Marseille France Day Trips: 6 Days on a Budget

Six days from Marseille is the full set: Cassis and the Calanques, Aix-en-Provence, Arles, Avignon, the Camargue, then the Luberon’s hilltop villages as the sixth and priciest day. Only the first three days run on a walk-up TER ticket; the last three each add a paid monument, a guided tour, or both. The 5-day version stops before the Luberon, and our Marseille France guide covers all six trips in more depth if a day needs swapping.

Book these before you go

Day Focus Distance / time from Marseille Rough cost
Day 1 Cassis + the Calanques ~30-45 min by TER, plus a local transfer TER ~EUR 6-7; free hike or ~EUR 19-40 boat
Day 2 Aix-en-Provence ~30-45 min by TER (fastest ~35 min) ~EUR 9-10 one way
Day 3 Arles ~1h by TER Train fare plus EUR 11 arena (EUR 9 reduced)
Day 4 Avignon ~1h door to door by TGV Train fare plus EUR 17 Palace and bridge combo
Day 5 The Camargue ~1.5-2h via Arles, a car or tour required A guided day tour runs roughly EUR 100-150 per person
Day 6 The Luberon ~1-1.5h drive, a car or tour required A guided day tour from Aix runs roughly EUR 100-165 per person

Day 1: Cassis and the Calanques

Take an early TER from Marseille Saint-Charles to Cassis, roughly 30 to 45 minutes and about EUR 6-7 one way. The station sits about 3km from the village center, budget a short bus or taxi transfer down to the port. From there, hike a marked trail into a calanque for free, or book a boat circuit for roughly EUR 19 for a one hour version up to EUR 40 for a two hour, five calanque trip with a swimming stop. In summer, hiking into the Calanque de Sugiton needs a free timed reservation booked three days ahead, check the Calanques National Park’s site before planning a July or August hike.

Day 2: Aix-en-Provence

Aix is a 30-45 minute TER ride (the fastest run is about 35 minutes) for roughly EUR 9-10 one way, as low as EUR 4 on an advance fare. Walk the Cours Mirabeau, follow the Cezanne trail past his old haunts, and see the Aix-en-Provence Tourism site for the trail map, no second ticket is needed for either.

Day 3: Arles

Arles runs about an hour away by TER, check SNCF Connect for the current timetable. The Roman amphitheater costs EUR 11 full price (EUR 9 reduced, free under 18), and a combined pass covers the ancient theater and the Roman baths for a bit more. Van Gogh painted here for 15 months, but his actual canvases mostly hang in museums abroad now, the value is the arena and the light rather than a collection to view on-site.

Day 4: Avignon

Avignon is about an hour door to door by TGV. The Papal Palace, seat of the papacy from 1309 to 1377, costs EUR 14.50 alone or EUR 17 for the combined Palace and bridge ticket, per the Palais des Papes’ official pricing page . Budget at least 1.5 to 2 hours inside, it is Europe’s largest Gothic palace and takes longer than it looks from outside.

Day 5: The Camargue

The Camargue is reached via Arles plus a further local leg, roughly 1.5 to 2 hours total, and it needs a car or a guided tour rather than a walk-up TER ticket. A group day tour runs roughly EUR 100-150 per person and covers flamingos, wild white horses and the salt marshes around Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a private outing costs more. Book this one ahead, seats on a scheduled Camargue tour do sell out.

Day 6: The Luberon

The Luberon’s hilltop villages, Gordes and Roussillon among them, have no useful direct train from Marseille at all, so a guided day tour is the only realistic option for the sixth and final day. Tours depart more often from Aix-en-Provence than from Marseille itself and run roughly EUR 100-165 per person, typically covering two or three villages plus a photo stop at an ochre cliff or a hilltop viewpoint. It is the most expensive single day on this plan, reserve it for a trip with the full six days to spend.

Is six days too many for Marseille’s day-trip circuit?

Not if all six trips genuinely interest you, but it is the point of diminishing returns for a budget traveler. The first three days cost a train fare each; the last three each add a paid tour or monument, so day six’s Luberon trip alone can cost more than days one through three combined. Cut to the 5-day version if the Luberon is the least appealing of the six.

Does the order of these six days matter for cost?

Not for the total cost, only for logistics and booking lead time. Keep the three walk-up TER days, Cassis, Aix and Arles, in the first half where a change of plan costs nothing, and put the two tour-dependent days, the Camargue and the Luberon, later once those bookings are confirmed, a cancelled tour is easier to rearrange with spare days still ahead.

Confirm both the Camargue and Luberon tour departure points before booking either. Most run from Arles, Avignon or Aix-en-Provence rather than directly from Marseille, and skipping that check is the easiest way to miss a pickup on the day. See Marseille Tourism’s site for the official overview of all six routes if a day needs rearranging.