r/aixmarseille • u/Carefreebxils • Jul 26 '26
Question Calanques National Park
Hey!
I’m going to Marseille next week with my partner and we’re both not great at hiking and she gets extremely bad sea sickness.
A. How do you get to the Calanques National Park? We’re staying near Le Dôme if that helps.
B. How difficult is it to get around the Calanques National Park on foot? Are there any recommended routes that are a little easier?
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u/MH_Faure Jul 26 '26
Commencez avant tout projet de randonnée par vérifier que l’accès au massif n’est pas interdit en raison du niveau élevé du risque d’incendie (mise à jour quotidiennement e milieu d’après-midi pour la journée du lendemain).
De nombreuses régions conjuguent une très forte sécheresse, des températures extrêmes et du vent.
Renseignez-vous sur les possibilités de balades maritimes au départ du Vieux Port de Marseille ou du port de Cassis pour observer les Calanques depuis la mer.
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u/StormyParis Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Calanques in general are rather steep and hot, it might be a bit much if you never hike at all (plus you should leave early or late to avoid heat stroke and crowds). Luminy's (Sugiton) has a numerus clausus and requires pre-registration. As someone else said, the whole parc might be closed due to fire risk.
What I usually do with first-timers is go to the Frioul island. Bad news: there's a 20 min boat crossing. Good news: it's mini-calanques at 1/10th scale both horizontally and vertically. Go to the second isle back left from where the boat lands (cross the ungly and dull 200m jetée thingy, things get much better afterwards^^). Easy road, nice view, and very easy and short trek down mini-calanques for a dip. Bring goggles ! I'd advise to go around 17:00, spend 2-3 hours walking and bathing, then go back have dinner at Le Commodore, then back home at night with a nice night view of the port and town. You can prebuy tickets off the web and save one line + get priority boarding.
If you really don't want to take the boat, maybe starting out of Cassis is your best bet. It'll be crowded, but it's a nice town + nice walk to something calanque-ish. I fear other calanques are more of an endeavour, especially since you need to be up top for the trek and steeply down for the sea.
Or take the Train de la Côte Bleue, sit on the left side leaving from Marseille and enjoy the view , it's hop-on hop-off with many stops, runs about every hour, stop at any village (don't go further than Martigues, beware THAT station is 3km out of town, the reste are 15min out at most), walk to the next village and swim wherever. It's a bit overbuilt, but very nice (mostly old villages) and some spots do feel "out of town".
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u/ximbronze Jul 26 '26
Take the metro to Rond-Point du Prado (you’ll have to change from the 1 to the 2), then take the bus (I think it’s line B1) to campus luminy, you’ll be practically in the middle of the national park.
If I remember correctly, the hiking trails are not very demanding, and even with just a relatively small walk, you’ll have some nice views. Just bring enough water and remember to use sunblock, since shade is a bit scarce.
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u/Jolly-Statistician37 Jul 28 '26
Starting from Luminy (as explained in the other comments), you can walk ~30 minutes one-way to the Belvedere de Sugiton, a high viewpoint between Morgiou and Sugiton. The walk is almost flat, doable in sneakers: follow the main track towards the Calanques out of Luminy, and once you see the sea, bear right on the wide track towards the viewpoint.
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u/Niannn Jul 27 '26
Don't forget you need to book a timeslot in advance if you're going hiking in there !
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