7 Days in Marseille: Day Trips to Provence

Seven days covers every Provence day trip Marseille offers, Cassis and the Calanques, Aix, Avignon, Arles, the Camargue, and the Luberon villages, then hands you a flex final day back in the city. Shorter trip? Drop to 2 through 6 days . Want the city itself instead of a repeat day? Our Marseille itinerary covers the Vieux-Port and Notre-Dame de la Garde in full.

Book these before you go

Day Day trip Travel time from Marseille
Day 1 Cassis + the Calanques 30-45 min by train and transfer
Day 2 Aix-en-Provence 30-45 min by train
Day 3 Avignon 30-40 min by TGV, closer to an hour door to door
Day 4 Arles About 1 hour by train
Day 5 The Camargue 1.5-2 hours via Arles, car or tour needed
Day 6 The Luberon villages 1-1.5 hours each way, car or tour needed
Day 7 Flex day: in-city calanques or a repeat No train, city bus only

Day 1: Cassis And The Calanques

  • Morning: Head to Marseille Saint-Charles for the Cassis train, about 25 minutes, then a short bus or taxi down into the port since the station sits inland. Board a Calanques boat tour from the Cassis waterfront, EUR 21-33 for a standard circuit past Sormiou, Morgiou, and En-Vau. Prefer to skip the transfer entirely? The Calanques boat tour with swimming leaves straight from Marseille’s own Vieux-Port
  • Afternoon: Swim at whichever calanque your boat stops at. Hiked in instead? The Calanque de Sugiton needs a free reservation booked 3 days ahead during peak summer, checked by QR code at the trailhead
  • Evening: Dinner in Cassis’s port, or back in Marseille’s Vieux-Port if you took the direct boat option

Day 2: Aix-En-Provence

  • Morning: Train to Aix-en-Provence, 30 to 45 minutes with frequent departures. Walk the Cours Mirabeau, the grand 18th century boulevard lined with fountains and plane trees, and check the season’s exhibitions on aixenprovencetourism.com
  • Afternoon: Cezanne’s studio and the Musee Granet, or just linger over lunch on the Cours Mirabeau, Aix rewards a slow pace more than a checklist
  • Evening: Train back to Marseille for dinner, or catch the Cassis and Aix-en-Provence Sightseeing Tour instead if you’d rather combine both towns in one guided day

Day 3: Avignon

  • Morning: TGV to Avignon, 30 to 40 minutes on the train itself, though budget closer to an hour once you add the shuttle from Avignon TGV station into Avignon Centre. Head straight for the Palais des Papes
  • Afternoon: The Papal Palace needs a genuine 1.5 to 2 hours, Europe’s largest Gothic palace and the seat of the papacy from 1309 to 1377. The combined Palace and Pont d’Avignon bridge ticket runs EUR 17 in 2026
  • Evening: Walk the Pont d’Avignon itself before the train back, or grab dinner in Avignon’s old town first

Day 4: Arles

  • Morning: About an hour by train to Arles. The Roman amphitheater and ancient theater, both UNESCO listed, anchor the morning
  • Afternoon: Walk the streets and light that shaped Van Gogh’s 300-plus works from his 1888-1889 Arles period. Here’s the honest part: almost none of the original paintings still hang here, most live in museums abroad, so come for the atmosphere, not a gallery visit
  • Evening: Dinner in Arles’ old town before the train back to Marseille

Day 5: The Camargue

  • Morning: A car or organized tour is the honest way to do this one, public transport thins out fast past Arles. Head for Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and the Pont de Gau bird park, a Camargue day tour from Marseille covers the whole loop without the logistics
  • Afternoon: Flamingos, wild white Camargue horses, and salt marsh scenery, with 4x4 safari or horseback options for a closer look
  • Evening: Back to Marseille by early evening, this is the longest day trip on the list once travel time is counted

Day 6: The Luberon Villages

  • Morning: No useful train serves the Luberon, so this is a car or tour day, 1 to 1.5 hours each way. Gordes, one of France’s officially recognized “most beautiful villages,” stacked up its hillside, is the first stop
  • Afternoon: Roussillon and its vivid ochre cliffs, with the marked Ochre Trail walk if you’ve got the legs left
  • Evening: Back in Marseille by late afternoon or early evening on a guided tour, this is the day with the most planning of the whole week, worth it if you’ve got the extra day to spend

Should Day 7 be a Provence repeat or a Marseille city day?

Either is defensible. A repeat of whichever day trip won the week costs nothing extra to plan, while a slow city day adds Notre-Dame de la Garde and Le Panier if you skipped the city itself on arrival. The in-city calanques below split the difference: coastal scenery with zero train or tour required.

Day 7: Flex Day, In-City Calanques Or A Repeat

  • Morning: Sleep in, then take the city bus down to Callelongue, one of the calanques that sits inside Marseille’s own southern arrondissements, no train or tour required for this one
  • Afternoon: A short hike along the coastline, or if one Provence day trip won above the rest, this is the slot to repeat it instead
  • Evening: A last bouillabaisse dinner at a charter-respecting kitchen back in the Vieux-Port before departure

Do you need a car for the whole week?

Only for two of the six day trips. Cassis, Aix, Avignon, and Arles all run faster and cheaper by direct train than by car, and Day 7’s in-city calanque needs nothing but a city bus. A car, or a tour standing in for one, earns its cost strictly on the Camargue and Luberon days.

Transportation

Marseille Saint-Charles is the hub for the train-based day trips, a short walk or one metro stop from the Vieux-Port. Live timetables and TGV tickets for Avignon are on SNCF Connect . Inside Marseille itself, RTM runs the metro, tram, and bus on one fare, 1.70 EUR a single ride or 5.20 EUR for a day pass.

Tips And Essentials

  • Book the Calanques boat, Avignon’s palace ticket, and the Camargue or Luberon tour a few days ahead in summer, all sell out or queue up on weekends
  • Currency is the euro, and cards work almost everywhere, no need to carry a lot of cash
  • The Calanques park’s trail rules and closures sit on calanques-parcnational.fr , and Aix’s own event calendar is on aixenprovencetourism.com

Other Interests

  • Full listings for Marseille’s own events and museums sit on marseille-tourisme.com if Day 7 turns into a city day
  • Bouillabaisse at a charter-respecting kitchen needs booking 24-48 hours ahead, call it in on Day 6
  • The Frioul Islands ferry from the Vieux-Port is a shorter, boat-only alternative to Day 7’s bus if the calanque hike sounds like too much walking

Seven days clears all six Provence day trips with a genuine flex day left over. Whether that day turns into a Callelongue hike, a repeat of Cassis, or a slow morning in Le Panier, book the Calanques boat, Avignon’s palace ticket, and whichever car-dependent tour you need well before you land, and the rest of the week runs itself.