Why Marseille Is Not Europe’s New ‘Hidden Gem’

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Is it simply me, or has all this discuss of “hidden gems” and “undiscovered spots” turn into a bit too… trivial, if not outright nonsensical?

Whether they’re doing it for the Instagram algorithm or just because they’re clueless sufficient to assume an especially widespread European metropolis that’s been flogged to loss of life can nonetheless match that standards, it’s all getting a bit comical.

First of all, if each single secondary, mid-size metropolis American TikTokers bump into is a “hidden gem”, then by default, nowhere is. We get it, they’re normally ping-ponging between Paris and London, and wherever else quantities to an important off‑path journey, however come off it.

Secondly… Marseille? As in, France’s big Mediterranean port metropolis of Marseille?

This is admittedly how far we have come when it comes to lazy, poorly-researched, AI-spun journey writing?

Why Marseille Is Anything But A European Hidden Gem

I couldn’t consider my very own eyes once I got here throughout a bunch of articles, churned out by some main publications this yr, crowning France’s second-largest metropolis and a serious cruising hotspot as Europe’s most criminally underrated coastal getaway, or a “top hidden gem”.

Marseille and crime do go hand in hand, however criminally underrated? Not so sure about that.

A metropolitan zone residence to over 1,000,000 folks, wedged between Mediterranean massifs and the turquoise sea itself, Marseille has been France’s most necessary port for over 2,600 years.

Not that an iPhone-wielding, beret-clad influencer in her flying costume would know that, nor a type of big-brained journalists with levels, apparently… however anyhow, I digress.

Marseille hosts on common 5 million vacationers per yr, and it normally ranks third or fourth in France for recognition, behind Paris (30–35 million), Nice (5–7 million), and both tied with/or immediately under Lyon (roughly 5 million).

In phrases of cruise passenger site visitors, it locations third after Barcelona and the Balearic Islands.

Slapping the ‘hidden gem’ tag on Marseille is as ludicrous as calling, I do not know, Los Angeles a secret coastal village. While we go round in circles in these ineffective discussions, everybody’s forgetting to ask an important query.

What precisely units Marseille other than different French cities, if it will probably’t be anonymity?

If Marseille Is Not A Hidden Gem, Why Are They Labeling It One?

Well, it’s the truth that it’s not the sanitized, over-polished, Disney-fied France you understand from the flicks, and that is sufficient these days for a ‘Hidden Gem’ tabletop journey brochure seal.

It’s a metropolis that lives and breathes at its personal frantic tempo, doesn’t care should you can’t fairly sustain, and definitely doesn’t decelerate to make itself extra palatable for guests.

If you’ve been to the French Riviera earlier than—the “Nice‑r”, Turkey-teeth, Rolls Royce side of it—you must know Marseille is a special flavour of the Med altogether.

Out with the Côte d’Azur’s invitation-only seaside golf equipment and star-studded, roped-off oceanfront; in with wild, rugged calanques and a beach-interspersed Corniche the place everybody’s welcome at no cost. It appears to be like messy, ‘foh shoor‘, to cite our darling President Emmanuel Macron, however it feels inequivocally democratic:

The Vieux-Port, or Old Port, is Marseille’s organized chaos personified: assume cafés and seafood eating places proper on the water, fish markets, buzzing streets the place nobody appears to offer a, hem, flying flamingo about street indicators, and motorcyclists and vehicles instinctively weaving round pedestrians.

Because that is the way in which it is all the time been, and the way it all the time will likely be.

Of course, the Vieux-Port is the center of Marseille’s fishing scene, and the place you could find among the heartiest Marseillaise fish stews on the town, or, as locals name it, bouillabaisse*. You have not been to Marseille till you have had one in every of these.

That mentioned, portside eateries might be on the pricier finish, however should you’re after a smaller, much less‑flashy, native‑frequented various, strive Chez Michel on Rue des Catalans.

If Unapologetic Was A City…

Bordering the port, Le Panier is Marseille’s Italy-like, hilly ‘Old Town’ space. It’s town’s oldest neighborhood, with centuries upon centuries of Greek, Italian, and North African immigration woven into its multicultural tapestry.

The slim streets, slender pastel buildings, and trattoria-style eateries, which frequently carry Italian household names, are a transparent reflection of the historic Genoese presence within the space.

Le Panier can be stuffed with galleries, colourful (and thought-provoking avenue artwork, and artisan outlets, besides in contrast to in different components of Provence, all these lovely historic edifices you see have not been absolutely transformed into Airbnbs.

You’ll probably hear furious marseillaise mothers having a proper go at their youngsters behind inexperienced shutters, come throughout mischievous teams of 15-year-old frérots skipping college, vaping within the sq., away from their dad and mom’ watchful eyes, and kerbside bars with terraces that spill onto the cobbled alleys the place French voices are louder than English ones.

In sum, sure, it’s a little tough across the edges, and there’s rather a lot let’s imagine concerning the cleanliness and basic repairs of the place, however you possibly can’t deny it feels brutally genuine and lived-in.

This Is Not Paris.

This brings me to my subsequent level:

If you come to Marseille anticipating a wonderfully manicured Old World film set, or you do not know the best way to preserve your wits about you in densely populated areas recognized for his or her excessive charges of pickpocketing—larger than Paris, even—you may depart both terribly dissatisfied, or worst case situation, with out your cellphone.

As you get off the practice in Gare Saint-Charles, you may be a couple of steps away from an African-dominated Quartier Saint-Michel, with its full of life ethnic markets, Maghrebi-style bazaars, and pedestrian chaos.

Some love the multiculturalism, some deplore it, however one factor either side of the dialogue agree is that pickpocketing, poverty, and littering are rampant issues in Marseille’s central space. I inform you this to not put you off visiting Marseille—you must undoubtedly go and test it out for your self—however so you do not parachute right here fully unaware of what you are entering into.

The identical applies to artsy, hip districts like Cours Julien, an area youth hotspot full of cafés and quirky outlets. They’re touristy and, for probably the most half, secure, although provided that you are acutely aware of your environment and may preserve flashy jewellery at residence.

For the umpteenth time, and for the love of God, that is NOT Nice.

This metropolis is uncooked and has no intention by any means of sharpening up anytime quickly.

Think attractive fin-de-siècle buildings coated in unappealing graffiti, heavy site visitors, and the same old city issues that include speedy, disruptive metropolitan progress. Some say this is not even France.

There’s an outdated Provençale proverb that goes one thing like: après Gare Saint-Charles, c’est Alger!

It actually implies that, when you pull as much as Marseille Central Station, you are mainly in North Africa. Act accordingly.

The Sea Is Marseille, And Marseille Is The Sea

There are a couple of extra issues that make Marseille the black sheep of the French household.

Its cathedral, the imposing La Major, shouldn’t be Gothic or Romanesque in character, however a striped green-and-white Neo-Byzantine stonework. None of Notre-Dame de Paris’s solemness, ribbed-vaults, and rose home windows: this one has daring mosaics, marble chapels, and a a lot bigger nave.

Marseille’s most iconic non secular constructing, nonetheless, is not its precise cathedral:

By the time you’ve strolled across the Port or Panier space, chances are high you’ll have already got noticed it from a distance:

Notre-Dame de la Garde sits on a limestone hill 162 metres above sea stage, and it’s recognized for its golden statue of Mary, positioned on the high of the tower, maritime-themed decorations, and ship fashions which might be displayed alongside partitions and hanging from the ceiling—provided by sailors asking the Virgin for defense forward of a voyage.

Marseille’s cultural id is solid by centuries of seafaring and commerce between clashing civilisations: the ocean is as very important to town as town is to the ocean.

So, I do not know, possibly the French (in addition to Europeans normally) would discover the thought of Marseille being a lesser-known vacation spot like some minor Mediterranean hub within the league of Albania or Montenegro, which really belong in this category, laughable.

Marseille Is Just The Latest Victim Of… Hidden Geminification

The means I see it, this “hidden gem‑inification” phenomenon tells us extra about sure information sources’ determined want for clicks by absurd claims—particularly when focusing on wide-eyed travellers but to go to Europe, who’ll swallow their each sensationalized phrase prefer it’s gospel—than the precise locations they’re banging on about.

You wanna name Marseille underrated? Fine. Have a go at it.

There is an argument to be made for underappreciation right here, with out resorting to the same old over-the-top, hyped-up rhetoric.

But you higher have the on-the-ground information to again it up, otherwise you would possibly simply find yourself sounding like an utter… hem… excuse my French… cagole.

Vinicius Costa

Vini, our senior lead author at Travel Off Path, has over 60+ international locations below his belt (and at present weaving tales from Paris!), and a knack for turning off-the-beaten-path experiences into informative tales that can have you ever packing your luggage.