogba eyeballed me looking for a square go, a cheeky little bonjour monsieur and side stepped him.