Between Marseille and Martigues, there is the motorway along the Étang de Berre, fast, efficient, uninteresting, and there is the Côte Bleue road. If you have the time, there is no contest.
The Côte Bleue begins at Niolon, a small inlet after the Rove tunnel. Then Carry-le-Rouet, Sausset-les-Pins, Carro, Saint-Blaise. The road runs along the sea with miniature calanques, coves where people have swum for generations, pine forests running down to the water's edge.
I drive this route from Marseille sometimes to take clients to Martigues, and often because visitors ask me "show us something beautiful". The Côte Bleue is what I show them.
Carry-le-Rouet is the first stop on the road. In January and February, Carry celebrates the Fête de l'Oursin (Sea Urchin Festival): restaurants are full at lunchtime and thousands of visitors come to taste freshly caught sea urchins on the port stalls. In summer, it is swimmers and divers.
The Côte Bleue marine reserve, created in 1983, is the first in the French Mediterranean. The seabed has regained a remarkable density of life: groupers, sea breams, octopus, gorgonians. Further on, Sausset-les-Pins offers a family seafront, a beach of sand and pebbles, and a lively Sunday market.
At Carro, there is a fishing port that still really works. The local fishmongers sell in the morning what was caught overnight.
Martigues, at the end of this route, is the Provençal Venice as they say. The mirrors of Berre, the reflections of the façades in the canals, the swing bridge, the painters who have depicted everything since the 19th century. For a half day from Marseille, Aix or your place of stay, it is one of the best options I know.
I do this circuit regularly for visitors who have a day or half a day. Allow time to enjoy the trip without rushing, and more if you want to stop at Carry for lunch or at Carro to see the port. Booking on 06 98 46 63 34 or on the Private transport page.
