A Long Weekend in Marseille
food | beaches | wine
Last month, my friend and I spent a long weekend in Marseille. It was a trip booked on a whim, inspired by a glass of unseasonal al fresco rosé at Amie Wine Bar in a brief flash of February sun. I’d heard a fair bit about the city over the last few years — mainly that it was ‘like Hackney but southern France’, ‘full of natural wine and Salomons’ and ‘sooo summer 2022’. Despite fair warning that I’d missed the boat of it being 'cool', I decided to embrace full sheep mentality, admit my late arrival at the party, and check it out for myself. I’d seen too many pictures of Tuba Club on my feed to feign nonchalance any longer. Brooke, my unwitting travel companion-to-be, was sold at my elevator pitch of ‘food, sea and wine’.
To spare you the award-worthy research lengths I went to in preparing for this trip, I’ve drawn up a list of all the places we visited over our long weekend. Weather-wise, we were quite unfortunate on our second day, which slightly hampered some of our more ambitious beach day plans, but otherwise, I don’t think I’d change a thing. I am, for the super keen amongst you, including a longer list of places we didn’t quite make it to, whether due to limited stomach capacity, infuriating French opening hours or inclement weather. If any of you do absorb my ramblings and make it to any of these latter places, please report back!
Beaches
Hands down my favourite beach we went to over the weekend was Calanque de Sormiou. Nestled in the Calanques, a natural reserve running along the coast just south of Marseille, Sormiou is a sparkling cove of white beach, turquoise water and dramatic rugged terrain. It’s the kind of place you want to make a day of — a bit of an adventure to get to, and very worth the effort. (Sadly, for someone who prefers a quiet beach, its distance from the city centre wasn’t reflected in the visitor numbers — we went on a sunny Saturday and it was buzzing.) We took the metro down to Rond Point du Prado (a lovely retro travel experience that felt straight out of a Wes Anderson film), and had every good intention to take the 21 bus to Luminy from there. However, the bus driver had clearly missed his morning espresso and wasn’t tempted by the gaggle of pale-legged beachgoers at our stop, so he hurtled past and left us with a 40-minute wait. We chickened out and got an Uber, which cost us 10 euros.
Whether by bus or Uber, you get dropped off at the bottom of the Calanques Trail. From there, the walk takes you up through stone pine-crested hills before descending to the beach via a rocky path — about 35–40 minutes in total. It’s not challenging, but you’ll want proper trainers with grip. There’s not much infrastructure down there, so I’d advise taking a picnic and (if you want a drink or ice cream from the little bar) bringing cash.
This was one of several calanques I wanted to visit, and probably one of the busier ones (though I can’t say for sure). I really wanted to get to Calanque de Sugiton — a bit further along the coast — but time wasn’t on our side.
calanque de sormiou Malmousque is a little village within the 7th arrondissement of Marseille. It’s home to a lovely stretch of coves and swimming platforms: a perfect ‘beach’ option if you’re not feeling up to leaving the city. There are also plenty of nice cafes and delis nearby, should you want to pick up something local for a nibble. We took some cheese and pinot noir down to the rocks for sunset and it was perfect.
Tuba Club. Whilst not an actual beach, we based our third and final day around a trip to this seafront restaurant just south of Marseille. We got an Uber there, which from memory took about 25 minutes from the centre of town, and spent the hours before our lunch reservation lounging on a tiny but lovely beach about two minutes further along the seafront. Tuba also has some deck chairs facing the sea, perfect for sunning yourself with an espresso after an inevitably siesta-inducing lunch.
I’d also intended to visit Bistrot Plage and swim in the Marseille sea pool — the piscine maritime des Augges, but the sun god wasn’t shining on us.
Restaurants
I put a silly amount of pressure on city breaks for every bite of food to be worthwhile. A mediocre meal really gets to me — it feels like a wasted opportunity to try something novel and delicious. I was unbelievably excited for the restaurant scene in Marseille, and I’m pleased to report that there was no mediocrity in sight. (I did also resign myself to spending more than I should… but it was a holiday!)
In order of attendance:
On our first evening we went to Trattoria Jogging. Rustic, half-plastered walls, elegant candles and artfully placed oranges — I was sold the moment we walked in. We ate dinner in gorgeous courtyard out the back, seated at a giant, old slab of stone against what looked like an old stable. It was a simple but delicious Italian meal from a limited seasonal menu. For starters, we shared sourdough with a creamy puddle of gorgonzola, then moved on to cime di rapa with salsa verde, gnocchi with morels and tarragon, and a perfectly crisped veal milanese on the bone. As tired British travellers, we ate early (7.30pm), whereas the locals only began arriving around 9. By the time we stumbled home, the place was buzzing.
For lunch on our second day, we sent it at La Mercerie. It was tipping it down with rain, we arrived totally drenched, and decided the only solution was to order a bottle of pét-nat and settle in for a three-course meal. The food was absolutely exquisite. We feasted on spring asparagus with wild garlic béchamel, a shaved artichoke, parmesan and broad bean carpaccio, roast duck breast with grilled white asparagus, tagliatelle with white rabbit ragù, a dream cheese platter, and one of the most refined, delicious puddings I’ve ever eaten: white asparagus ice cream with macerated strawberries and elderflower. It was a set menu at a very decent price (can’t remember exactly what) and I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
lunch at la mercerie For our third and final lunch, we made the Instagram pilgrimage to Tuba Club. I have to say, it lived up to the hype. From afar, it’s an unassumingly blockish building, plonked atop some gnarly-looking rocks, but get closer and you’ll find yellow-striped deck chairs, elegant bowls of lemons, and an atmosphere that feels like a 2025 reimagining of a Fitzgerald novel. I hadn’t quite registered the extent to which it is very much a seafood restaurant, so my poor seafood-phobic companion was restricted to French fries, sourdough, and a rainbow explosion of perfectly chilled crudités. As the menu is designed for sharing (I wasn’t about to tackle a 3kg fish solo), I limited myself to clams in chicken stock (delicious) and whipped cod’s roe with sourdough (also great). Moral of the story: go hungry, and go with someone who likes fish — the food envy here was real.
lunch at tuba I’d heard great things about Livingstone, so that’s where we had our final dinner. Tucked down a quiet, graffiti-covered street, we sat at a charmingly slanted table while our waiter brought us course after course of thoughtfully curated, Asian-inspired food. Livingstone takes a ‘blind tasting menu or leave’ approach, which I kind of respect. The only problem was that 4 of the 6 courses involved fish, so I was getting double portions and Brooke was, once again, going hungry
dinner at livingstone I’m really sad not to have made it to Limmat, which was recommended by just about everyone. A friendly waitress also suggested Maurice, PROSPER, Suffren and Caterine, but time was not on our side.
Delis
For our adventure south to the Calanque, I declared a proper picnic essential. Our first pit stop was at Le Marché des Argonautes, where we picked up fresh strawberries, croissants and a bottle of local light red wine, hand poured from a tap. I also did a lot of fawning over some rather beautiful asparagus.
Our second stop was for sandwiches — we couldn’t be bothered to make our own. A stone’s throw from Marché des Argonautes, we stumbled across L'épicerie du Fleuve. A lovely man tore open fresh sourdough baguettes and made us the best ham and cheese sandwich I’ve ever eaten — probably due to the 50:50 French salted butter to bread ratio. I made it to 11.40am before caving on the beach.
a balanced picnic lunch During Sunday’s rainstorm, we took shelter in the bustling hub that was Cecile Food Club. We were due for a big lunch soon, so I restrained myself and only got some little zucchini flower beignets (divine). We came back later, in the sunshine, for a crisp glass of natural wine.
Wine Bars / Small Plates
Mercato Wine Bar
A very cool, intimate spot where the only language we heard was French — always a good sign. We tried a couple of different natural wines (delicious), but had to leave before sampling the small plates
mercato wine bar. Le Vin sur Le Main
Another brilliant natural wine bar with a small-plate menu that changes daily. I had some vermentino and an excellent crudo made from a local fish (pagre — I forget the English name!).Cecile Food Club
(See above!) Great vibes, great wine.Ripaille Marseille was also on my list, but I didn’t make it.
Breakfast / Coffee
Pétrin Couchette
Lovely spot for breakfast. Delicious pastries.Pain Pan Boulangerie
Seriously good bakery. We were much more impressed by the pastries than the sandwiches.Razzia
Great coffee. We were too early to try the sandwiches, but whatever was cooking smelled amazing.Places we didn’t make it to (largely due to random French opening hours):
Eclectique, La Brûlerie Moka, Pollux, Chez Moe, Fleuriste La Butinerie, Moutchou
Okay phew, that’s me done. If you’re going to Marseille any time soon — happy holidays, and let me know if you make it to any of the above!!
P.S. Big thanks to my friends Hannah and Julia for their wonderful recommendations — this list owes them a lot.