Villages near Marseille worth visiting – L’Estaque, Le Rove and Saint Croix

Spending few days in Marseille gives an opportunity to see also other places around this city. Many cute villages with amazing views, sandy beaches and beautiful ports are not far from the capital of Provence. Take an advantage of discovering those places on north or south of Marseille.

I already mentioned few cool places on the south of Marseille worth visiting, like  Cassis, La Ciotat or the road connecting these two spots Route des Cretes La Ciotat Cassis.  

Today I would like to encourage you to get out of the city a bit and check out the northern part of Marseille.

In the 16th district of Marseille, just 11 kilometers from the center of the city, there is a place called L’Estaque. Amazing houses, humble fishing port and a big green area around coastline attract many locals to spend their Sunday there. You can find there many people of different age playing boule ( fr. Pétanque ), a game originated in… La Ciotat!

“Pétanque is a form of boules where the goal is to toss or roll hollow steel balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet (literally “piglet”) or jack, while standing inside a circle with both feet on the ground.”

Also in L’Estaque there is a long coastline with The Corbière beaches, three beaches called Lave Beach, Batterie Beach and Fortin Beach. The first two are full of sand and the third is made of stones.

Not far from L’Estaque, there a village called Le Rove. It is also very pretty but what can interest you more about this place is a cove La Vesse which you can find on your way or you can access from the center of Le Rove, by street Niolon and then taking the left towards Vesse.

The beaches are located next to the small port and the big bridge of the blue train. There is a splendid view into from there but unfortunately, the area is full of people making barbecue who do not know how to clean after themselves.  Basically, besides the view, the place is drowning in the garbage… Of course, it is worth visiting just for the view but just don’t plan to stay there longer than needed.

From Le Rove you should definitely go to the beach near the village La Beaumaderie which is, by the way, very nice camping place where you can rent a cabin or leave your camping car. Just next to the camping place you can find a small but cute beach called Plage deSaint-Croix. It has an attracting atmosphere not only during the day but also to watch a sunset or spend time during the evening.

There are many interesting places to see around Marseille so make sure to choose well!