Getting to Marseille
Getting to Marseille
By plane
Marseille-Provence International Airport (MRS) (about 30 km from Marseille).
Bus. Bus #91 is the easiest way to get to Marseille’s city centre. The shuttle leaves approximately every 15-20 minutes, taking 25 minutes and goes directly to the St. Charles bus/train station where you can take the metro or walk to your hotel. The price is €10 for a one-way or €16 for a round-trip (as of May 2022). Buses go to some other directions too.
Train. The airport is served by the Vitrolles Marseille Provence Airport train station on the TER network. This train station can be reached in 5 min by bus #13, departing from bus station’s platform 5. This TER line serves Marseille and Miramas in one direction, and Arles, Tarascon, Nîmes and Montpellier in the other.
Taxi. The airport website indicates the price of €50 for a trip to Marseille during the day and €60 at night.
By train
Marseille sees TGV trains from Paris (3 hours) via Lyon (1hr 45min), Nice (2 hours) and from Brussels (5 hours). Slower Intercités trains connects with cities not on the TGV network. All trains within France are run by SNCF or for low-cost TGV by Ouigo.
Regional TER are frequent and connects with several nearby cities and can be a cheaper alternative than using TGV trains for shorter journeys.
The main station of Marseille is Gare Saint-Charles, at Square Narvik a few hundred metres north of the absolute city centre. It’s a short walk from the Canebière and the Old Port, but the station is slightly uphill which might be inconvenient if you have heavy luggage. The station is open between 04:30 to around 01:00, information on departures and arrivals as well as practical information can be found at the Gares SNFC webpage.
By bus
FlixBus has many connections all over Europe.
Gare Routière St Charles (bus station) (next to the main train station St. Charles; access through Platform N), ☏ +33 4 91 08 16 40, standardGRM@rtm.fr. M Tu Th F 07:30-19:00; W Sa Su holidays: 08:00 – 13:00, 14:00 – 19:00.
By car
Marseille is very well connected to most French cities through numerous highways. As always in France those highways are expensive but practical, comfortable and fast. Marseille is around 8 hours from Paris by car, 2 hours from Nice, 1hr 30min from Montpellier, 4 hours from Toulouse and 3 hours from Lyon. However, be aware that driving in the city centre could be difficult – park your car and stick to public transport whenever you can.